A Daily Dose of Good News
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
Today, this devotional will be offered online at https://youtu.be/RvVMqn51YSI
For a printer-friendly version of today’s devotion, please click DDGN 20211012
Additionally, if you’d like to talk about this Daily Dose of Good News further, or previous ones, have questions, or additional thoughts, please feel free to email me at sara.wunsch@engagedbygrace.org. I’d love to interactively engage with you about them.
Good morning! Today is October 12th and it’s time for our Daily Dose of Good News! Today we’re looking at Revelation 8:1-5.
When the lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
Here ends the reading.
You may be wondering why I chose this text of Revelation from the pericope for today. But I think it has some beautiful reminders for us. First, the imagery of Heaven is full of majesty and glory and splendor and the beauty and power of God. And to simply reflect on that for a few minutes. This is a place that symbolizes who God is- in all of God’s might and beauty and power and majesty- represented by the gold, the thrones and the splendor. We have a God who is rich in love and power.
Secondly I think it’s also a good reminder for us that it’s never our job to judge. At the end when the angelis throwing fire down on the Earth for the judgment- that comes from God. That judgment comes from God. While we can offer our prayers, and the saints offer their prayers as well, and it rises up like incense before God… God is the one that makes the ultimate decision about our judgment. I think that’s so gracious to know and remember. Because whenever we feel judged, it’s helpful to remember that: No, God is the one who does the judgment. God is fair and equitable in that and merciful in that. And whenever we have a tendency to judge others, the great reminder for us is: that is not at all our place. Only God in God’s majesty and wisdom is capable of such things. So it’s a good opportunity for us to reflect upon any areas where we might be judging others- whether subtly or obviously- and to put an end to that. To have our prayers rise before God of: help me not to judge other people and help me to remember that you are my ultimate judge. A mighty and powerful and merciful God.
I think a final piece for that is to remember how much our God loves us and welcomes us into God’s Kingdom. No matter what, all the time, our God wants to embrace us. So for those who are with God now- such as Clark Mount-Campbell- celebrating in his baptism in his life here on Earth and in the way that he showed some representations of God in caring for those around him. We celebrate his life today at his memorial service. We imagine Clark with God in that mighty splendor with trumpets sounding. Have a great day everybody. Bye-bye.
