GOD PAUSE DAILY DEVOTIONS

Looking for spiritual refreshment? God Pause email devotions are short, meaningful reflections on the following Sunday's lessons and gospel delivered directly to your email box. By Sunday, you'll be ready for an extra meaningful worship experience. 

Our devotion writers are Luther Seminary alumni. Their reflections are a gift to you and to the church.

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Sunday, January 13, 2013

"Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing," ELW 807

As I write this, it is raining (an unusual event in Minnesota in January!). Sunday morning, we will create that rain in our sanctuary when we sprinkle the congregation with pine boughs. As the people sing the opening hymn, "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing," we will shower them with water droplets to remind them of their baptism. It's fun to watch how people react. Usually, kids love it; adults, not so much. Still, there's something to the physical sensation that evokes, even if just for a second, the connection with God that comes when we are baptized. 

The beautiful thing is, that sensation is something we can and should experience every day. Be it during a walk in the rain or under the splash of the showerhead: may you find a way to remember your baptism today. Trace a cross on your forehead. Say, "I am a child of God." Think of how much God loves you ... and of how you will share that love with the world today.

Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me today. May the promises you give to me in baptism move me to praise and worship you with gratitude and joy. Amen.

Shelley Cunningham
Zumbro Lutheran Church, Rochester, Minn.
Master of Divinity , 1998

"Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing," ELW 807

Come, thou Fount of ev'ry blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
While the hope of endless glory fills my heart with joy and love,
teach me ever to adore thee; may I still my goodness prove.

Here I raise my Ebenezer: "Hither by thy help I've come";
and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wand'ring from the fold of God;
he, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood.

Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be;
let that grace now like a fetter bind my wand'ring heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it; seal it for thy courts above.

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This God Pause daily devotion is brought to you by the alumni of Luther Seminary.

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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