Typically I don't post many of my devotions from Voters Meetings. However, here is the one that I wrote for last night after I spent a week studying Esther last week at Camp Luther.
Called for Such a Time as This
Esther was an orphaned Jew. One wouldn’t expect her to become queen. Yet, she had the looks to be queen. She was beautiful on the outside and God saw her beauty on the inside. Through a strange twist of events, she won the King’s heart and she was selected as queen. That is when things turn south, a plot is made to destroy her people the Jews, but yet through the story as we’ll discover on Sunday mornings in September, she was placed into that royal position for God to use her to save her people. Mordecai her uncle tells her these words:
13 “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”[1]
Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Those words struck me while I was at Camp. Tonight we meet for a quarterly meeting. From what I’m aware of there is not much on the agenda to discuss, but we are here tonight gathered as the Church to do the business of the Church. Do you know why you are here? Maybe you do, Maybe you don’t? You are here for a purpose, maybe because God is calling you for such a time as this to do something for God’s kingdom in the here and now. Maybe now is the time to get out into our community to bring Jesus to those that are lost and hurting.
One thing I do know is that you have been called for a such time as this as you were sealed by the Holy Cross both upon your foreheads and your hearts to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified. Yes, you are called for such a time as this…for the here and the now.
Let’s pray.
Holy Father, you call us to be your own people in Holy Baptism, you have sealed us with the sign of the Cross of your Son. You have given us your Spirit to be alive in our hearts. We ask that you be among us, we ask that you work in our hearts to grow together as the Church of God and as we do that to go out into our community to bring to them Jesus. Give us a heart of witness to those that are lost and provide us with those opportunities. Be with us now as we go through our meeting in carrying out the business of the Church and that whatever is decided today, may be for the benefit and expansion of your kingdom in this place. In Jesus Name. Amen.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Es 4:13–14). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
13 “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14 For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”[1]
Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Those words struck me while I was at Camp. Tonight we meet for a quarterly meeting. From what I’m aware of there is not much on the agenda to discuss, but we are here tonight gathered as the Church to do the business of the Church. Do you know why you are here? Maybe you do, Maybe you don’t? You are here for a purpose, maybe because God is calling you for such a time as this to do something for God’s kingdom in the here and now. Maybe now is the time to get out into our community to bring Jesus to those that are lost and hurting.
One thing I do know is that you have been called for a such time as this as you were sealed by the Holy Cross both upon your foreheads and your hearts to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified. Yes, you are called for such a time as this…for the here and the now.
Let’s pray.
Holy Father, you call us to be your own people in Holy Baptism, you have sealed us with the sign of the Cross of your Son. You have given us your Spirit to be alive in our hearts. We ask that you be among us, we ask that you work in our hearts to grow together as the Church of God and as we do that to go out into our community to bring to them Jesus. Give us a heart of witness to those that are lost and provide us with those opportunities. Be with us now as we go through our meeting in carrying out the business of the Church and that whatever is decided today, may be for the benefit and expansion of your kingdom in this place. In Jesus Name. Amen.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Es 4:13–14). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
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