Altars of Remembrance

  • June 22, 2023
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  • Park Forum

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 27.4-7
And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. Build the altar of the Lord your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God.

Reflection: Altars of Remembrance
By Julia Bitler

In Deuteronomy 27, Moses concludes his speech to the Israelites by calling them to obey. He laid out God’s law for the nation including their calling to live holy lives as God’s chosen people.

Before moving on to the curses of disobedience and the blessings of faithfulness, Moses calls the Israelites to pause and reflect.

He instructs them to build an altar to the Lord. Not only will the people worship the Lord by offering sacrifices and burnt offerings, but they will also write the Law on stones to remind them of the holiness of their God and the consecrated lives they are called to live as his chosen people. It is an altar of remembrance.

In the same way, I believe that God desires for us to set up altars or memorials in our own lives. These monuments or markers of faith speak to us, reminding us who the Lord is and what He has done. 

A monument could be a tangible object like a sign, poster, or journal. A more abstract monument might be a day that you set aside time to remember the faithfulness of the Lord. Whatever it is, God calls us to mark moments in our lives. These markers can help us remember who God is, what He has done, and what He has promised to do for us. 

God doesn’t want our obedience to be motivated by fear of the curses and joy of the blessings. Rather, he calls us to obey him because we love him. He wants us to obey out of love and remembrance of who God is.

One of my reminders of the Lord’s faithfulness is my car. A year ago, I was in a terrible accident that resulted in my car being totaled. By the grace of God, I walked away with only a few bruises. After such a traumatic experience, I learned to trust God to provide for all my needs and within a month, I had a new car and was healing from such a scary incident. When I drive my car, I am reminded that it is God who is in the driver seat of my life and not me. He alone is worthy of all of my love and obedience. 

What memorials do you have? Where are your monuments? What moments remind you of his faithfulness?

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Behold, God is my helper; it is the Lord who sustains my life. — Psalm 54.4

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 27-28.19 (Listen13:27)
Romans 7 (Listen 4:09)

Read more about The Sojourn of Sanctification
The desert sojourn is a transforming experience for Israel and this process of sanctification can be mirrored in the lives of modern believers.

The Sojourn of Sanctification

Read more about Attending God’s Lessons
Through their liberation from Egypt and their time in the desert, God became Israel’s teacher.

Attending God’s Lessons

Remember, Rejoice, and Rest

  • June 21, 2023
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  • Park Forum

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 26.8-11
8 And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me. And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.

Reflection: Remember, Rejoice, and Rest
By Jill D. Botticelli

Giving has been a part of my church experience since I was a small child. Proudly putting nickels from my grandpa in a white church-shaped plastic bank in Sunday School is one of my earliest church-related memories. When we give today, do we give thought to why and how we can and should give? 

This passage in Deuteronomy instructs the people of God on how to worship through giving. The Israelites needed reminders that good things come from the Lord and that praise and worship for his provision are just and required. So do we.

The instructions on first fruits and tithes reminded Israel of the mighty hand of God and how they were brought out of bondage in Egypt (v. 9). We, too, need reminders of the goodness of God’s provision for our needs. Jobs, housing, food, and even entertainment are often taken for granted. These good gifts proclaim the Lord’s power in caring for his creation. 

As an act of worship, Moses instructed the Israelites to rejoice in all the good that God had given them (v. 11). Rejoicing and praising demonstrate our heart’s acknowledgment of God’s goodness. The Israelites practiced a very visible form of giving. Actions of worship are tangible signs of God’s goodness which others can recognize and also reflect upon.  

Through these statutes, God assures his children that they can rest in his promise to provide, protect and nurture them (vv. 18-19). The Lord declared that they were a people of his “treasured possession,” which he promised to honor above all others. 

As believers, we can rest assured God honors our worship with his everlasting care. As we worship in giving, we are secure in God’s promise to provide for our needs. (Philippians 4.19)

As we place our offerings before the Lord, we are reminded of the mighty hand of God, which provides. We rejoice in all that he bestows upon us. And we rest in his promise to minister to our every need.


Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
Your way, O God, is holy; who is as great as our God? — Psalm 77.13

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 26 (Listen 3:13)
Romans 6 (Listen 3:28)

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It won’t matter what we do with our money if our hearts aren’t bent toward caring for the vulnerable.

Short-Circuit Oppression

Read more about Deuteronomy’s Dream for the Poor
Christians can look the darkest realities of poverty in the face and confidently say, “It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Deuteronomy’s Dream for the Poor

Privileging Truth over Personal Gain

  • June 20, 2023
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  • Park Forum

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 25.13–16
13 Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light. 14 Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. 15  You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 16 For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.

Reflection: Privileging Truth over Personal Gain
By Rachel Larsen

Scripture not only teaches us to be truthful; it shows us how—and why. One example is the use of “accurate and honest weights and measures.” (Deuteronomy 25.15)

In the ancient world, people weighed goods and money to determine a fair price. Using different scales would misrepresent value, enabling fraud and rewarding greed.  

Dishonest scales were a common problem in the ancient world. That is why the call to keep honest weights appears again and again in the Bible. (Proverbs 11.1, 20.23; Amos 8.5) Israel was to shun this practice, using the same standard for all their business dealings. The command even comes with a promised reward: “so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” (Deut 25.15) 

 Our society no longer relies on scales in this way, but the principle of not misleading others to gain an advantage remains. Especially in a culture like ours that is infatuated with economic status and vocational success, the temptation to misrepresent ourselves is alive and well. 

Do we exaggerate our strengths on our resumes or LinkedIn? Do we subtly or overtly take credit for work not fully our own? Do we gloat over our accomplishments at dinner parties? Practices like these are common and in certain contexts acceptable, just like having different weights was in the world of the Bible. 

But why does it matter?

Ultimately, we must care about truth because God is truth. The call for honest weights stems from God’s truthful character. Truthfulness is not about checking the right boxes or completing a list of demands. It is about being like the one we worship.

God called Israel to be holy as he is holy, to image or model his righteous character before the nations of the earth. (Exodus 19.6; Leviticus 11:44) God lives in us to conform us to the image of his son, who is truth. (John 14.6; Romans 8.29) 

May he cultivate in us a heart that puts truth above personal gain. As we grow into your likeness, Jesus, make us increasingly attuned to the ways our culture tempts us to privilege accomplishment over truth. Strengthen us to resist them. May you truly be first in our hearts and first in our lives.


Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
With my whole heart I seek you; let me not stray from your commandments. — Psalm 119.10

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 25 (Listen 2:38)
Romans 5 (Listen 3:53)

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Facts are more than our friends—they are our responsibility. And not only are facts our responsibility, truth is our identity.

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Seeking the truth is not only a spiritual quest. It is sometimes a civic one. Or a legal one.

Honoring The Truth

Do You Feel Like It?

  • June 16, 2023
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  • Park Forum

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 21.15-17
15 If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, 16 when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. 17 He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.

Reflection: Do You Feel Like It?
By Allen Hamlin Jr

In the age of “you do you,” we often feel more freedom to shape our identity, and we indulge ourselves to choose our own actions and responses. As a result, many have determined that there’s no obligation to do anything that falls outside of what they want, what they’re in the mood for, or what they think reflects the self that they want to present to the world.

Even in a life of faith, it’s easy to lean on our present emotions and our sense of self-determination to undergird the nature of our prayer and worship. Should I go to church? Should I give thanks? Should I praise?

I just don’t feel like it, so I won’t.

In the midst of establishing the law of the nation, the Lord sets forth a heavy chapter featuring five intense scenarios. Deuteronomy 21 addresses unsolved murder, prisoners of war, the death of defiant children, and capital punishment.

Within this litany of legislation is one contrasting presentation (v.15-17). Rather than an occasion of death, the focus is on love. What or whom we love often drives our actions and responses.

But the Lord says this should not be the case. Regardless of which son has the father’s favor (v.15), there is a reality that drives the right response. The firstborn is the firstborn, and shouldn’t be treated otherwise according to the father’s feelings (v.16-17).

Propriety is not based on our affections. My right actions are grounded in what is real, not in what I feel.

When we look at Jesus, we know that he too is the Firstborn–of all creation. He is the Heir. Whether I feel like worshiping or obeying him, the reality of his worth doesn’t change. And the proper response for us is to give him his due.

Even when I don’t feel like it, I will.

As Deut 21 shows us, despite questions, fickle desires, favorites, frustrations, or vindictiveness, we are called to remain rightly responsive to the realities of who God is, and who we are. God is the one who makes atonement (v.8), who sets us in right relationship with himself. Those truths remain the guardrails of our responses, whatever our hearts may feel in the moment.

Our calling is to do what is right in the sight of the Lord (v.9), rather than determining for ourselves what we want our engagement with God, and the world, to be.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who trust in him! — Psalm 34.8

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 21 (Listen 3:33)
Romans 1 (Listen 5:02)

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Centering our hearts on Christ can change our visages, our vision, and our vitality.

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Marks of spiritual maturity include character growing in likeness to God and actions that demonstrate our love for God and care for his people.

A Long Journey to Maturity

Faith Beyond Fear

  • June 15, 2023
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  • Park Forum

Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 20.1-4, 8
1 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. 2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. 3 He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. 4 For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

8 Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”

Reflection: Faith Beyond Fear
By Marisa Jenkins

The Israelites battled fear. In fact, this fear was so prevalent that, prior to going into battle, the officers were instructed to ask if anyone was afraid. Those in fear were to be sent home lest their fellow soldiers become fearful too, because fear is contagious.

But why should they feel afraid? God had proven his faithfulness to his people. He delivered them from the hands of the Egyptians as he told them to be still, their Lord would fight for them. (Exodus 14.13-14) Yet they began to look down at their circumstances instead of up, trusting in their Creator to fight for them. Instead of fearing what was in the battle, the Israelite soldiers needed to trust in God who sees beyond the battle.  

It’s easy to point the finger at the fearful Israelites, but aren’t we the same way? When our circumstances crumble, we struggle to see God. In difficult situations, it’s easy to lose heart and give in to fear. Like Peter, how many times have we taken our eyes off of Christ and begun to look at the troubling circumstances surrounding us, only to begin to sink? (Matthew 14.30)

The Lord was going with the Israelites to fight against their enemies. God was calling his people to trust him and not be fainthearted or afraid. Faith looks beyond fear. This is trust, to look farther than our eyes can see.

Maybe we are not facing a physical battle against a foreign enemy but, as believers, we face many different battles each day. A loved one fighting cancer. The constant onslaught of chronic pain. A child wandering from the Lord. Fear wants to creep in. Fear wants us to take our eyes off of Jesus and place them on our own circumstances. 

Just as the Israelites needed to trust God, just as Peter needed to focus his eyes on Jesus, we too must learn to trust. Without this trust, we will sink in fear.

But we don’t have to sink. We have a Heavenly Father who goes with us to fight against our enemies.(Deuteronomy 20.4) Faith chooses to trust God, knowing that he sees what we cannot. We also trust that, no matter what storms or enemies we face, God will be with us every step of the way.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
I will call upon God and the Lord will deliver me.
In the evening, in the morning, and at the noonday, I will complain and lament, and he will hear my voice.
He will bring me safely back…God, who is enthroned of old, will hear me. — Psalm 55.17-19

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Deuteronomy 20 (Listen 2:55)
2 Corinthians 13 (Listen 2:19)