United in Christ, Together in Ministry!

Messiness in Our Faith Life ~ Kim Keup

"Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, The LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might." ~Deuteronomy 6:4-5

If you feel that your faith life is waxing and waning, listen and watch the youth at UNITY Lutheran. The word is alive as God’s love is evident in their hearts. 
Without hesitation, my daughter said yes to writing these Lent devotions when I didn’t have the courage to volunteer. I follow her lead. She is in 6th grade. You will find her writing her notes with a pencil on paper. She hands them to me to type. Sometimes, I ask her for clarification because her handwriting can be as messy as mine. Just as she was taught in Sunday school, my daughter is adding sticky note bookmarks and highlighting passages, placing stars at verses she finds important in the Bible and hearts next to her favorite passages. 
As a family, we broadcast virtual church recordings on our television. Almost one year ago, we began this new way of worship with waving palm leaves in our living room. Our dog even participates by singing hymns (barking) with us. Josef takes a break from his confirmation c-mail to serve us communion, consisting of orange juice and hot dog buns. For the Lenten season, Flat Jesus, otherwise known as FJ, has blessed us with his presence in our house and when we are at Kiley’s basketball games or hiking in the park. Instead of sharing soup dinners at UNITY’s sanctuary on Wednesday nights, we bring out our weekly Lent challenge sheet to share our day as guided by blessings bowl topics during our family meal. 
On Wednesday evenings, if you go to our basement, you will find my son on Zoom for confirmation. This trimester included the 7th and 8th graders writing and committing the above verses to their memory. What we all learned together, confirmation students and parent volunteers, is that this compilation, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Moses speaking to the Israelites. It is called “The Shema”. The confirmation students will tell you the Hebrew word, Shema, means “listen”. Listen, O Israel! He is catching their attention for his important message as we should be applying this prayer today. My son’s confirmation studies have been the cornerstone in our family’s church life this past year. This solid foundation, his diligence to study and learn, with a commitment to revisit the familiar and dive into the Word to see it in a new light, has sprouted the seeds of faith.

Dear God, When we hear your Word, open our hearts and our minds to root and grow our relationship with you. Strengthen our faith as we find creative ways to praise you. May we rejoice in your love for us. Amen.

 

 

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