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Trinity 10, Devotion
Faith, love, and devotion...we often hear of a devoted parent, teacher, or
child who seems exceptionally devoted to someone or some office. We
often hear of some pastor or minister who is devoted to his or her church
or congregation. But seldom do we hear of those who are truly devoted
to God. What does devotion look like? Who measures the amount of
devotion contained within each act?
As part of the censing of the candles, the celebrant may say "I will
instill within myself strength, harmony, and knowledge, service,
adaptability, and devotion." We are not called to possess large quantities
of these aspects...just to instill them over and over with faith and love,
to gently nurture those qualities that may help us to become spiritually
mature beings.
Devotion may be the most difficult to bring into being because we have so
many ways to measure it. Just being in the moment, just breathing in
the moment, can we experience devotion? I breathe, I think, I
concentrate, and I become devotion. I don't compare its essence to
anything because in this moment no other thing exists except my
thought and feeling of devotion. Then I let it go. From there on, I am
devotion. I don't need to know anything else.
Jesus said to give up all that we possess to follow Him, and in that one
moment I give up everything, everything I think I know or have been told
I know about devotion and become devotion. Jesus never quantified the
statement. He never said He would be keeping count or measuring our
attempts, and I am not looking for a loophole in my practice of faith and
devotion to Christ. I do what I do without personal judgement or guilt
but with the full conviction that I am loved. One breath at a time, one
moment at a time I give myself up to being devotion.
Having singleness of thought is nothing new or difficult. We do it all the
time. For example, when we put on our socks, we are thinking of putting
on one sock at a time. For the moment all there is is putting on that
sock. Starting the car, when we are putting the key in, we are not
thinking of leaving the drive...we are engaged in putting in the key.
These small things all amount to being in the moment. We have many
events of being in the moment...why not have one moment devoted, one
breath to being, devotion? Then whatever comes after comes after, but
for that one moment, I am devotion.
What does it feel like in that one moment? Do you get the feeling that you
don't ever want to do that again? Was it fleeting? Maybe you didn't feel as
if you got enough so you want to do it again and again. Devotion is a
personal event, not to be weighed and measured, compared or judged, but
experienced as a moment of communion with the Divine. Then let it go. Get
on with all the events of daily life. In all the hours of the day, in all
the days of the year, take one moment to be devotion. You may be surprised
that one moment leads to another and that the moments continue to thread
together so that being devotion becomes a part of who we are. We become
filled with the faith that devotion gives us. We become filled with the
brightness of the everlasting light, and we will radiate that light in our
lives always.
That is what devotion gives us—the everlasting light, the everlasting light
that comes from God's love. God is love, and power, and truth, and light,
and the light everlasting comes to us through faith, love, and devotion. We
are not that light, but we can bear witness of that light, because God is
light and love, and God's love fills us with that light, and it is the
light of His Being that shines upon us. Faith, love, and devotion...one
moment, one breath. Breathe, please, breathe the free air of devotion.
Rev. Lee Dunn
July 27, 2008
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