Devotions on 1, 2 and 3 John

Dear <<First Name>>

I hope you found the series looking at the Lord’s prayer helpful – it’s always good to think about a prayer we use week after week, often day after day.  We are grateful to Michael Hopkins for spending so much time in preparing that series.  

For the next few weeks a variety of people with different perspectives and from a a range of places in the URC are reflecting on the letters known as 1,2 and 3 John.  These are, generally, thought to have been written by the same person though scholars disagree as to who that person was. The first, and longest, of the three reads rather like a sermon designed to encourage faith possibly in the aftermath of a church split.  The second is to an “elect lady” maybe one who hosted, or led, a church in her home, the final gives warnings about one excommunicated from the Church. Whilst written almost 2,000 years ago they look at themes still relevant in our lives now.

I hope you find these helpful in your own spiritual journeys.

Remember if you prefer to receive the Devotions in paper format – or would like to print them off for printing.  The link to sign up for the Booklet list is here.  We always get generous feedback about the Devotions and the impact they have and it was very encouraging to hear the following comments reported to a minister:

“I’m following those Daily Devotions. The series on the Lord’s Prayer that’s happening at the moment is really good. Usually I read them on my phone but one day had so much stuff I printed it off to read it at work.  I was looking at it at my desk as I had a cup of coffee. The lad on the next desk asked me what I was reading. I explained about following the Daily Devotions. He replied that it was like his daily online visit to “BetFred”. I suggested he have a read to see if it was the same. He said that the difference seemed to be that he did BetFred by himself whereas the Daily Devotions meant that you were part of a community, which was good. Next I was in the ward where our Muslim occupational therapist was chatting with one of the patients, a young man who has recently returned to churchgoing. She is fasting for Ramadan and they were discussing the similarities and differences between Christianity and Islam, and asked for my opinion. We talked about stories in common between the Bible and Quran, different views of Jesus, and, then, about prayer practices. By this point my “BetFred” colleague had come along and joined in, insisting that I go and get that bit of paper about the Lord’s Prayer, which we then all discussed.  My colleague suggested half-seriously that perhaps he would carry on with BetFred but give a proportion of all winnings to charity.”

This seemed to me to be a brilliant example of living as a disciple in our daily lives and I was impressed by how the simple tool of a Daily Devotion helped in that.  By phone or paper, do use the Devotions to help not just your own spiritual journey but also as an act of witness to the God we adore.