TESTING PERMALINK PAGE

Image by Michael Studinger

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A GREETING
I love you, O God, my strength.
(Psalm 18:1)

A READING
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
(1 Corinthians 12:7-11)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding,
so that you may hold on to prudence, and your lips may guard knowledge.
(Proverbs 5:1-2)

Image by Katarzyna Zaremba

A PRAYER
Oh, Great Spirit,
Whose voice I hear in the winds
and whose breath gives life to all the world.
Hear me! I need your strength and wisdom.
Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes
ever hold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect the things you have made
and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so that I may understand
the things you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.

Help me remain calm and strong in the
face of all that comes towards me.
Help me find compassion without
empathy overwhelming me.
I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,
but to fight my greatest enemy: myself.
Make me always ready to come to you
with clean hands and straight eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset,
my spirit may come to you without shame.
- American Lakota prayer, translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark

VERSE OF THE DAY
We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks; your name is near.
(Psalm 75:1)

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A CALL TO ACTION


In today's reading, we are encouraged by Paul to see and hear in each other the gifts of the Spirit, which include wisdom and prophecy. On this last day of this devotional, our voices of Creation storytelling wisdom and prophecy, celebration and prayer come from four different parts of the world. In today’s video, the Day 9 Inuit story of Sedna meets the legend of Ujae in the Marshall Islands, as Aka Niviana in Greenland and Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner in the Marshall Islands, two activist poets from opposite ends of the globe, meet on a melting glacier in a film poem that invites all of us to rise up against the climate and ecological catastrophe that is everywhere in evidence. The Ujae legend of the Marshall Islands is based on competitive sisters who seek to outdo each other as they juggle their way around the islands. One of the sisters turns to stone. When the other sister finds her, she turns to stone as well, in empathy and in a desire not to be separated. In their own poem, the poets change this ending, coming together very much alive, but firmly rooted in the rocks and stones and snow and ice of each other's lands. Climate scientists have concurred that over the next century the planet will most likely lose the Greenland ice sheet — we are at the tipping point. The result will be dramatically rising sea levels: island nations like the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific will disappear. Joining their voices and their words, the Greenlandic poet and the Marshallese poet find a sisterhood in their countrys’ shared disasters, and in their call to action. We are still capable of making change, of saving what we know. Today's music and prayer come from that place of hope. In today’s music, three sisters sing as they join others in harvesting grapes. Wine grapes have been grown in their home region of Georgia for eight thousand years, possibly the earliest wine ever made, pre-dating the biblical eras. Their spirit of harvest brings us back to our own context, as we on this day in Canada express thanksgiving and gratitude for the fruits of the earth and for the Creation that gives us life. The Lakota prayer asks the Creator to “help me remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes towards me.” How can we maintain a spirit of being ‘calm and strong’ in the face of what we know is taking place in God’s Creation? As we celebrate all that we are grateful for, let us include a thanksgiving for the first peoples of the planet. How can their wisdom continue to inspire and lead us, as we seek to restore Creation's bounty?

Image by Stefan Lins

Today is the last day of the LC† Stories of Creation devotional project.
Thank you for joining us. May God's peace bring you and your loved ones a blessed Thanksgiving! See you in Advent!

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LC† Stories of Creation is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help to support extended offerings throughout the year.  Thank you and peace be with you!