One Word
This winter on The Daily Pattern we’re in a series called One Word. Each day we take one word – a feeling or circumstance – and bring a word from God to it. Let the Word of God speak to your life.
Invocation
Make the sign of the cross, and say,
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Invitation Prayer
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matt. 5:5) O Lord, I am lowly and humble. You alone are my inheritance. Amen.
Word: 1 Peter 2:9
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
Meditation
Career by Julianna Schults
Have you been humming “We Don’t Talk about Bruno” too? Over the Christmas holiday, I watched Encanto with my family. (Five stars! You should see it!) Encanto is the story of a family that through tragedy is given a magical gift. Everyone in the family gets a superhuman ability they use to serve their family and the town.
As one member of this family receives an extraordinary gift, it reminds me of how we talk about careers. Parents and other adults speculate about future career paths for children or teens. Will they be doctors, lawyers, pastors, landscapers? The questions continue as we enter college and beyond. We wonder how to use our gifts, skills, and abilities? Which careers will help us meet our goals? What opportunities might lay ahead?
While the Bible does talk about many jobs, it certainly doesn’t give specific career directions. Instead, it points to many roles, responsibilities, and paths a person might take over the course of their lives. In all careers, God calls us to seek after him and empowered by the Holy Spirit, reflect the light of God.
Yet it is easy for our many hours at work to define our world, rather than God. We can form our identity around our job. The world pushes us saying greater success, influence, or that the next goal will bring us joy and fulfillment. What we are becomes who we are.
Instead, God reminds us that we are his and that identity is greater than anything we do. 1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” We have been called and named, not because of what we have done, but because of what Jesus has done for us.
At the end of Encanto (no spoilers!) we hear the family reminded that no matter what superhuman abilities they have, no matter what they do, the most important thing is who they are. They sing,
“The miracles is not some magic that you’ve got
The miracle is you, not some gift, just you.”
Jesus died on the cross for us, redeems us and calls us His. Our identity is held fast in our Baptism, in who God made and saved us to be. God has wonderfully made each of us and placed us so that no matter our path we may be empowered to point people back to Jesus.
Lord, thank you for calling us and naming us. Help us always to remember that our identity is found in you. Amen.
Prayer for Family
· For my immediate family (parents, spouse, siblings).
· For extended family (cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents)
· For close friends that are as family to me.
· For those who don’t have families, or whose families are broken.
· For forgiveness and reconciliation where there is division in my family.
· For provision where there is need in my family.
· For God to be the foundation, and the cross the center of my family.
· For a generation yet unborn, future members of our family.
Closing Prayer
O Lord and King, your Kingdom comes even without our prayer. But we pray that it would also come among us. We are desperate for your reign and rule, for all we see is rebellion. Come into my heart, my home, my family, my work, my church, my community. Rule with justice and with mercy. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.