September 27

Today’s Readings: Psalm 80 & 12; Hosea 10:1-15; Luke 13:1-9; Romans 1:16-25

The parallels between today’s passage from Romans and the writings of the prophets that we’ve been reading lately are striking. Both deal with what is presented as God’s number one beef with God’s people: idolatry. I particularly loved Eugene Peterson’s translation of Romans 1:19-22. The passage reads: “What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat [God] like God, refusing to worship [God], they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life.” Isn’t that a great phrase? Illiterate regarding life. I loved the implication that literacy regarding life is linked directly with a sense of reverence and worship toward God. These words are timely for me as I’ve been struggling with my own sense of literacy toward life as I’ve become more consumed with trying to control things that lie well beyond my means. Today’s readings reminded me that if I want to become more literate in my approach toward life, I need to fight my constant urge to turn inward for solutions and instead turn outward by opening myself to God in more reverent and worshipful ways. Perhaps you’ll join me in this process. Til next time…