Dear Edgeboro Friends & Family,
Happy New Year! Over the last few Januarys, I have noticed that my attention gravitates, even more than usual, toward the Moravian Daily Text. I think it is a combination of getting a new book to use and having the opportunity to select new watchwords for the year. I find it captivating that for nearly 300 years, the Daily Text has offered guidance to millions with daily verses – verses that are selected in Herrnhut, Germany well over a year before the day they are actually assigned. The Daily Text continues to give us new, timely, and unique ways of looking at scripture and applying it to our lives.
A new year is upon us, so let’s see what is in store for us on day one: January 1st – “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in their lawsuits.” (Exodus 23:6)
This just so happens to be one of those difficult days when the Daily Text doesn’t appear to offer anything profound on the surface. Few of us are thinking of lawsuits on the first day of the year, so what impact could this have on us? For that, let’s look to where this verse comes from.
These words are spoken from God to Moses upon the Israelites first reaching Mount Sinai during their exodus from Egypt. For chapters, God gives Moses commandments (ten of them in particular), ordinances, and laws – this watchword being one of them – to relay on to the Israelites.
Many times when we read the Old Testament, we skip over parts like this because we don’t follow a lot of these laws anymore and for a lot of us, reading a book of laws is not the first thing we would choose to read. Still, these parts of scripture are really important! Why? Because for many of the Israelites following Moses, this is the first evidence they witness of God truly caring about how they live their everyday lives. This God isn’t done with them after performing one miracle to free them from slavery. This God isn’t going to be distant and high in the sky. On the contrary, hearing all of these laws and ordinances is showing them that God cares about how they raise their families, how they conduct their business, how they use their resources, how they live together as neighbors, and how they treat strangers. God is going to be with them every day, and so what they do in their everyday lives matters!
This watchword reminds us that in this new year, God will continue to be with us every day, and so what we do with each day matters. The way we conduct business and go about our jobs; the way we learn in the classroom; the way we care for our loved ones; the way we treat strangers; the way we take care of ourselves (self-care); the way we shop (who benefits from our money?); the way we treat the environment; the way we live in our communities and the way we try to make them even better – our everyday lives matter to God!
Thanks be to God for loving us so much!
In this new year, may we each find new ways to honor God in our everyday lives. (Inspiration for a new year’s resolution?)
Blessings in 2019,
Pastor Dan
PS: Shameless Plug Alert: If you want to hear more reflections on the Moravian Daily Text, check out the MCWW Daily Text Podcast Series, a daily podcast hosted by Moravian Church Without Walls, at dailytextpodcast.org or wherever you get your podcasts.