Clinton Street UMC

09/04/2026

Clinton Street UMC
Lectionary Devotions
By Pastor Lyn Ende
Devotion for Friday September 4, 2026
Please read Lectionary text for Sunday September 6: 15th Sunday after Pentecost: Matthew 18:15-20.

This reading from the Gospel According to Matthew is the procedure to follow for conflict resolution within the faith community. It is based on the presumption of love of God and love of one another; on humility and forgiveness.
How often are these guidelines followed? How willing are we to follow these guidelines? As the one “sinned against,” are we willing to confront the one who has “sinned against us”?
What, exactly, constitutes a “sin against us”?
We are often offended by something someone has said or done. Sometimes easily, sometimes as an accumulation of small annoyances that build over time. Does what has offended us constitute a “sin against us,” or just an annoyance?
We are often unwilling to address things when they are small and manageable; when they are just an annoyance. But those little annoyances, the petty grievances, build over time, leading to a big blow-up, hurt feelings, things said in anger; a solidification of positions and unwillingness to compromise or even discuss the issues. Words are misinterpreted and taken out of context. Negative motivations are imputed and assumed. Division worsens.
Or maybe we have tried to address a small issue and been shot down, making us less willing to attempt to confront the next issue.
Relationships are damaged or broken. And, whether the initial act was a “sin” or not, damaging a relationship is.
Are we willing to work to repair the relationship with our sibling in Christ? Are we willing to follow the steps outlined in Matthew 18:15-20?
Do we recognize that “gentiles and tax collectors” were subjects of mission, and that the admonition to treat someone unwilling to listen to the church as a gentile or tax collector is not justification for shunning or exclusion, but an encouragement to outreach in love?

09/03/2026

Clinton Street UMC
Lectionary Devotions
By Pastor Lyn Ende
Devotion for Thursday September 3, 2026
Please read Lectionary text for Sunday September 6: 15th Sunday after Pentecost: Romans 13:8-14.

Love is the defining characteristic of Christian discipleship. Love as a verb - active, not a passive noun. Love demonstrated in how we live, what we do, how we treat other people. Love that is manifested in self-sacrifice, in putting others’ needs ahead of one’s own. Paul says that is what we owe one another.
There is a mutuality to love in community. I can focus on another’s needs rather than my own because someone else is focusing on mine. We take care of each other.
Or we’re supposed to.
There is an urgency to Paul’s message. He expected Jesus to return soon. Salvation, and the message of salvation, could not be put off. Tomorrow might be too late.
We seem to have lost that sense of urgency; the conviction that Jesus is coming soon; that tomorrow might be too late. We live with the illusion that there’ll be time enough to love my neighbor sometime in the future.
It is just an illusion. Self-delusion.
It is later than we think. And tomorrow may be too late.

09/02/2026

Clinton Street UMC
Lectionary Devotions
By Pastor Lyn Ende
Devotion for Wednesday September 2, 2026
Please read Lectionary text for Sunday September 6: 15th Sunday after Pentecost: Psalm 149.

A hymn of praise. Which is great, until it gets to verses 6b-9b and talk of “two-edged swords,” executing vengeance and punishment, binding kings in fetters, nobles with chains of iron, and claiming that doing so “is glory for all his faithful ones.” (Ps. 149:9b).
Different time. Different culture. Different understanding of “enemies.”
“Enemies” were those who opposed God and God’s plans.
It is far too easy, and common, to equate our personal or national “enemies” with God’s enemies. And spurious to claim we are acting on God’s behalf in rooting out and destroying those we have deemed enemies.
Only God knows what is in a person’s heart. Only God is qualified to judge.
We oppose forces of evil, injustice, and oppression. We condemn and oppose acts of evil, injustice, and oppression. But we do so out of love of God and love of others, and leave the final judgment to God.

09/01/2026

Clinton Street UMC
Lectionary Devotions
By Pastor Lyn Ende
Devotion for Tuesday September 1, 2026
Please read Lectionary text for Sunday September 6: 15th Sunday after Pentecost: Exodus 12:1-14.

The Exodus story is foundational to the identity of the Jewish people. It is the story of God’s deliverance of His people from bo***ge. And it is commemorated yearly in the Feast of Passover. A celebration that is held in homes, among family, not in a temple or other building, making the home a center of worship.
In our reading for today, God is instructing Moses on what the people are to do on the first Passover, the night in which the lamb’s blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses served to identify the people God would save; those He would pass over. But it also includes instructions for future remembrance and celebration of deliverance: liturgy as well as narrative.
Jesus’ death and resurrection are foundational to our identity as Christians. It is the story of God’s deliverance of His people from bo***ge to sin. And it is commemorated every time the Lord’s Supper is shared. We do this gathered as a family of faith, and as an act of worship.
But there is much more to the story. The Hebrew people were delivered from Egypt to the land God promised them. From bo***ge to liberation.
We have been delivered from sin to a life of love and service. From bo***ge to liberation in Christ.

08/30/2026

08/28/2026

Clinton Street UMC
Lectionary Devotions
By Pastor Lyn Ende
Devotion for Friday August 28, 2026
Please read Lectionary text for Sunday August 30: 14th Sunday after Pentecost: Matthew 16:21-28.

Poor Peter! Poor confused Peter. Commended one moment, rebuked the next.
It’s not hard to understand where he is coming from: Jesus is his friend. He has come to recognize Him as Lord. And he doesn’t want his friend to die. Suffering and death is not what he expects for the Messiah. He is thinking purely in human terms. He lacks the divine perspective. His focus is too narrow: his people, his nation, not the whole world, the whole of humanity.
We know the rest of the story. We know resurrection as an accomplished fact. Peter did not at that point. It was something he would have to experience in order to understand what Jesus was saying.
But, if we are honest with ourselves, there have been times when Jesus has not met our expectations. Times when we have been disappointed by Him; angry with Him.
That’s OK.
Jesus is big enough to take all of it.
Our challenge is to hold onto the relationship, to not let go of Jesus.

08/27/2026

Clinton Street UMC
Lectionary Devotions
By Pastor Lyn Ende
Devotion for Thursday August 27, 2026
Please read Lectionary text for Sunday August 30: 14th Sunday after Pentecost: Romans 12:9-21.

Recall that Paul is writing to the house church(es) in Rome experiencing division and discord following the return of Jewish Christians to Rome after the death of Claudius in 54AD. His edict expelling Jews from Rome has been rescinded. The returning Jewish Christians are in conflict with the Gentile Christians who were not expelled and who assumed leadership in the church in the absence of the Jewish Christian leaders. Paul is urging unity, in and through Christ. In today’s reading, he gives some specific instructions on ways to achieve that unity, beginning with the most important Christian characteristic: love.
The church is an alternative community. It is different, and looks different, from the surrounding culture. A dominant characteristic of Roman culture was competition for honor. The church was to demonstrate humility and service to others, out of love of God and love of neighbor.
We are still called to love others and to treat others well. Called to an alternative community, different from the culture around us.
Sometimes, that difference is hard to see.

08/26/2026

Clinton Street UMC
Lectionary Devotions
By Pastor Lyn Ende
Devotion for Wednesday August 26, 2026
Please read Lectionary text for Sunday August 30: 14th Sunday after Pentecost: Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c.

Psalm 105 recounts God’s faithfulness, His keeping of promises, throughout the history of Israel. The psalm urges us to “Remember the wonderful works he has done.” (Ps. 105:5a). The Lectionary selection of verses 23-26, in keeping with yesterday’s reading from Exodus, does just that by recounting the arrival of Israel in Egypt and God’s selection of Moses and Aaron as His human agents. We do it during worship, especially during Communion when we remember God’s mighty acts in Jesus Christ.
As I was reflecting on this psalm, it occurred to me that verses 1-6 would be a good way to start each day.

O give thanks to the Lord; call on his name; make known his deeds among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wonderful works. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually. Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles and the judgments he has uttered, O offspring of his servant Abraham, children of Jacob, his chosen ones. Psalm 105:1-6

08/25/2026

Clinton Street UMC
Lectionary Devotions
By Pastor Lyn Ende
Devotion for Tuesday August 25, 2026
Please read Lectionary text for Sunday August 30: 14th Sunday after Pentecost: Exodus 3:1-15.

Moses has become a shepherd. Quite a different life than living in Pharaoh’s palace. His days now consist of tending flocks – leading them to pasture and water, protecting them from predators, working to keep them healthy and safe. He is performing what has become his usual, day-to-day job, when he sees something unusual; something extraordinary: a bush on fire, but not consumed by the flames. He “turns aside” to look at this unusual sight. He interrupts what he is doing and goes to investigate. And once God has Moses’ attention, God speaks to him.
What would cause us to interrupt what we are doing and turn aside to look at something unusual? Would we stop what we were doing and turn aside? Or, would we stay focused on our immediate task? Would we think: “I’ll check it out later, if I have time”? What opportunities for encounters with God do we miss because we are “too busy,” or because we think we can get back to it later, when it is more convenient for us? Have we not been paying attention and so have never seen the “burning bush” at all?