05/20/2026
Devotion May 20 2026
Taking Sunday into Your Week
Scripture Psalm 8
O Lord our God, the majesty and glory of your name fills all the earth and overflows the heavens. You have taught the little children to praise you perfectly. May their example shame and silence your enemies! When I look up into the night skies and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you have made--- I cannot understand how you can bother with mere puny man, to pay any attention to him! And yet you have made him only a little lower than the angels and placed a crown of glory and honor upon his head. You have put him in charge of everything you made; everything is put under his authority: all sheep and oxen, and wild animals too, the birds and fish, and all the life in the sea. O Jehovah, our Lord, the majesty and glory of your name fills the earth.
Ephesians 3: 14-21
When I think of the wisdom and scope of his plan, I fall down on my knees and pray to the Father of all the great family of God—some of them already in heaven and some down here on earth—that out of his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you the mighty inner strengthening of his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God’s children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God himself. Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes. May he be given glory forever and ever through endless ages because of his master plan of salvation for the Church through Jesus Christ.
Holy Perseverance
Merriam Webster defined heritage as “that which is inherited or passed down from heir to heir. An attribute or immaterial possession that is inherited from ancestors. Something that is in succession.”
The implication is that a heritage is not something that comes to an end. It is not something that is given up on.
There are some humorous ways to look at the idea of not giving up on something. For example: “Never give up. Unless you’re trying to untangle earphones or hangers — then maybe give up.”
“Push through. Cry later. Complain constantly — but never give up.”
“Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible. It just means it’s annoying.”
“The moment you want to quit is the moment you realize you’ve already told too many people about your plans.”
To switch to something a little more serious --- Today we celebrate Heritage Sunday within the United Methodist Church.
Our heritage as United Methodists did not begin with John and Charles Wesley back in the 18th century. It went back even further than that. Back before Jesus commissioned the disciples. Back into the Old Testament. The lives and experiences that those people encountered formed the very basis for our denomination today.
The other day I was cleaning around the outside of our garage and found a tote that had been left out during the winter and it was filled up with water, so I dumped it down the driveway. Because I really didn't want to get right back to work, I stood and watched the water as it tumbled down the drive and what I saw really gave me a lesson in never giving up --- that theme that runs through our heritage. When the water started down the driveway, there were actually two places where it could go. One was into a rut along the edge of the driveway that was full of rocks and clumps of dirt, and the other place was along the smooth part of the driveway. And what I noticed was that the water that went down the smooth part of the driveway actually disappeared quickly. While the water that went into the rut pushed and wound its way around and through and over the obstacles that were in its path. I could see water still running farther on down the driveway.
The lives that were led by Old Testament people, the path that was laid out when Jesus commissioned the disciples to go forth and to lead the church, were all filled with ruts, obstacles, and difficult times. In each and every place we constantly see reminders that while man may get weak, God never gives up.
Even today, there's a thread that runs through our United Methodist story. A thread of grace, yes, but also a thread of holy perseverance. Our heritage is full of people who refuse to give up on God, on each other, or on the world God loves.
There is a story that has been told about Winston Churchill, when he was giving a commencement address. The story goes that after a long and tedious introduction, Churchill got out of his seat, walked up to the podium and very clearly said 3 words, “Never give up.” Five different times he went to the podium and spoke those words and then returned to his seat. At last, feeling that he had exhausted his audience and had driven home his point, he left the stage. Even though he did not keep returning to the podium, you can be sure that every graduate in that audience never forgot that speech and never forgot that he or she was to “never give up.” Within our Christian heritage and our United Methodist heritage, that has been the stream that has carried through all these years.
Today is a day when we remember the past and how God has been at work through our forebearers, never giving up, bringing us to where we are now.
There are a few names which frequently come up in the discussion of our heritage. Peter is 1. He was the chief apostle whom God used to lead the early church through its earliest days. There was nothing special about him other than he was a man who had reached the point in his life when he realized that Jesus would always be with him. That he would be given strength and courage and he would not have to travel the road alone. If we think back to the image of the water running down my driveway and how hard it had to work to move around and over and through the obstacles, we can realize that this is a good example of Peter's life. He grew very tired and discouraged and he could have given up. But he never did. He tried again and again and Grace met him in every situation. Peter's story is not a story of perfection, it's a story of holy perseverance. A story of someone who kept getting back in the boat with Jesus. The story of someone who never gave up.
John Wesley is another person whose name comes up in our discussion of United Methodist heritage. He did not set out to start a denomination. He simply refused to give up on the belief that God's grace could transform lives. He refused to give up on preaching in fields when he wasn't allowed in the buildings. He refused to give up on the poor, those who were in prison, or those who had been forgotten. He and his brother, Charles, were both convinced that faith should be both deeply personal and boldly lived out. That conviction sparked a movement. A movement of people who gathered in small groups to pray, confess, encourage each other and to grow. It was a movement that cared for the poor, visited the sick, taught children how to read and stood with those who had been forgotten. John Wesley is said to have said, “The world is my parish.” The movement that he and Charles began crossed over oceans and in between cultures, because of that belief and that conviction.
Another name that might not be quite as familiar is that of the Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He spent many years in prison camps in Siberia and he had to work every day in the fields, regardless of the weather, regardless of the season. The story of his life tells us that it appeared as though his life would never involve anything other than backbreaking labor and slow starvation. The intense suffering reduced him to a state of despair, to a state where he was ready to give up. He saw no reason to continue in his struggle, no reason to keep on living. He felt that his life made no difference in the world. So, one day, he gave up. Leaving his shovel on the ground, he slowly walked to a bench and sat down. He knew that any moment a guard would order him to stand up, and when he failed to respond, he knew that the guard would probably beat him to death with his own shovel. He had seen it happen to other prisoners. But as he waited with his head bowed down, he felt the presence of someone. He looked up, expecting to see a guard, but he didn't. He saw a skinny old prisoner, who squatted down beside him. The man said nothing, but he just took a stick and he traced in the dirt on the ground the sign of the cross. Then the skinny old prisoner stood back up again and went back to work. Solzhenitsyn stared at the cross drawn in the dirt. And as he did so, his entire perspective changed. He knew he was only one man against the all-powerful Soviet Union. Yet he knew there was something greater than the evil he saw in the prison camp; something greater than the Soviet Union. He knew that hope for all people was represented by that simple cross. Through the power of the cross, anything is possible. Solzhenitsyn slowly stood up, picked up his shovel, and went back to work. Outwardly, nothing had changed. But inside, he had received hope. That hope that is represented by that simple cross is the very basis of our heritage.
Today, we stand in that same stream of grace, in that same pool of hope. Our heritage reminds us that grace goes before us. God is already at work in every heart, preparing the way. Faith grows in community. As we have talked about in the past, we are shaped by one another's prayers, their stories and their presence. And just like the original Methodists, we must be reminded that this community is critical. Holiness is practical. It looks like compassion and justice, mercy and courage. And at the center of it all is love. Open hearts, open minds, open doors is not just a slogan that many United Methodist churches put in their bulletins or on the sign in front of their church, it is a calling. Heritage is not just something we remember, it is something we live. We honor our past best when we allow God to shape our present. When we choose compassion over comfort. When we listen for the Spirit’s leading. When we open our doors wider than we thought possible. When we trust that God is not finished with us yet. Because the story of the United Methodist Church, the story of Christianity is not a museum piece, it's a living testimony. A testimony that God's grace still transforms lives. A testimony that community still matters. A testimony that Love still has the final word. That same spirit that moved John and Charles Wesley, Peter, Alexander Solzhenitsyn…all of the witnesses in our past… is the same Spirit that moves us and it is still moving in us. Because the call to never give up is not about stubbornness, it's about faithfulness. It's about trusting that God is still at work even when we cannot see the ending.
So here we are in our own boat. Maybe we call it the IHS Thomas. Sometimes the waves are high, sometimes there are huge obstacles and clumps of dirt in front of us. Heaven knows we’ve encountered many rocks and clumps in not only the world-wide church, but all the way down to this church. Sometimes the way is rough. But if there is one thing that the lessons of the past, our heritage, should teach us, it is that we are not alone. The church, including this church, does not survive because of our strength. Just like the water in my driveway, we don't make it on down the road, around and over and through the obstacles, because we're doing it alone. We're able to do it because of the One who strengthens us.
So, remember, God has not called us to give up. God has called us to keep going. To keep trusting, to keep loving, to keep showing up, to keep believing that grace is stronger than discouragement, stronger than division, and stronger than fear. We are part of a living story. A story of grace that keeps us afloat. Remember, we come from a people who kept going, a people who believed in second chances, a people who trusted that God's story is bigger than our setbacks. A people who knew that resurrection is not just an event, it is a way of life. A people who believed that holiness was not a theory but a sacred way of living.
Today, as we remember our heritage, may we also renew our Calling. May we be people shaped by grace, grounded in love and sent into the world for the sake of Christ. And may the movement that began centuries and centuries ago continue through us…..in us….and beyond us, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Let us pray: O God, the foundation of our church, our lives and our purpose. We thank you for always being there. Help us to continue the work of your church and to never give up. To never tire of doing what is right and what is needed, for the growth of your Kingdom. We thank you for our heritage, passed down to us through the faithful who have gone before us. We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
