Weekly Devotion for Sunday, September 27th

EDITORS NOTE:
Every week during the school year at Camp Gray, a staff member or volunteer writes a devotion for the upcoming Sunday Gospel reading. Sara, our Program Manager, then emails this devotion to a list of campers, staffers, and retreatants that numbers nearly a thousand. Sean, a long time volunteer at camp, has written this weeks devotion, and we're excited to share it on "Misplaced & Found" - The Blog of Camp Gray 53959. If you like what you see (which no doubt you will), and would like to be added to the weekly devotion email list, contact Sara at sara@campgray.com.


Hey everybody, this is Sean writing to you from the beautiful grounds of Camp Gray. We are enjoying the great weather here at camp, even the rain we had Tuesday, as we continue to work and play with many groups who are visiting us. Anyways, let’s move on to this week’s Gospel reading, which comes from Mark...

Mk 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

At that time, John said to Jesus,
"Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us."
Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.
Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ,
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.
"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.
It is better for you to enter into life crippled
than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where 'their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'"


All right, so I know that this reading may seem kind of deep or scary when you first read it, but if you take a little while to think about it, it starts to make sense.
The reading starts out talking about doing things for Jesus. In the story a man is driving out demons in Jesus’ name. John doesn’t like that because this man doesn’t specifically follow Jesus. Right away, Jesus answers, saying that when we do things for Jesus, we can’t dishonor him in any way. When we serve others because we know it is what God wants, or when we pray to God, we are actually honoring and worshiping Him. At those times there is nothing we can do to wrong God.

When we sin, on the other hand, it is like we are hurting God rather than honoring Him. Now when we sin, we do not need to cut off a hand or foot to be forgiven. Actually, all we need to do is go to confession. But if something in our lives is causing us to sin over and over, Jesus wants us to get away from that thing so we can focus on God.
So just remember to keep serving others and keep praying, so that you can keep honoring God and loving Him just like He loves all of us.

God Bless,
Sean