Midweek Devotion 14 January 2026

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Reading

Exodus 3:1-3

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

Devotion


Today's image is entitled, "Burning Bush with Moses' Flip Flops."  It is a quilt created by fiber artist Janet Hagberg.  More on her work may be found here: Quilted Icons - An Oasis of Beauty, Hope, and Healing.  This quilt is part of a series on shiver points in our lives.  A shiver point is an event that causes us to shiver perhaps because it is a sacred turning point.  About this image the artist says, "And so we can ask ourselves, what is our shiver moment or story in scripture? One of mine is the burning bush because so often I feel as if I'm in a mystifying place in my life where I'm asked to be close to the holy fire."

I can think of several sacred turning points in my life.  I think about my career in the Navy.  I finished as the alternate for a job I really, really wanted.  I think about not selecting for flag rank.  Or, in my ecclesial journey, I think about finishing second in an Episcopal election.  All these failures turned out to be sacred moments that revealed another path toward holiness...one that I didn't even imagine and that turned out far better for my spiritual life than what I wanted.  I discovered my heart's true longing to be something much more holy.

Think about your own life, dear reader.  Where and when have you experienced a sacred turning point, a shiver point?  What was it like?  Did you realize it in the moment or was it something that you realized after the fact?  Did some of them appear as 'failures'?  Perhaps your experience included an initial astonishment and understanding followed.  I hope that the warmth of a fire and growth of the bush, so elegantly described in the quilt have led you along a sacred path.

Prayer

The unconsumed Burning Bush sets our hearts afire.O Rapture in this sacred muse, Dove of Peace inspire—Come, Holy Spirit: Illuminate my mind with wisdom,My heart with joy,And my spirit with the song of love.
As the bush burned and was not consumed,So let my soul burn with the divine fire without being diminished.Mary bore the Eternal Word; let my art bear a reflection of Him.Let the divine flame ignite my work with beauty that does not destroy,But transfigures. Amen (By Dmitri Wright)