Marianne's FLASH💥DEVOS Podcast

Romans 15:4-6 “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of a steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next.+Make the word come alive! Read scripture out loud whenever you can.Help others hear words written for us, inspired by the God who loves us.Thank you for supporting Flash💥Devos with your (free) subscription. Really, it matters! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Hebrews 2: 8-9 We do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.+Our burdens seem daunting. Imagine having to “taste death.” Jesus showed that it’s hard and humbling to give up our lives for others.When Jesus calls our communities to high expectations, grace will empower us to act on the challenges ahead.*Elle Billing is a queer, disabled artist who lives on Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land in rural North Dakota where she creates safe spaces for community. A self-described Moody Millennial, their mixed media and paintings express a Spiritual Archeology, an unpeeling, uncovering, and undoing that addresses memory, identity, and received narratives. “We need each other. Another world is possible. Join us and co-create the world we want.” Experience their invitation at https://www.elleandwink.com/So cool how subscribers support Flash💥Devos as a gift to the arts and spiritual communities we share! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

John 19:41-42 Now there was a garden in the place where he was crucified, and in the garden there was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And so, because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.+The solemn gifts of myrrh, aloes, linen cloths, and a fresh tomb couldn’t dress up the fact that Jesus died. Rituals give us pause to contemplate the sacredness of life.Consider the violence that will end new lives today.Thanks to people like you, Marianne’s 💥 Substack is a reader-supported publication! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Hebrews 12:1-3 Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. Go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!+Jesus offers strategies and wisdom for untangling everyday trials.Every week is holy when we follow Jesus.My friend and fellow writer *Jill Hinners searches for peace and inspiration on or near Minnesota’s lakes and smaller waterways. Jill writes, “I collect iPhone images to document all the natural beauty in this place I’m so fortunate to call home.”Your (free) subscription💥means more than you think! Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Isaiah 50:8-9The Lord God who vindicates me is near.Who will contend with me?Let us stand up together.Who is my adversary?Let them come near to me.Behold, the Lord God helps me;who will declare me guilty?Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;the moth will eat them up.+Nearly six hundred years before Jesus, Isaiah prophesied that a gracious person could face the terror of crucifixion with audacity.Surrendering with mercy releases power.My friend *Lily DeCort is an Ethiopian American painter based in Chicago. Her work, ranging from luminous landscapes to evocative abstracts, reflects the liminality of her experience. Through dark skies, peaceful paths, and vast waters, her paintings explore themes of beauty, vulnerability, healing, and the human journey from wonder to loss and hope reborn. Learn more about Lily and her art at https://lilydecort.com/Your (free) subscription💥matters! Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Psalm 105:39-41He spread out a cloud as a covering,and a fire to give light at night.They asked, and he brought them quail;he fed them well with the bread of heaven.He opened the rock, and water gushed out;it flowed like a river in the desert.+God’s stunning hospitality offers a soul food banquet when we seek help. God transforms clouds, fire, food, and water into comfort, hope, love, and shelter.Let God’s creative power energize whatever you offer others.Maria writes, “Lakshmi is a Hindu goddess of abundance. I see her as an aspect of Mother Nature and all she offers. My titles are often words from other cultures — for example Spanish, French, Indian, Native American, Thai. It is perhaps my little way of reminding us that we are all one and that divisions between people are artificially created.”*Artist and dear friend Maria Wickwire creates ceramic sculptures that reveal feminine archetypes, hoping to encourage healing and forgiveness in our sometimes splintering world. Her studio overlooks Big Lake in northwest Washington. Find her at Mariawickwire.comRefresh your outlook with a spiritual break and feel restored. Subscribe (free) to Flash💥Devos! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

1 Samuel 3:8-9 Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.+Have you waited longer than Samuel for answers from God? Give it time. Trust your sacred place. Listen.Stay alert and obedient. God wants to hear from you, too.*Annie Soudain is a retired art teacher with a studio in Hastings in East Sussex, England. Annie creates local landscapes from Fairlight, Pett Level, Rye Harbour, and Romney Marsh in watercolors, wax resist on silk, and linocut prints. “Her interest in plants started in her early years spent in Cornwall, on long walks with her mother along disused railway tracks where the cuttings were undisturbed and full of flowers and insects,” an exhibition catalog said. Find Annie’s book The Marsh, The Sea, and The Sky, and her prints, cards, puzzles, and tea towels at www.anniesoudain.co.ukThanks for subscribing! 💥 It’s good to be here with you. Sounds simple. Means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

2 Thessalonians 2:17May Jesus himself and God our Father, who reached out in love and surprised you with gifts of unending help and confidence, put a fresh heart in you, invigorate your work, enliven your speech.+Click the reset button on your vitals: let the love of Christ animate your inmost being. Others will gain traction on the goodness that surrounds you, especially in the midst of difficulty or crisis.Let your loving presence set the pace for peace and acceptance.*Holly Harris is an artist from Greensboro, North Carolina, currently based in Washington, D.C. She primarily works in printmaking and oil painting, with frequent exhibitions in D.C. She made her editorial debut creating seven linocut illustrations to accompany the chapters of my friend Andrew DeCort's "Flourishing on the Edge of Faith," published by Bittersweet Collective in 2022. Much of Harris’ work illustrates her own grappling with the tensions of relationship: how we relate to self, to the divine, and to one another in a complex, globalized world." Find her at https://holly-harris-comms-portfolio.squarespace.com/“Flourishing on the Edge of Faith: Seven Practices for a New We” by Andrew DeCort, with linocut illustrations by Holly Harris. https://www.bittersweetcollective.com/andrew-decortSubscribers support Flash💥Devos as a gift to the arts and spiritual communities we share. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Genesis 21:6-7Now Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." And she said, "Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."+God often uses the creative and generative power of women to cast vision and bring joy. Sparking outbursts of laughter among elders in the community is glorious worship.Let others hear why the joy of the Lord is our strength.*Marcia Milner-Brage explains, “My drawing “Self Portrait with Assumption” (1981) still embodies my artmaking practice, which is at the core of my life's journey. Titian's “Assumption of the Virgin” is the postcard-size image affixed to the wall next to the mirror that reflects me. Mary reaches heavenward to assume her place in heaven. I reach downward into the work of art-making, which is my avenue to self-discovery and the spiritual realm.” From the Midwest, Marcia moved to the San Francisco Bay area two years ago. Find her great work on socials and https://www.flickr.com/photos/marciamilner-brage/Thanks for subscribing! 💥 Simply means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Thank you to all who’ve been praying with me during March as we celebrate Divine mercy. Today’s thank-you gift is a Lenten revelation about attuning to Christ’s suffering through experiences I had at Prairiewoods, a Franciscan Eco-Spirituality Center in Hiawatha, Iowa. May the gift of reconciliation come to you through nature as well, a reciprocal movement of loving forgiveness that shifts how we live in the world.Bouquet of Thorns by Marianne Abel-LipschutzA direct encounter with Jesus in a locust tree taught me how God shares life with each of us individually. During a 2015 Prairiewoods retreat called, “Beauty is the Path to God’s Life,” led by Father John Quigley, OSF, I discovered some answers to questions I had about reconciling suffering and hardship. Honestly, the world looked weary that first day through the meeting room windows; a late winter gloom of overcast skies lingered after a frigid winter.John spoke eloquently of God’s desire to manifest love through the vivid realities of the created world. A perfect example of this yearning claimed space on a table set with a white cloth. A torso-sized bouquet of extravagant flowers in a glass vase arranged by Sister Rita, FSPA, stood like a silent but flamboyantly-dressed person right next to John. The upright plant stems drank living water, softening the textures of dozens of petals and leaves as the hours passed.The marvelous flowers revealed God’s presence clearly, a counterpoint to the drab day which was a better representation of my broken heart. I had been feeling condemned through some harsh life events, and felt doomed to bear this time in silence. But John urged us to see God’s creativity as pervasive. “God is not just doing beautiful things. God is not just making nice flowers and pretty pictures,” he commented. “God is always breathing, always expressing.”I walked in the woods when the skies cleared the next afternoon, attuned to a revelation of God’s desire that John encouraged us to expect. The world was waking from winter dormancy. My feet left prints on the soft earth below the mulched trails. Not many birds called from the trees and no critters skittered past me.A handful of skinny fingers pointing outward from a tree trunk caught my attention. I saw thorn clusters wrapped around the tree at eye level. It was the weekend after Easter, and an image of the crown of thorns flashed in my mind’s eye. I felt like one of the bystanders on the Via Dolorosa, a witness to the awful suffering that comes with great love. Further down the path from the thorn-rimmed, honey locusts, I watched while a maple tree wept, sap seeping from the gray bark down to the cold ground like a waterfall of tears.This profound spiritual encounter with God was an intense lesson in becoming one with the suffering of Christ. Not that I could feel his level of suffering; this was my human experience of his human experience. Even the trees took part in his suffering.Romans 8:17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.When I returned to the honey locust grove in June to take some pictures, God was still waiting for me there. It was a lightly rainy day. Cool raindrops fell off the leaves as I walked up to the grove on the hill.The tree I met three years ago was still there, too, but the thorns were shockingly alive, flushed red with the lifeblood of spring. I touched the fresh stiletto points of surprisingly soft thorns. The blood of Christ flowed out through the tree to reach me. Like Thomas, I had doubted my ability to connect with God’s love again.The oxygen-rich, blood-red new thorns growing over and into and around the old gray clusters embodied the energy of Christ’s living and dying for us. Hope is not just in my nature, dormant. As a child of God, hope is my nature. Experiencing this incarnation of God’s almighty presence offered sacred time to touch, and see, and arouse my desire to share this gift with others.A version of this article first appeared on 19 March 2019 on the blog of Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center, Hiawatha, Iowa. http://prairiewoods.org/bouquet-of-thorns/Thanks to people like you, Marianne’s 💥 Substack is a reader-supported publication! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 15:1-2 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.”+Jesus offered parables for homework. What would you do? When our choices don’t match our values, the conflict tears us apart. The Pharisees opted for a deadly ultimatum.Who you eat with can change the world.Elle Billing is a queer, disabled artist who lives on Očhéthi Šakówiŋ land in rural North Dakota where she creates safe spaces for community. “What a strange and wonderful life,” they wrote. “I never imagined I would leave a teaching career, but I did. I never believed I would move back to my hometown, but here I am! I think my first-grade self would be very surprised, but very pleased with this eccentric artist life I’m living.” A self-described Moody Millennial, their mixed media and paintings express a Spiritual Archeology, an unpeeling, uncovering, and undoing that addresses memory, identity, and received narratives. “The struggles of late-stage capitalism, chronic illness and disability, perpetual war, and the cost of living crisis are driving us into further isolation; we need each other. Another world is possible. Join us and co-create the world we want.” Experience their invitation at https://www.elleandwink.com/Flourishing in authentic relationships with others creates abundance in every setting. Subscribe to Flash💥Devos! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 13:7-9“‘Now these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it deplete the soil?’“He answered him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you shall cut it down.’ ”+Fruit-bearing seasons vary for all living things. Stagnant times of grief and struggle beg for nurturing and patience.Your compassionate shepherding matters.*Marcia Milner-Brage is a scribe who works from direct observation. Marcia says she faces the blank page “to transfer all my senses, whether I’m looking outward or inward.” She writes personal essays and, in visual art, drawing, painting, and collage. “For me, being in nature is going to church. Through observing the bounty of the earth, I fulfill my calling.” From the Midwest, Marcia moved to the San Francisco Bay area two years ago. Find her great work on socials and https://www.flickr.com/photos/marciamilner-brage/Thanks for subscribing! 💥 It’s good to be here with you. Sounds simple. Means everything! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Isaiah 55:2-3Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.Incline your ear, and come to Me.Listen, so that your soul may live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you.+The default setting for life--work, eat, distract, repeat--yields discontent, isolation, and harm. Yet believing in promises and everlasting and abundance can seem hopeless.Embody spiritual vitality.*Annie Soudain is a retired art teacher with a studio in Hastings in East Sussex, England. Annie creates local landscapes from Fairlight, Pett Level, Rye Harbour, and Romney Marsh in watercolors, wax resist on silk, and lino printing. “Her deep enjoyment and understanding of form and pattern help us to see the natural world more clearly,” an exhibition catalog said. “Her interest in plants started in her early years spent in Cornwall, on long walks with her mother, most memorably along disused railway tracks where the cuttings were undisturbed and full of flowers and insects.” One reviewer of her autobiographical book The Marsh, The Sea, and The Sky, quotes her, “‘I am lucky that so far, I have never run out of ideas.’” Discover Annie’s art through prints, cards, puzzles, and tea towels at www.anniesoudain.co.ukRefresh your outlook with a spiritual break and feel restored. Subscribe to Flash💥Devos! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Isaiah 55:2-3Why do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance.Incline your ear, and come to Me.Listen, so that your soul may live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you.+The default setting for life--work, eat, distract, repeat--yields discontent, isolation, and harm. Yet believing in promises and everlasting and abundance can seem hopeless.Embody spiritual vitality.*Annie Soudain is a retired art teacher with a studio in Hastings in East Sussex, England. Annie creates local landscapes from Fairlight, Pett Level, Rye Harbour, and Romney Marsh in watercolors, wax resist on silk, and lino printing. “Her deep enjoyment and understanding of form and pattern help us to see the natural world more clearly,” an exhibition catalog said. “Her interest in plants started in her early years spent in Cornwall, on long walks with her mother, most memorably along disused railway tracks where the cuttings were undisturbed and full of flowers and insects.” One reviewer of her autobiographical book The Marsh, The Sea, and The Sky, quotes her, “‘I am lucky that so far, I have never run out of ideas.’” Discover Annie’s art through prints, cards, puzzles, and tea towels at www.anniesoudain.co.ukRefresh your outlook with a spiritual break and feel restored. Subscribe to Flash💥Devos! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 13:24-25“Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’”+Jesus welcomes us in mutual trust and surrender--as brother, sister, friend.What will you downsize to cross this threshold into love and belonging?Today’s devotion also appears on redletterchristians.org daily WakeUp newsletter.Thanks to people like you, Marianne’s Substack is a reader-supported publication! 💥 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Matthew 9:27-29Two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?"+These men respected the power and possibility of restoration with Jesus. “Then he touched their eyes and said, ‘According to your faith let it be done to you.’” Do others see faith as a power in your life?Ask Jesus for mercy. You'll receive a whole lot more.Today’s devotion also appears on redletterchristians.org daily WakeUp newsletter.Thanks for subscribing! 💥 It’s good to be here with you. Sounds simple. Means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Hosea 14:9Who is wise? Let them realize these things. Who is discerning? Let them understand.The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.+When scripture claims “The way of the Lord is right,” it’s safe to follow the metaphor where it leads. Your awareness, discernment, and faith matter. There’s a map, good directions. Let the Wayshower lead.You can stumble on a smooth path, too. Get where you want to go with God.Thanks for subscribing! 💥 It’s good to be here with you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 18:1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.+Jesus gave us stories with truths tucked inside, oddly familiar once-upon-a-time creations that shed light on real life. Parables help us think when moral dilemmas and crises strike. We wonder what’s worth doing and how to respond. If Jesus gave up when life got hard and hateful, what parables would we hear?Choose to persevere in faith, even though it’s hard. It’s harder without Jesus.*Maria Wickwire says “Anillos” was originally her award-winning ceramic sculpture installed in a pedestrian mall in Lake Oswego, Oregon. After Anillos was vandalized and toppled off her pedestal, it took Maria three years to inspect the ceramic shards. “Had any other sculpture been destroyed, I would have let it go,” Maria recalled. “The trauma seemed part of her story. Her new chapter began.” Anillos was reborn as a bronze sculpture with 18K gold embedded in the cracks left by the original statue’s destruction. “The gold in her scars emulates Japanese kintsugi, mending broken things with gold. The textured rings represent how Life’s experiences are written into the cells of our bodies.” Discover more about Anillos and her story here: https://mariawickwire.com/anillos-reborn/Artist and dear friend Maria Wickwire creates ceramic sculptures that reveal feminine archetypes, hoping to encourage healing and forgiveness in our sometimes splintering world. Find her work at www.Mariawickwire.comFeel free to share this Flash💥Devo! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Isaiah 30:15God, the Master, The Holy of Israel, has this solemn counsel:“Your salvation requires you to turn back to me and stop your silly efforts to save yourselves.Your strength will come from settling down in complete dependence on me—The very thing you’ve been unwilling to do.”+Isaiah prophesied in the 8th Century B.C. Yet overscheduling, independence, and personal accomplishment still receive higher praise than God’s radical call to surrender, turn back, and settle down.Let silliness and joy model surrender to God.Thanks! 💥 It’s good to be here with you. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

1 Corinthians 2:10-11 The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.+Resurrection is one of “the deep things of God” that we know to be true by observing nature’s cycles of life and death. Repeating patterns spiral inward and outward through infinite reverberations of desire and delight.Let your creative energies tap Divine promises.Marcia writes, “After many years of exploring the backwaters of the Cedar River watershed in northeast Iowa, I fell in awe with the conk shelf mushrooms that grow on dead cottonwood logs and trunks. After learning that the moist polypore underside of a conk makes an exciting surface to draw on or etch into, I created a series of observed images on harvested conks.” https://www.flickr.com/photos/marciamilner-brage/albums/72157719877834727/Flash💥Devos is a gift to the arts and spiritual communities we share. Thanks for subscribing! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Psalm 39:4-5“Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.+Would you ask God to open your book of days? My life patterns land best in worlds I couldn’t have imagined. Allow wisdom to guide you now.An end will come. Embody beatific hope.My friend and fellow writer Jill Hinners searches for peace and inspiration on or near Minnesota’s lakes and smaller waterways. Jill writes, “I collect iPhone images to document all the natural beauty in this place I’m so fortunate to call home.”Refresh your outlook with a spiritual break and feel restored. Subscribe to Flash💥Devos! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 4:28-30 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.+Jesus could sidestep cliffs and walk through chaos. Mobs still can’t stop how he changes the world.When Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid,” remember how he learned it in the streets.My friend Lily DeCort is an Ethiopian American painter based in Chicago. Her work, ranging from luminous landscapes to evocative abstracts, reflects the liminality of her experience. Through dark skies, peaceful paths, and vast waters, her paintings explore themes of beauty, vulnerability, healing, and the human journey from wonder to loss and hope reborn. “I value the personal connection each person can form with the piece,” she commented. “The unspoken space between the viewer and the painting is where the most profound meaning emerges.” Enjoy Lily’s art at https://lilydecort.com/Flash💥Devos is reader-supported. Try a free or paid subscription. Thanks for being here! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Ezekiel 33:31-32 Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice.+One can yearn for authentic faith and yet fall short. Community helps us embody change. After a time outsiders will wonder, “Hmm, how did they become who they are now?”Faith can flourish through others in our lives.Subscribe to Flash💥Devos or Follow for the latest posts. Thanks a bunch! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Thanks for joining me during these first six months of Flash💥Devos. My Thank-You gift today is an article I wrote about my first international mission trip when our family traveled with a team to Haiti three years after the earthquake of January 12, 2010. I am still being discipled--and disciplined--by the people and circumstances we encountered there. I pray that you, too, can meet people whose faith manifests as powerfully as we witnessed in Haiti.Field Testing My Faith by Marianne Abel-LipschutzArriving in Haiti with our service team from the Midwest, I imagined we had washed ashore like jetsam that had no place on land. My body throbbed with that thrill of merging into an urban pace that sweats with the mash-up of humanity. Confronted by the stench of urine and scorched plastic and the ear-piercing music and shrieking horns radiating from neon-painted buses, the reality of life in Port-au-Prince dragged me under like a riptide.Our group stood in pickup trucks for the half-hour drive from the airport to our guesthouse. Technicolor scenes of life in action alongside eerie destruction captivated me as we drove through the city. At one point on our journey, we watched half a dozen men detour off the sidewalk and form a semi-circle to hoist the front quarter of a truck out of a gaping hole in the crossroads. Cars, buses, and trucks swerved around them. After they succeeded, the men congratulated each other and walked away as if leaving a stage set after a comedy sketch.Bustling city life played out in front of multi-story buildings that had collapsed into rubble from the magnitude 7 earthquake that had hit Haiti three years earlier—the structures looked like the toppled monuments of another civilization. Twisted rebar stuck out of buildings as if the city was pegged to the bedrock, ready to float with the next seismic wave. I imagined the crushed people who would never be unearthed, someone’s briefcase, a dented lunch box, perfect shoes, disordered parts of people, and all the things that would never be put back together.Controlled ExposureHumanitarian aid flooded Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake with its vast and irrevocable destruction. Characterized as the worst catastrophe in any country in the modern era, investigators reported 316,000 dead or missing persons, plus 300,000 injured, and over 1½ million people displaced. The collapse of the electrical grid, the National Palace, the cathedral, United Nations headquarters, and the national penitentiary counted as notable losses, along with the disintegration of over sixty percent of infrastructure. A cholera epidemic flared after UN Peacekeepers with the bacterial infection were unwittingly deployed from Nepal. Hurricanes and drought followed within the next few years.My husband and I and our son served with Global Ministries and the National Spiritual Council of Haitian Churches (CONASPEH), an organization dedicated to community development, Christian education, pastoral training, and justice advocacy. We travelled with twenty nine people from several denominations, ranging in age from teens to elders. We split into work groups each day, sending one third to a pop-up medical and dental clinic, another third to an elementary school, and the last portion to construction sites managed by CONASPEH.The field clinic took over a three-room administrative building in Croix-de-Bouquets, a refugee settlement of plastic tarp shelters on rock-strewn hillsides outside the city organized by USAID and humanitarian organizations. Sixty thousand families, resettled from tent cities in Port-au-Prince, lived in this barren and forsaken sector. Arrows pointed to zones with biblical names like Canaan and New Jerusalem, broadcasting a prophetic blessing into the air. I helped people at the clinic and prayed with them in my broken French while they waited for the doctors or the dental team.Haitian hosts controlled our exposure to local conditions. They also cautioned us against spontaneously giving away toys, food, or money. Such impulsive generosity could create animosity and endanger everyone. We huddled behind the privacy curtain to eat part of our lunch before wrapping up the rest to slip to our Haitian coworkers. I grieved for the hungry children who stood outside. Investigators tallied 1.5 million orphans left by the disaster, as if cities the size of Philadelphia or San Antonio were filled only with children whose vulnerabilities grew more complex each day.Where is God?Every night our team debriefed and shared “God sightings.” Others reflected on interactions with Haitians, inspirational sunsets and sunrises seen from the rooftop, and what it was like to share a few days of living alongside the perils Haitians face everyday. I remained silent, not knowing what to say. Battered by the life in front of me, I failed to see any hope. I had no context for this world's disarray and withdrew, missing the hope completely. The country looked doomed to me.Treating chronic m

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”?+Bathe the beloved community in mercy.Who has not received a holy anointing to serve?Olly Costello’s bright collages delighted me when I first clipped them out of Geez Magazine. They are a white queer illustrator, PIC abolitionist, food growing enthusiast, and community seed saver. “I find direction and purpose in recognizing the power our radical imaginations have in shaping the world we live in,” Olly writes. “I hope my work can be a small contributing part of creating our new culture, grounded in honoring the inherent sacredness of all beings and pushing us beyond violent cultures.” Discover their inspiring work on socials and at https://ollycostello.com/Flourishing relationships create abundance in every setting. Subscribe to Flash💥Devos! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Daniel 10:17-19 “How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.” Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength.“Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed,” he said. “Peace! Be strong now; be strong.”+God approaches, reaching through scripture and angels, visions and circumstances. The assurance of the God who gives us breath takes our breath away.Be strengthened in the truth of your witness.Subscribers support Flash💥Devos as a gift. Isn’t that great? Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Song of Solomon 2:10-12My beloved speaks and says to me:“Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away,for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come,and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land.+Love called the world into being with an extraordinary invitation. Come away today to listen, admire beauty, and sing.Let love balance your life.“Every year for fifty, I’ve made valentines for a few special someones,” Marcia commented. “I play with color and paint and collage. Embracing whimsy through my valentines helps me to survive winter.” Her valentines are at: https://www.flickr.com/gp/marciamilner-brage/N7u5Z078s3Fellow artist and writer Marcia Milner-Brage and I first became friends through our Iowa food-buying club in the late 1980s. A scribe who works from direct observation, Marcia says she faces the blank page “to transfer all my senses, whether I’m looking outward or inward.” She writes personal essays and in visual art, drawing, painting, and collage. “Thus, I name my world. I remember doing my first observed drawing sixty-eight years ago, at age five; it was a sketch of my parents,” she explained. “I thought I could figure out who they were and how they were different, if I could show them on paper.” From the Midwest, Marcia moved to the San Francisco Bay area two years ago. Find her great work on socials and https://www.flickr.com/photos/marciamilner-brage/Subscribers support Flash💥Devos as a gift to the arts and spiritual communities we share. Thanks for joining us. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Matthew 5:3, 6, 9“Blessed are the poor in spirit…Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice…Blessed are the peacemakers…”+These were Sister Dorothy’s last words as she blessed her murderers. Even today, this cousin I never met invites me into the kingdom.Sister commented, “There are things you do because they feel right and they make no sense and they make no money and it may be the real reason we are here: to love each other and to eat each other’s cooking and to say it was good.”Sister Dorothy Stang SNDdeN ~ 7 June 1932 Dayton, Ohio - 12 February 2005 Anapu, Brazil Celebrating Sister Dorothy’s legacy today on the 20th anniversary of her martyrdom. https://www.sndohio.org/sister-dorothy/20thanniversaryFlash💥Devos is a gift you can share freely. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Ezekiel 33:14-15And if I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ but they then turn away from their sin and do what is just and right— if they give back what they took in pledge for a loan, return what they have stolen, follow the decrees that give life, and do no evil—that person will surely live; they will not die.+If we can love others yet choose not to, we commit evil, an injustice. Loving restores life.Choose reconciliation with the good of life.Flash💥Devos + Podcast is a reader-supported publication. Subscribers enrich the beloved community! Thanks for being here today! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Colossians 1:9-11We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience…+Imagine strangers praying this over you.Become “holy people in the kingdom of light.”*About the sculpture, Maria writes, ”I named her ‘Ganas’ from a speech Edward James Olmos, as Jaime Escalante, made to Hispanic students in his calculus class in the film, Stand and Deliver. Students from East L.A., he explained, needed the desire — the ganas — to work hard and achieve their goals. As a teacher, I watched this film for inspiration when each new school year began.”Artist and dear friend Maria Wickwire creates ceramic sculptures that reveal feminine archetypes, hoping to encourage healing and forgiveness in our sometimes splintering world. Her studio overlooks Big Lake in northwest Washington where she photographs Mother Nature’s reminders that if She can persist, so can we. Find Maria at Mariawickwire.comSubscribers support Flash💥Devos as a gift to the arts and spiritual communities we share. Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Acts 9:17Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”+What a gift to have people in our lives who deliver the word of God. Saul received a loving touch, a benediction, and an action plan for a lifelong faith journey. How can others support your obedience?Attune to God’s plans through the beloved community. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Matthew 17:20 “Because you’re not yet taking God seriously,” said Jesus. “The simple truth is that if you had a mere kernel of faith, a poppy seed, say, you would tell this mountain, ‘Move!’ and it would move. There is nothing you wouldn’t be able to tackle.”+Seed catalogs are gardeners’ bibles. Where do you find directions for light, cultivation, and your personal spiritual harvest? You can choose which faith seed to grow: a Dijon type or mustard the color of yellow paint.Seriously. Which mountain moves without God?Flash💥Devos is a reader-supported publication that fosters engaged spirituality through prayer, contemplation, art, and action. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Ezekiel 32:10I will cause many peoples to be appalled at you, and their kings will shudder with horror because of you when I brandish my sword before them.On the day of your downfall each of them will tremble every moment for his life.+God asked Ezekiel to voice this warning to Pharaoh, a warning for all who lead with oppressive force and impunity. We need not live in fear as these leaders should.Will you lead with compassion and grace the way Jesus does?My friend and fellow writer Jill Hinners searches for peace and inspiration on or near Minnesota’s lakes and smaller waterways. Jill writes, “I collect iPhone images to document all the natural beauty in this place I’m so fortunate to call home.”Flash💥Devos + Podcast is a reader-supported publication. Subscribers enrich the beloved community through the arts and spirituality! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Thanks to everyone who has been praying in community with me this year on Flash💥Devos. I feel so grateful for your presence! My January 2025 Thank-You gift is this article about how prayer invited me into a new world of connecting with the Divine as well as with others. I pray that my experiences give you hope for change in your own life. Check this post on my Substack page to see the original photos that accompany the article.Dancing with Almighty God by Marianne Abel-Lipschutz“Will you pray?” Everyone’s eyes shift downward. We squirm, hoping somebody else starts. It gets awkward. We know prayer is an essential part of faith, yet when asked to pray in public, many of us cringe. Prayer comes from our inner life and we want it to be just that: inner. Like John the Baptist, someone praying out loud can be snubbed as an outsider who has leaped beyond normal spiritual categories.I spent a long while as the person searching for her feet when the opportunity to pray out loud came up. Prayer and praying aloud changed for me—and changed me—while living and serving in Guatemala. Initially, I didn’t consider prayer something that could disrupt my comfort while I was outside my passport country. Hopelessness, violence, malnutrition, intractable corruption, dirty water, environmental degradation—these forces troubled me. But prayer? Within days of being in Guatemala, I learned that my prayer life needed awakening.All Together NowWe first traveled to Guatemala on a short-term mission trip in 2013. Prayer infiltrated our team immediately. We gathered on the airport exit ramp, breathing gritty diesel exhaust in the cool night air. The director said we’d travel for two hours west to Chimaltenango, but first, we’d pray about the drive. “We pray Guatemalan style," he explained, guiding us into a circle. "Everyone. All at once.”Most of the two dozen people had volunteered with this ministry before, so they prayed out loud. No one waited their turn or worried about what to say. My focus shifted in and out as phrases echoed around the circle like a kaleidoscope twirling with sounds. I couldn’t track my thoughts. I had never heard anyone—let alone everyone—pray like that. I jumped in not thinking about what I said or how. I just prayed. As amens drew the huddle into silence, I felt a new vitality emerge within me.Prayers integrated seamlessly into each day. A traffic jam, a flat tire, an ambulance passing by, nice weather, rain, a good meal, sunburn, a productive work session, an unexpected treat or disaster—every occasion merited divine conversation. Add evening worship, devotions, and our individual prayers, it was more prayer than I’d ever experienced in my life.Over the weekend, we held medical clinics, kids activities, and worship in two villages. The townspeople spoke Kaqchikel, a regional Mayan language that mesmerized me with its clicks and consonants. Translators converted our English into Spanish, and then passed that version to local speakers. These tri-lingual conversations slowed our concentration to such a delicate pace that we might as well have tossed a hat-full of baby turtles between us.After worship, the pastors gathered everyone for prayer at dusk. My ears and heart throbbed while several hundred people called out to God in three languages for half an hour. It was as if a wind had blown through, stirring up a mosh-pit of wailing, whimpering, fainting, alleluias, and defiant shrieks meant to rout the enemy.Kingdom KinshipWitnessing others’ rapport with God shifted my awareness of kinship in the Kingdom. I could see blank spaces in my Christian life where I just hadn’t thought about prayer. I hadn’t been considering how, why, or when I prayed. My relationship with Jesus was conceptual until I stepped into the place reserved for me. Intentional prayer offered me the tangible opportunities God promises those who obey him.Eventually we spent months at a time serving with this ministry throughout central Guatemala. Consecrating ourselves and our work to God shaped my days and who I was becoming. At a house church crammed with 30 people, during an altar call after a medical clinic, on the airport parking lot, wherever we went and whatever we did, Jesus shared more of the inner life I had once guarded.Connecting my inner life to the inner lives of strangers in public in foreign languages added to my transformation. Hearing others pray for me, my faith prospered in ways that silent prayer alone did not teach me. I learned that to be welcomed as a fellow believer in other languages, addressed intimately by strangers as “beloved” and “dear sister,” declares the mysterious unity of our faith. Even when we can’t understand each other’s words, the Spirit speaks clearly through us. We recognize one another as co-heirs with Christ, cherished children of God.This new lifestyle of prayer prepared me for the other side of authenticity—reaching into my own despondency. When I forget what it’s like to be holy, I picture myself a

Luke 1:76, 78-79And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High… because of the tender mercy of our God,by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darknessand in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”+Give thanks when you hear how and why you are called to live.Let “the tender mercy of our God” allow everyone to grow through love.Flash💥Devos is a reader-supported publication that fosters engaged spirituality through prayer, art, and action. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Colossians 4:17-18 “See to it that you complete the ministry you have received in the Lord.” I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.+In prison and on papyrus, Paul poured out his heart to disrupt evil with Christ’s love. I honor how Paul’s writing still shapes our faith. Can you write or draw about what holds your conscience captive?Shine God’s mercy into “the fruitless deeds of darkness” with words and images of power and spirit.Meg West and I have been good friends since 1977 and she eagerly agreed to share her art with us on my Flash💥Devos. Meg has painted full time since 2000, delighting others with her plein air oil paintings. She paints daily, either inside her studio near Charlottesville, Virginia, or outside. Meg often gathers with fellow painters at locations that inspire them: ponds, mountains, vineyards, streams, and gardens. Her landscapes capture scenes throughout Albemarle and surrounding counties in the Shenandoah Valley, as well as Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and beyond. “I enjoy the rhythm and momentum that comes with a steady flow of painting,” she wrote. “The act of painting is what is important--feeling connected to the environment, myself, and the painting.” Find Meg on socials and on her blog at http://www.megwestoilpainting.net/Flash💥Devos is a reader-supported publication. Your subscription is a gift to the arts and spiritual communities we share. Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Job 19: 7-8“Though I cry, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; he has shrouded my paths in darkness.”+Job’s lament parallels the stories of migrants and refugees today who flee suffering and social terror. They find pathways through darkness that teach us about risking everything to live. Pray that God’s loving light fills seekers with strength and courage.Stand with others as an ally in the beloved community of hope and reconciliation.Today’s sculpture “Mother, Mother Ocean” represents “another aspect of Mother Nature, trying to survive and accommodate the intrusion of humans,” Maria Wickwire wrote. “Her title is a fragment of a song lyric by Jimmy Buffet.”Longtime friend and fellow artist Maria Wickwire creates evocative ceramic sculptures revealing feminine archetypes. “I hope to encourage healing and forgiveness in our sometimes splintering world,” she commented. Her studio overlooks Big Lake in northwest Washington where, she adds, “I photograph Mother Nature’s reminders that if She can persist, so can we.” Find Maria and her award-winning work at mariawickwire.com and social media channels.Subscribers support Flash💥Devos as a gift to the arts and spiritual communities we share. Thanks for joining us! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Psalm 36:5-6God’s love is meteoric, God’s loyalty astronomic,God’s purpose titanic, God’s verdicts oceanic.Yet in this largeness nothing gets lost;Not a person, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.+God’s intergalactic sweep contrasts with the quiet pace of Jesus coming alongside his broken-hearted brothers on the Emmaus Road. Yet we’re allowed to experience love’s mysteries. Love’s power, Huey Lewis sang, “Might make you sad. Might make you mad.”“But you’ll be glad, baby, when you’ve foundThat’s the power, makes the world go ‘round.”**Songwriters Huey Lewis, Chris Hayes, Johnny Colla. “The Power of Love,” 1985.Today’s devotion also appears on redletterchristians.org daily WakeUp newsletter.Thanks for subscribing! 💥 Sounds simple. Means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Ephesians 6:14-16Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.+Imagine you wear faith gear. Which shirt welcomes others? Like Jesus stepping through prickly desert brush, sandals can slow our pace to walk in peace. Would “taking up the shield of faith” release more vulnerability?Show lovingkindness in gestures that deflect “the flaming arrows of the evil one.”Today’s devotion also appears on redletterchristians.org daily WakeUp newsletter.Flash💥Devos + Podcast is a reader-supported publication. Subscribers enrich the beloved community through the arts and spirituality! Thanks for being here today! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 8:38-39 Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you."+Two men crazed by demons lived in the tombs. When Jesus drew near, he restored their health and sanity, then showed mercy even to the demons, granting their wishes. The townspeople took fright at God’s power and fled. One of the healed men begged to follow Jesus but received a holy anointing for a tough assignment--to serve his community instead.Let your obedience embody the merciful presence of God.Today’s “Watcher” is from Maria’s series, Once Upon a Time When Women Were Birds. “These appeared as figures emerging from the clay, still grounded there, but also reaching to fly. When this one emerged, she made me think of the watcher angels referenced in the Book of Daniel, there to watch over humans. I named the series after a poem by Terry Tempest Williams with the same title,” Maria wrote.“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.” Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on VoiceI first met Maria Wickwire on paper in 1991 when a poem of hers so captivated me that I still love it today. We’ve become dear friends and share many mutual interests. Maria’s evocative sculptures reveal feminine archetypes. “I hope to encourage healing and forgiveness in our sometimes splintering world,” she commented. Her studio overlooks Big Lake in northwest Washington where, she adds, “I photograph Mother Nature’s reminders that if She can persist, so can we.” Find Maria and her award-winning work at mariawickwire.com and social media.Flash💥Devos is a reader-supported publication. We foster engaged spirituality through prayer, art, and action. Join us! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Galatians 4:16 Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?+The Apostle Paul sounds like an improvisational character actor, calling out to us through the millennia in every imaginable voice: lecturing, blaming, cautioning, pleading, teaching, testifying, whispering, persuading, sympathizing, lamenting, loving, and celebrating. He exhorts believers to walk a narrow path alongside Jesus. Can you help others thrive in that truth?May we love others as we all become “children of promise,” heirs to the kingdom of God.Thanks for subscribing! 💥 Sounds simple. Means a lot! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Hosea 10:12Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love,and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord,until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.+These poetic words challenge us to go boldly beyond a contemplative walk with the Divine. When we share the treasures of righteousness and work the unplowed ground together, the sweet fruit of unfailing love will sustain us.What activates your soul with wonder and Presence?Subscribers support Flash💥Devos as a gift to the arts and spiritual communities we share. Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

1 Samuel 20:23 “And about the matter you and I discussed—remember, the Lord is witness between you and me forever.”+This covenant between friends is a divine sidebar about the meaningful bonds of affection, protection, and steadfast love we can create with others. To trust a friend for life is good; to pledge with a friend for eternity is even better.Call on Jesus to be your witness. Trust him to be fair. Ask him to be your friend.Sculptor Maureen Seamonds is a dear friend from Webster City, Iowa and a catalyst for community art. People looking around Mo’s rural downtown studio respond directly, she commented. “They’ll touch the work, or hug it, or drape an arm across it. They really know it.” Visit her at the Produce Station Pottery or through Legacy Learning Boone River Valley.Flash💥Devos + Podcast is a reader-supported publication. Your subscription is a gift to the arts and spiritual communities we share. Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Thanks for praying with me during December! In gratitude, let me offer some reasons why a funny thing might happen to you, too, if you explore Visio Divina. When I took responsibility for my spiritual life, practices like Visio Divina enchanted me. May these Flash💥Devos enrich your experience of the Divine in 2025. Thank YOU!Seeing Anew with Visio Divinaby Marianne Abel-LipschutzToday’s image of the back cover of this handmade bible from the 8th Century astonished me — and made me wonder what the front cover looks like! Each time I examine it, my fingertips tingle as I imagine rubbing the smooth gems, tracing the twined filigrees, and turning the cover this way and that. Without a single word of text, I perceive a powerful impression of Almighty God. What do you see?I love picturing the monks’ workshop more than thirteen hundred years ago where skilled artisans brainstormed how to honor the world-changing prophesies inside. The cover’s elaborate patterning, gems, cultural histories, and spiritual energy merge into an order of the whole that’s saturated with time, place, meaning, and creativity. A Morgan Library entry on the Lindau Gospel covers describes some of its cosmological dimensions that may have already captivated your spirit. “The Greek letters alpha and omega are inscribed on the vertical arm of the cross and refer to the beginning and end of time. “Likewise, the mass of snakes and other creatures filling the four carved plaques between the arms of the cross establish a link between the Gospels and the primordial act of creation.” Once we open to revelation beyond the text, Presence lives. Turquoise, topaz, emeralds, gold, and moonstones speak of the glory of paradise itself. How does what you perceive connect or clash with who you are right now? That’s where Visio Divina begins. …people try to put a shroud over truth. But the basic reality of God is plain enough. Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of God’s divine being. So nobody has a good excuse. ~Romans 1:20 MSGFor several years, I participated in Visio Divina sessions once or twice a month at Prairiewoods, a Franciscan eco-spirituality center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, about an hour away from my home. Our ecumenical group of seekers included artists, writers, readers, and prayer warriors who collaborated in wide-ranging dialogues with the Word. God inspired us with creative interpretations, uncanny wisdom, and honest reflections about our faith. The Prairiewoods sessions, guided by Pastor Rodney Bluml, included two hours of prayer using an illumination and an accompanying verse from the St. John’s Bible. This edition offers exquisite testimony through terrific writing and remarkable illustrations inspired through community practice in the Benedictine tradition. Artists collaborated for more than a dozen years to reimagine the scriptural texts for our new century, blending the traditional crafts of the monastic scribes of the Middle Ages with the book arts skills of the modern era. Texts and images meld to communicate a true message from God.My sensory focus deepens with Visio Divina as foreground and background shift in a kaleidoscopic array. Some days my take-away was a silent knowing or a realization that no one answer prevails. I learned to align with vitality. I could see the hope in the world more clearly after simply being there. Scripture is beamed out to us on the same screen as ads and porn. What are we looking for? How do we recognize the Word or acknowledge when Presence is with us? Visio Divina, or divine seeing, joins prayer with Bible study in an active process of entering the presence of God with a teachable heart. Each encounter with a Bible story, even a familiar one, is a way God comes to us. Visio Divina offers a structured time of contemplation about an image and a scriptural text. Every person receives the Spirit differently.Studying a nature scene on different days or in the context of lectionary readings, I might see the water flowing or tall trees as guardians. The forest may loom as a wilderness that draws me into solitude. Maybe the immanence of rocks, the sky, or the vastness of creation would fascinate me another day. I invite the Spirit’s action within and welcome the community energy of focused prayer. God speaks to us through intuition, colors and sounds, even the sweet minty aroma from the porcelain teacup on the mahogany table. Our prayer becomes our conversation and we listen in while God gives individualized hope, encouragement, counsel, or direction. A logical extension of this spiritual practice is to see things in new ways. Scripture is beamed up on the same screen as ads and porn. How do we recognize the Word or acknowledge when Presence is with us? For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—God’s eternal power and d

Titus 3:3-5 For at one time, we too were foolish and disobedient, deceived and enslaved by a variety of passions and pleasures. We spent our lives in evil and envy; people hated us, and we hated each other. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, God delivered us.+Sometimes our troubled lives can take a detour and, by the grace of God, we stop and think. A wordless plea for mercy opens pathways.Turn to a friend or the mirror or the Spirit with hope.I’m so grateful that Flash💥Devos + Podcast is a reader-supported publication. We support community in the arts and spirituality together! Thanks for being here with me this year! 😁 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Mark 6:51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down.+Setting sail with friends is a classic metaphor for a journey into the unknown. Then storms overwhelm the night. Lightning blasts the darkness. The sail rips like an old flag. Letting Jesus join you in the boat is a proven remedy for fear. Believe that God is always coming to rescue us.Look for Jesus in your community in the next storm. Expect peace!Flash💥Devos + Podcast is a reader-supported publication. Subscribers shape community in the arts and spirituality. Thanks for being here with me today! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

2 Corinthians 7:11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done.+We fear remorse and shame when seeking forgiveness. Yet the Lord shows mercy and grace. Reconciling with God opens hearts and doors so we can turn to others in peace.Seek the fruits of reconciliation through Jesus that create a flourishing life for all.Flash💥Devos + Podcast is a reader-supported publication. Your subscription is a gift to the arts and spiritual communities we share. Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Psalm 65:11-13You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness.The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.+Break off a piece of your daily bread and share the Creator’s gift of abundant life with someone new today.Celebrate the beauty and goodness our Creator lavishes on everyone.You're an inspiration! Thank you for joining me today on Flash💥Devos + Podcast! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Acts 27:38 When they had eaten as much as they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain into the sea.+With 276 people aboard a doomed ship headed for Rome, Paul showed faithful leadership. Passengers accepted Paul’s promise that his God would save them if they all obeyed. God made this an epic story that restores our hope on every stormy day.Believe this prisoner’s promise: Jesus assures us all our needs will be met when we trust God and cast our reserves overboard.My friend and fellow writer Jill Hinners searches for peace and inspiration on or near Minnesota’s lakes and smaller waterways. Jill writes, “I collect iPhone images to document all the natural beauty in this place I’m so fortunate to call home.”Flash💥Devos + Podcast is a reader-supported publication. Subscribers support community in the arts and spirituality. Thanks! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com

Luke 13:18-19 Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.”+Jesus gives us an add-water-and-stir description of the kingdom. Everything is provided by God. What will you cultivate from this cornucopia in your kingdom garden?Tell someone something cool about the kingdom of God. How did they respond?Thanks for reading and listening to my Flash💥Devos! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit marianneabellipschutz.substack.com