"The God Pause Daily Devotional" from The Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Saturday, 27 August 2016 with Scripture: “Jesus Shall Reign” (ELW 434, verse 5)

"The God Pause Daily Devotional" from The Luther Seminary in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States for Saturday, 27 August 2016 with Scripture: “Jesus Shall Reign” (ELW 434, verse 5)

“Jesus Shall Reign” (ELW 434, verse 5)

5. Let ev'ry creature rise and bring

peculiar honors to our king;

angels descend with songs again,

and earth repeat the loud amen.

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"Honors peculiar" the hymn says. Which creatures do you find peculiar? An anteater? An ostrich? Rhinos or emus? Camels or chameleons? And what honor do they bring God the creator?
As a college chaplain I remind students many times a week that God likes winding paths. Rarely is our walk or our work, our faith or our calling a shortest-distance-between-two-points or a direct line. Is it possible that even our fumbling and stumbling or our fretting and fearing bring peculiar honors to God? In novels and movies we love twists and turns. Redemption is always and only discovered in particulars. We see it readily in the colorful characters of the Bible.
Faith promises that awareness of brokenness and incompleteness honors God by deepening our trust in God's grace. I picture kids splashing in mud, friends reconciling, the healing of kindness and compassion, and music, all celebrating together that God lifts all the peculiar to new life and praise. The church welcomes all where grace makes the peculiar a chorus of praise!
Give us the courage to love the peculiar honors of our neighbors and delight in sharing our own. Amen.
Paul Rohde, '82

Campus Pastor, Augustana University, Sioux Falls, S.D. 
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