Out of the Dust

Sunday, April 20: Gabriel’s Oboe (Easter Sunday)
Written by Grace Han, Pastor, Trinity United Methodist Church, Alexandria, VA

My father died earlier this year. He died peacefully, on his own terms, with family bedside. The last time we went to the hospital, my dad knew this was his final visit. He told the medical team he was ready to die. When he was moved from the ICU to hospice care, we gathered around his bedside knowing the days and hours were growing thin. He wasn’t able to say much, the strength was leaving his body. But he held each of our hands, gave us a slight nod, and whispered to each of us: “I love you.”

Saturday, April 19: It’s Quiet Uptown (Holy Saturday)
Written by Brian Johnson, Pastor, Haymarket Church, Haymarket, VA

We were so excited to meet our niece that night.
She was our first niece (or nephew) and she’d just been born. After our oldest son finished his day at school (he was in first grade at the time), we loaded the family in the minivan, packed dinner to eat on the road (lunch meat sandwiches, chips, apples, etc.) and started driving. It would take about two hours to get to the hospital where our beautiful little niece was waiting for us.

Friday, April 18: I Dreamed a Dream (Good Friday)
Written by Matt Benton, Lead Pastor, Messiah United Methodist Church, Springfield, VA

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high and life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving
In 1962 Fannie Lou Hamer was 44 years old. She’d been working in the cotton fields as a sharecropper for 37 years. One August night she attended a church service where she was informed of her right to vote and was challenged to go down to the county courthouse to register.

Thursday, April 17: Exit Music (for a film) (Maundy Thursday)
Written by Drew Colby, Lead Pastor, Grace United Methodist Church, Manassas, VA

I have a Lenten discipline that you may find odd (some people call me extra). Every Lent, especially during Holy Week, I make sure to mow the grass. That in itself is not that remarkable. However, while I mow the grass, I listen to the entirety of Radiohead’s 1997 album OK Computer.
The album is pretty dark (and so is Lent), so now is probably a good time for a warning. This is not going to be a cheery devotion.

Wednesday, April 16: Ashes
Written by Sarah Calvert, District Superintendent, Mountain View District of the United Methodist Church, Virginia

What's left to say?
These prayers ain't working anymore
Every word shot down in flames
What's left to do with these broken pieces on the floor?
I'm losing my voice calling on you
'Cause I've been shaking
I've been bending backwards 'til I'm broke
Watching all these dreams go up in smoke

Tuesday, April 15: Holocene (On Not Being Magnificent)
Written by Matt Benton, Lead Pastor, Messiah United Methodist Church, Springfield, VA

“And at once, I knew I was not magnificent.”
I was born and raised in Fairfax County, a place that runs on achievement and exceptionalism. And whether being formed in a place that demands excellence or simply because it was how I was wired, I find myself a deeply competitive person.

Sunday, April 13: Landslide (Palm Sunday)
Written by Sherry Hietpas, Associate Pastor of Digital Ministry, Andrew Chapel United Methodist Church, Vienna, VA

Text: Luke 15:11-24
I fell in love with music while riding in the car. Because my parents divorced before I could walk, every other weekend, my dad would drive two hours, one way on Friday evenings and back on Sunday afternoons, so that I could spend time with him. On those East Texas roads, we listened to country music or rock from my dad’s era.

Sunday, April 13: Landslide (Palm Sunday)
Written by Sherry Hietpas, Associate Pastor of Digital Ministry, Andrew Chapel United Methodist Church, Vienna, VA

Text: Luke 15:11-24
I fell in love with music while riding in the car. Because my parents divorced before I could walk, every other weekend, my dad would drive two hours, one way on Friday evenings and back on Sunday afternoons, so that I could spend time with him. On those East Texas roads, we listened to country music or rock from my dad’s era.

Saturday, April 12: From This Valley
Written by Gennie Bowles, Pastor, Prince of Peace UMC, Manassas, VA

A common refrain in my Eastertide preaching is that in some ways it’s a shame that we know what’s going to happen on Easter morning. We miss out on the holy shock and surprise of the resurrection after the heaviness and grief of Holy Week. This year I am feeling more and more grateful that we know the promise of resurrection is coming.

Friday, April 11: That’s The Life
Written by Joe Walker-Lenow, Rector, St. James’ Episcopal Parish, Lothian, MD

This is a Lenten song, right? I’ll admit that it’s pretty breezy, pretty upbeat—but then again, how many rootsy-rock songs are about how you want to die?
I love this song, and I love Theo Katzman. You may or may not have heard of him; he certainly isn’t (yet) a canonical figure in this sort of music, not a Neil Young or a Bruce Springsteen. If you do know him, it’s almost certainly from the fact that he’s a member of the world-historically great and bizarre funk/soul/deeply-silly-but-in-on-the-joke band Vulfpeck, universally acknowledged

Thursday, April 10: Saint Honesty
Written by Michelle Matthews, Pastor, Kingstowne Communion, Alexandria, VA

We’re leaving all the windows open;
We don’t even mind the rain,
Or where we let the floors get wet,
So what if the hardwood stains? 🎶
This past year, for me, has been one holy invitation after another to leave the windows of my life open to God’s renewing rains of honesty. Perhaps you know, too, what that’s like - to be drenched by the seasonal or momentary rains of God’s unmasking in your life.

Wednesday, April 9: Long Time Traveller
Written by Katie Phillips, Pastor, The Vine United Methodist Church, Dunn Loring, VA

In the last few weeks my family gathered for celebrations and traditions, we enjoyed an incredible long-planned vacation, dealt with worry around needs of family/friends, wrestled with feelings and realities around the political landscape, enjoyed the snow and days off from school, and reeled from the death of the oldest son (16) of close friends.

Tuesday, April 8: A Safe Place To Land
Written by Ashley Oliver-Thomas, Chaplain Resident, UVA Medical Center, Charlottesville, VA

To feel safe is sacred.
I invite you to consider: what, who, or where makes you feel safest?
One place I feel safest is outside in nature. God’s Creation is so vast yet so intimate and personal. Being in the wilderness, literally, hiking up in the mountains or on a trail around my neighborhood, feels like home to me.

Written by Kyungsuk Cho, Pastor, Old Bridge United Methodist Church, Woodbridge, VA

Ephesians 4:2-6, NIV
2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Written by Elizabeth Snader, Campus Minister, University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA

“I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die”

The year is 2015 and Eric, my now husband, and I just started dating. He is a music guy and self-professes to love sad music. We were in the car and Eric tells me he is going to play one of his favorite songs, and the song No Children by the Mountain Goats begins to play. I am immediately questioning, how can this song be your favorite song?? I am pretty sure that my mouth hung wide open for most of the song – shocked at the lyrics.

Thursday, April 3: A Part of Us
Written by Meredith Webb, Associate Pastor, Calvary United Methodist Church, Stuart’s Draft, VA

“Jesus began to cry.” - John 11:35 (CEB)
We took our seats in the small, dimly lit, theater with plenty of time before the show started and yet all the actors were on stage. They tidied props, shoveled sand, chatted with one another, cooked… literally cooked on stage. As the audience settled in around this small island community we were invited into their village. Fully immersed in all our senses, the audience barely noticed when the show truly began.

Wednesday, April 2: Land of Hopes and Dreams
Written by Matt Benton, Lead Pastor, Messiah United Methodist Church, Springfield, VA

Big Wheels rolling through fields
Where sunlight streams
Meet me in a land of hope and dreams

A couple years ago I rented a movie from the library called Blinded by the Light. It’s about Javed, the son of Pakistani immigrants to England in the late 80s. He is bullied by his peers in school because he is a minority. His father has a job far below his ability. His family is forced to endure undo treatment. And his world seems small. He is the other. He is a stranger in a strange land and is never allowed to forget it. Then one day he discovers Bruce Springsteen. And suddenly his world expands.

Tuesday, April 1: A Private’s Letter
Written by Hungsu Lim, Pastor, St. John’s United Methodist Church, Buena Vista, VA

After the Korean War, Korea became one of the few countries to maintain a mandatory draft in the post-war era. The responsibility of defending the nation has largely fallen on young men’s shoulders. They are typically drafted between the ages of 19 and 35, and you can choose when to enter the service within this age range. I decided to join the Korean Army when I was 23, during my college years.

Monday, March 31: New Year’s Day
Written by Lauren Lobenhofer, Lead Pastor, Woodlake United Methodist Church, Chesterfield, VA

On tough days, my family and I have Taylor Swift dance parties. We turn up the volume on a track like “Paper Rings” or “Look What You Made Me Do” and let loose with the sort of wild, flailing dance moves that you’d never throw on the floor of a club, but which somehow fit perfectly in your living room. After a couple of songs, we’ve usually released enough stress that we’re ready to move on to the rest of the evening routine of teeth-brushing, bedtime stories, and evening chores.

Friday, March 28: Wake Up Everybody
Written by Bayo Ogungbade, Associate Pastor of Adult Discipleship, Reveille United Methodist Church, Richmond, VA

“The world won't get no better if we just let it be….
The world won't get no better…. we gotta change it yeah, just you and me…”
I’ve long wondered what the immediate internal dialogue of Jesus was like before he was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Was he happy? Was he

Thursday, March 27: Jesus, Lover of My Soul
Written by Anna Petrin, Associate Professor of Liturgical and Sacramental Theology, Mount Angel Seminary, St. Benedict, OR

When and with what words can a person pray with honesty and faith “out of the depths”? And why should we practice speaking to God in such a time?
Since many of our shared cultural markers for expressing ideas about faith have to do with comfort, safety, and security, usually with an overtone of cheerfulness, it can be difficult to know how to pray when everything is hopelessly and irrevocably falling apart.

Wednesday, March 26: Flood/Blood Hymns (Or: How Rhyme Drives Theology) (Or: What the End Will Sound Like)
Written by Rhody Walker-Lenow

Some years ago, I invented a hymn category: the flood/blood hymns. As you would expect, these are hymns that rhyme the words “flood” and “blood” in an end rhyme. I noticed the rhyme several years ago when I was doing research on floods for my MFA thesis—I wanted to see how flooding was depicted in hymns over the last few centuries, and I found several great tunes. But here’s what I hadn’t expected: “flood” always rhymed with “blood.”
There’s “‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,”

Tuesday, March 25: Surely God is With Us
Written by Michael Petrin, Associate Professor of Church History and Systematic Theology, Mount Angel Seminary, St. Benedict, OR

On September 19, 1997, the singer Rich Mullins died in a tragic car accident on Interstate 39 in Illinois. He was only 41 years old.
Just days before his untimely death, Rich went into an abandoned church in the city of Elgin and made a tape recording of nine songs. These simple recordings, which feature Rich himself playing guitar and piano, were eventually released as “The Jesus Demos” (the first disc of the posthumous album The Jesus Record).

Monday, March 24: The Only Exception
Written by Jonathan Page, Director of Innovation and Creativity, Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church

When I was younger, I saw my daddy cry
And curse at the wind
He broke his own heart and I watched
As he tried to reassemble it
And my momma swore
That she would never let herself forget
And that was the day that I promised
I'd never sing of love if it does not exist
But darling, you are the only exception
You are the only exception

Friday, March 21: Fast Car
Written by Matt Benton, Lead Pastor, Messiah United Methodist Church, Springfield, VA

Tracy grew up knowing three things. One was the life she lived. The second was the life she wanted to live. The last thing she knew: the infinite gulf that stood between them.
Tracy dreamed of a life that was more: more than menial jobs, more than taking care of an alcoholic father who would never appreciate her, more than feeling like the weight of the world was on her shoulders, more than seeing life as just getting to the end of a day only to repeat the same cycles over and over. And she saw her way to that life, a way across ...

Wednesday, March 19: Rise Up
Written by Blaine Oliver-Thomas, Pastor, Bethany United Methodist Church, Weyers Cave, VA

You're broken down and tired
Of living life on a merry go round
And you can't find the fighter...
When the silence isn't quiet
And it feels like it's getting hard to breathe
And I know you feel like dying
How many of us can relate to those lyrics? Life is brutal. It certainly is not fair. And

Monday, March 17: Sticks and Stones
Written by Stephanie Kimec Parker, Coordinator for Church Revitalization, United Methodist Coastal Virginia District, Virginia

I first heard this song a few years ago when I was listening to the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast. I found myself regularly angered and astonished at the actions of the Pastor, Mark Driscoll, of Mars Hill. For any who have not listened to the podcast or know the story, Mars Hill was led by Mark Driscoll who in 2014 resigned after staff members and congregants alleged abusive behavior. One elder of Mars Hill accused Driscoll of being

Friday, March 14: A Horse with No Name
Written by Elaine Ellis Thomas, Rector, All Saints Episcopal Parish, Hoboken, NJ

I've been through the desert
On a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert, you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain.
As the youngest of six, the soundtrack of my childhood was whatever my older siblings happened to be playing on their transistor radios or little 45rpm record players. Too young to understand that the band America's song A Horse with No Name was controversial

Wednesday, March 12: Ah, Holy Jesus
Written by Taylor Mertins, Pastor, Raleigh Court United Methodist Church, Roanoke, VA

On April 21st, 2018, Sufjan Stevens was the guest musician on the too-short-lived NPR show “Live From Here” which was hosted by the musician Chris Thile. During the broadcast Stevens performed some of his songs including Heirloom and Mystery of Love. But at the end of the show, Chris Thile shared that they would conclude with a hymn.

Monday, March 10: 40 Days and 40 Nights
Written by Drew Colby, Lead Pastor, Grace United Methodist Church, Manassas, VA

2025 is the year a lot of my friends and I are turning 40. They used to say to be 40 was to be “over the hill,” and I have never understood if that means the hard part is over or just beginning. 40 is a recurring number in the Bible. The Hebrew children wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. A number of Israel’s kings reigned for 40 years. 40 weeks is the amount of time many of our favorite Biblical characters spent being knit together in their mother’s wombs, whether Ishmael or Isaac, Jacob and/or Esau, Samuel, and of course Jesus.

Thursday, March 6
Written by Brian Johnson, Pastor, Haymarket Church, Haymarket, VA

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about Chance the Rapper’s Dear Theodosia (Reprise) from The Hamilton Mixtape.
Dear Theodosia is a song from the Broadway musical Hamilton (I’m a little obsessed with Broadway musicals – in fact, there’s another entry based on a song from Hamilton coming from me later in this devotional). In the play, this song begins a transitional moment. The first act of Hamilton tells

Wednesday, March 5
Written by Alan Combs, Lead Pastor, First United Methodist Church, Salem, VA

Merest breath, said Qohelet, merest breath. All is mere breath.
This is Robert Alter’s rendering of the opening words of the book of Ecclesiastes. More familiar translations, like the King James Version of the Bible, translate it as “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, all is vanity.” Other translations

Tuesday, March 4: Introduction
Have you ever heard God’s voice speaking to you in and through music? Has music ever made you feel as if you were in touch with something bigger than yourself?
This year’s Lenten devotional is called ...