Nebraska Synod ELCA

With a new year soon approaching, you may be looking for ways to add a faith practice into your routine. Devotions, spiritual practices, and daily readings are useful tools for deepening our faith in Christ. Check out the resources below for a curated list of some favorite resources shared by our Nebraska Synod Staff!

Devotions & Resources from Joyce Rupp 

Joyce Rupp has become a favorite of many Nebraskans. Perhaps it’s her Midwest roots and her connection to the land. Or perhaps it’s because she has published so many books and led workshops in Omaha and Schuyler. (joycerupp.com) She writes with heart, honesty, a sense of reality, and wonder. “Fresh Bread and Other Gifts of Spiritual Nourishment” is one of her early writings. Each month she provides a monthly theme, poetry, prose, prayers, a devotional story, and daily scripture lessons that provide one with continued learning and reflection opportunities. Rupp helps us reflect upon and rejoice in the sacred everyday world that is both around and within us.

Browse Joyce Rupp on Amazon    Visit Joyce Rupp’s Website       Purchase Fresh Bread on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Bookshop

PS — Mary Mohl, certified Spiritual Director, is offering a weekly Lenten opportunity to explore Joyce Rupp’s Boundless Compassion book. Mary is a trained instructor for Joyce Rupp’s Boundless Compassion retreats. Compassion can change a heart, change a life, change a world. Registration details will be posted on the Nebraska Synod web site with other Emmaus: Lifelong Learning opportunities.

Audio Divina

Audio Divina or Sacred Listening is a contemplative prayer practice as a way to hear how the Spirit may be working withinyou while listening to music. Choose your favorite piece of music, close your eyes, and listen for what God may be stirring within you. (Visit Spotify, Pandora, or insighttimer.com for free or paid music tracks.)

Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals

This resource, compiled by Shane Claiborne, Jonahthan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro, offers daily prayers that are grounded in ancient liturgy through a fresh lens. This resource can be used alone, in a small group, or as a congregation. Each day includes songs, scriptures, and prayers. Significant dates are remembered throughout the year and the stories of saints and sinners alike are highlighted to help you better connect with the reflection each day.

Purchase Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Bookshop

Means of Grace: A Year of Weekly Devotions by Fleming Rutledge

The Rev. Fleming Rutledge is one of the first women to be ordained in the Episcopal Church and has been lauded for her skill as a preacher.  This devotional follows the liturgical calendar and each chapter is an edited selection from her collection of sermons.  Warning: read at your own risk!  An incredible theologian and eloquent preacher/writer, Rutledge frequently smacks me in the face with the power of her words.  She does not pull any punches as she writes about the power of sin and evil, the brokenness that humanity experiences in life, and the cost of discipleship.  And yet, she is amazingly clear and focused on the saving work that God is doing in our midst.  This is far from a fluffy cotton candy devotional…this is meaty and spiritually nutritional.  Her writing sticks to the ribs, so to speak.  This devotional begins in the season of Advent, so now is a good time to purchase a copy and start reading.

Purchase Means of Grace: A Year of Weekly Devotions at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Bookshop

Yes, And…: Daily Meditations by Richard Rohr

Featuring meditations and prayers for every day of the year, Yes, And… supports the reader on their journey with their Christian faith. It offers a refreshing and open-minded approach to living out your faith. World-renowned spiritual teacher Richard Rohr offers an extensive collection of his thoughts and teachings for the reader to apply to their daily life.

Purchase Yes, And…: Daily Meditations at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Bookshop

Pray as You Go

Created in 2006 by Jesuits in the United Kingdom, “Pray As You Go”  is an app you can download on your phone or access over the internet.  The website and its application has daily audio prayers that will often include music, passages form the Bible and contemplations from Ignatius of Loyola.  Having this resource on your phone makes it possible to have a devotional resource just about any where you go. Check out Pray As You Go online, in the App Store and on Google Play. This resource can also be listened to wherever podcasts are available.

ECHO Prayer App

This simple-to-use app aims to help users keep track of their own prayer request. Pray-ers can add prayer requests with as much or as little detail as they wish with the opportunity to categorize them in groups and tags. You can set up the app to send you push notifications or daily emails to remind you to stop and pray even in the midst of daily busy-ness. When you click ‘Pray Now, the app will shuffle your prayer concerns and the list will refresh throughout your prayer time. It even has the ability to set a timer for your prayer window. This app is intuitive and designed to be easy to use. Download is now in the App Store or on Google Play.

Monk & Robot Novellas

The Monk and Robot series by author Becky Chambers is not in any way a devotional book. At least, it isn’t meant to be received as such. However, I read A Psalm for the Wild-Built in the middle of a very difficult time and found my heart and soul moved by its simple message of love, peace, and self-acceptance. The second book in the series, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, brings the same sense of poignancy, joy, and hope as it continues the story of friendship between Sibling Dex, a tea monk, and his robot friend, Mosscap.

These novellas are not devotional books: they are science fiction stories told in short chapters. But Becky Chambers’ Monk and Robot series does provide the kind of soul care many of us are seeking in our devotional practices, and so I’m going to recommend it for those who are struggling to feel at home in their own world.

Body Prayer 

A Network for Grateful Living is a global organization offering online and community-based educational programs and practices which inspire and guide a commitment to grateful living, and catalyze the transformative power of personal and societal responsibility. Sign up here for their daily emails filled with daily positivity and inspiration, all focused on finding and creating gratitude in your life.

d365

This daily devotion includes prompts to pause, listen, think, pray and go.  It’s available online, in the App Store and on Google Play. This was created as a devotional for youth and young adults, but all ages can find it engaging and meaningful.  Music plays in the background during the devotion, but if that’s not your thing, you can opt for no music instead.

Whether you set aside sacred time in the first thing in the morning, last thing before bed, or any time in between, we hope these resources give you are starting point in that journey.