Week of 9/8/25 - 9/12/2025
5 Day Devotional
Day 1: The Divine Invitation: Be Open
Devotional
In our noisy world, it's easy to become spiritually deaf—unable to hear God's voice calling to us. Like the deaf man in Mark's Gospel, we often need divine intervention to truly hear and respond to God's presence in our lives. Jesus' encounter with this man was deeply personal. He didn't perform a public spectacle but took him aside privately. With intimate gestures—touching his ears, his tongue—Jesus connected with this man's specific brokenness. Then came that powerful command: "Ephphatha" (be open). This word resonates beyond that moment in Decapolis. It speaks to each of us today. How often do we approach God with closed hearts, closed minds, or closed hands? How frequently do we miss His voice because we're listening to everything else instead? God's invitation to openness is the beginning of transformation. When we allow ourselves to be truly open—to God's word, His presence, His correction, His love—we begin to experience the fullness of relationship with Him. Being open means being vulnerable, removing the barriers we've built, and allowing God access to every part of our lives. The beautiful truth is that God is always ready for this encounter. As the sermon reminds us, "Our God is always more ready to hear than we are to pray and are at want to give more than either we desire or deserve." The question isn't whether God is willing to meet us—it's whether we're willing to be open to Him.
Bible Verse
"Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy." - Isaiah 35:5-6
Reflection Question
What areas of your life have you kept closed to God's transforming touch, and what might happen if you allowed Him to speak "Ephphatha" over those areas today?
Quote
Our God is always more ready to hear than we are to pray and are at want to give more than either we desire or deserve.
Prayer
Loving Father, speak Your "Ephphatha" over my life today. Open my ears to hear Your voice above all others, open my heart to receive Your love fully, and open my hands to both receive and give according to Your will. Help me recognize the areas where I've remained closed to You, and give me courage to surrender them completely. Amen.
Day 2: The Intimate Touch of Christ
Devotional
There's something profoundly moving about how Jesus healed the deaf and mute man. He didn't simply wave his hand from a distance or speak a word from afar. Instead, "Our Lord takes the man aside privately. It's an intimate encounter, and Jesus places his fingers into the man's ears, and then he spits and touches the man's tongue." These actions might seem strange to our modern sensibilities, even uncomfortable. Yet they reveal something essential about how God works in our lives. Jesus wasn't afraid to get close, to touch the very places of our brokenness and limitation. When we come to God with our spiritual deafness and muteness—our inability to hear His voice clearly or speak His praise authentically—He doesn't keep a safe distance. He draws near. He touches precisely those areas where we need healing most. This intimate healing continues today. In baptism, in communion, in prayer, Christ still reaches out to touch our broken places. He still takes us aside for personal encounters. He still speaks "Ephphatha" over the closed areas of our lives. The question is whether we'll allow this intimate touch. Will we let Him close enough to touch our wounds, our failures, our deepest needs? Or will we keep Him at a comfortable distance, seeking a more sanitized faith that doesn't require such vulnerability? True transformation happens in that sacred space of intimate encounter, where we allow Christ to touch not just our strengths but our weaknesses, not just our public selves but our private struggles.
Bible Verse
"And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha,' that is, 'Be opened.'" - Mark 7:32-34
Reflection Question
When was the last time you allowed Jesus to touch a broken or vulnerable area of your life, and what keeps you from seeking more of these intimate encounters with Him?
Quote
Our Lord takes the man aside privately. It's an intimate encounter, and Jesus places his fingers into the man's ears, and then he spits and touches the man's tongue. These are very personal, even uncomfortable, actions that demonstrate Christ's willingness to reach in and touch us in our human brokenness.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for your willingness to touch my brokenness. Forgive me for keeping you at a distance when you desire intimate connection. I invite you now to touch those areas of my life that need your healing presence—my doubts, my wounds, my struggles. Help me trust your loving touch, even when it feels uncomfortable. Make me whole through your intimate care. Amen.
Day 3: Transformed at the Altar
Devotional
There's something miraculous that happens when we approach the communion table. We come with our spiritual deafness—our difficulty hearing God's voice amid life's noise. We come with our spiritual muteness—struggling to find words to praise Him or express our deepest needs. Yet at the altar, Christ meets us in our brokenness. Just as He took the deaf man aside for healing, He takes us into an intimate encounter through the Eucharist. The bread and wine become vehicles of divine touch, of spiritual opening. The beauty of this sacramental moment is captured perfectly in the sermon: "We approach with empty hands, empty hands bringing nothing but our need. And God fills those hands with Christ Himself. We come seeking mere substance, mere sustenance, and God gives us the Bread of Heaven. We come seeking forgiveness, and God gives us transformation." This is the extravagant nature of God's grace. We come with modest expectations—perhaps hoping for a moment of peace, a sense of forgiveness, or spiritual nourishment. But God gives abundantly beyond what we ask or imagine. He offers not just sustenance but Himself. Not just forgiveness but transformation. Each time we receive communion, it's another divine moment of "Ephphatha"—another opportunity for Christ to open our ears to hear His truth more clearly and loosen our tongues to speak His praise more freely. The table becomes a place where our spiritual senses are awakened and renewed. This is why we return to the altar again and again. Not because the previous encounters weren't sufficient, but because this opening is a continuous process, a lifelong journey of becoming more receptive to God's presence and voice.
Bible Verse
"Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God." - Psalm 50:7
Reflection Question
How might approaching communion with greater expectation—not just for forgiveness but for transformation—change your experience at the altar?
Quote
We come to this altar in our spiritual deafness and muteness, often distracted, unable to properly hear God's voice or articulate our deepest needs. Yet Christ takes us aside, as it were, into this intimate encounter.
Prayer
Gracious God, thank you for meeting me at your table with more than I could ask or imagine. Forgive me for approaching with small expectations when you offer abundant transformation. As I receive the bread and wine, open my spiritual senses anew. Let me hear your voice more clearly and speak your praise more freely. Transform me through this sacred encounter, that I might carry your presence into the world. Amen.
Day 4: Living as the Opened Ones
Devotional
Once Christ has spoken "Ephphatha" over our lives—once our ears have been opened to His truth and our tongues loosened to speak His praise—we cannot remain the same. Having experienced this divine opening, we're called to live differently in the world. The sermon puts it beautifully: "If Christ has spoken ephatha to us, if our ears have been opened to hear his word and our tongues loose to declare his praise, then we must live as opened ones in a world still trapped in deafness and silence." What does it mean to live as "opened ones"? It means we become channels of the same grace we've received. We become participants in Christ's ongoing ministry of opening others to God's truth, love, and presence. Barnabas provides our model. Known as the "Son of Encouragement," he recognized God's grace at work in others and spoke words that opened them to greater participation in that grace. He didn't just experience transformation himself—he helped facilitate it for others. This is our calling too. Through words of encouragement, acts of compassion, patient listening, and faithful witness, we participate in Christ's ongoing work of opening. We become His hands and feet, His voice and touch in a world desperately needing to hear and speak truth. Living as opened ones means remaining vulnerable ourselves—continuously open to God's voice and leading. It means approaching others with the same gentleness and personal care that Christ showed the deaf man. It means believing that the same God who opened us can open anyone.
Bible Verse
"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." - 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Reflection Question
Who in your life needs the gift of encouragement—someone whose ears need opening to God's truth or whose tongue needs loosening to express their needs or praise?
Quote
St. Barnabas was called the Son of Encouragement because he recognized God's grace at work in others and spoke words that opened them to greater participation in that grace.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for opening me to your grace and truth. Help me live as one who has been opened, sensitive to your voice and ready to speak your words. Show me those around me who need encouragement, who need to experience your opening touch through my words and actions. Make me like Barnabas, recognizing your grace at work in others and speaking words that help them participate more fully in that grace. Let me be your hands and voice in this world still trapped in deafness and silence. Amen.
Day 5: The Continuous Opening
Devotional
The healing of the deaf and mute man wasn't the end of his story—it was the beginning. Once his ears were opened and his tongue loosened, he entered a new reality of hearing God's voice and speaking God's praise. His opening was the start of a journey, not its conclusion. So it is with us. The sermon reminds us that "the opening that Christ offers us is not a one-time event. It's a continuous process." Each day presents new opportunities to be opened further to God's presence, new areas of our lives that need His transformative touch. This continuous opening requires daily surrender. It means regularly returning to that place of vulnerability before God, saying, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." It means acknowledging the areas where we've become closed again—where busyness, pain, doubt, or pride have created barriers to God's voice. The beautiful Anglican tradition recognizes this need for ongoing opening. Through worship that engages all our senses—hearing, smell, touch, taste—we're invited into repeated encounters with the God who opens us. "In our Anglican tradition, our worship engages all the senses... This is intentional, for we believe that God speaks to us through word and sacrament, through the Bible, through our lessons, through water and oil, through bread and wine." Our twofold calling becomes clear: to remain continuously open to God's transforming presence and to help open others to His truth, love, and service. As we live in this rhythm of being opened and opening others, we participate in God's redemptive work in the world.
Bible Verse
"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." - Ezekiel 36:26
Reflection Question
What spiritual practices help keep you continuously open to God's voice, and which areas of your life might need a fresh "Ephphatha" spoken over them today?
Quote
As we live out our identity as the encouragers, we must remember that opening Christ's offers, what he offers us in opening us is not a one time event. It's a continuous process.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for the continuous opening you offer me. Forgive me for the times I've allowed my heart to become closed again through neglect, fear, or pride. Speak your "Ephphatha" over me anew today. Open my ears to hear your fresh words of direction and comfort. Open my heart to receive your transforming love. Open my hands to both receive your grace and extend it to others. Help me live in the beautiful rhythm of being continuously opened by you and helping to open others to your truth and love. Amen.