Good Morning!
Our devotional this morning comes from Antonio Reed who serves as the Career Consultant for the Davis College of Science and Engineering at TCU. A native Texan, he accepted his call to ministry at age 15, beginning a journey that has shaped nearly three decades of preaching, teaching, and community leadership. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies (Public Affairs) from Texas Tech University, where he also served as Assistant Pastor and Pastor of College Ministries at Good Shepherd Family Worship Center. He later completed a Master of Arts in Theology and Ministry from Brite Divinity School—with a concentration in Congregational Care and a certificate in African Traditions and Black Church Studies—and a Master of Science from TCU.
On campus, you can find him supporting students through career development, mentoring, and community‑building initiatives. Off campus, he serves on the Elders Team at First St. John Cathedral in Fort Worth and is active in social justice and advocacy work, including his role as Second Vice President and Religious Affairs Chair of the Collin County NAACP. He is also a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. Rev. Reed’s family roots are in East Texas, where many of his loved ones reside. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, reading James Baldwin and James H. Cone, and speaking in ministry and community forums. May his words today sit with you as we continue to come into the presence of God. –Rev. Lea McCracken, Associate Chaplain
Psalms 95: 1-2, 6-9 NRSVUE
“O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice! Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your ancestors tested me and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.”
Reflection: “Listening from a Fragile Place”
What a beautiful invitation, isn’t it? The psalmist invites the community to praise and give thanks to the rock of their salvation. They show someone leaving comfort, criticism, or hardship to join a celebration that rises above personal feelings. Yet, there is even more than this!
God’s chosen people have an interesting history. Their past has made them more skeptical than optimistic. Their reservations stem from repeated mistakes that only they are responsible for. They have missed the mark time and again in their relationship with God. Even the strong at heart may doubt whether God truly accepts those who have failed repeatedly, even if they were once chosen.
The psalmist, some scholars say David, while others draw on anonymity, regardless of who the author is, writes from a place of knowing God as the divine supreme Creator who accepts you despite your past offenses. At this point, one realizes how low they are compared to how great God is.
At this newfound truth, a change is made in both adoration and posture. The psalmist invites the community into something that has gone from a personal encounter, which enabled them to be saved by the encounter of salvation, learning from the past of their forefathers, all because they listened to the voice that delivered them from self-inflicted consequences.
And through that salvific deliverance, they now enter into the presence of God. They praise Him for what he has done in their past and thanking Him for what He continues to do in their life. Thanking God for situations like:
making ways out of no way
being a great deliver
mending the broken-hearted
being a promise keeper
being the light in the darkness
forgiver of sin(s)
In turn, the psalmist goes from a place of adoration to a place of complete surrender, coming wholeheartedly reverencing God for who He is. When they continue to discover that praise is what they give to God for what He has done. Worship is what they do, showing their total surrender to not only God’s will, but also an outer response to His voice.
We see now that this psalm turns on its hinge and becomes a response to a present God that a community has decided not to make the same mistake of their past and has decided to take God at His word! With this intentional decision and action, God speaks, the people bow, reverencing their low status to a greater power, kneeling, meaning that they are putting themselves in the lowest human state of submission to the God who continues to choose them despite how many times they have not chosen Him.
Today, let us find ourselves coming into the presence of God, thanking our divine Creator for the things He has done for us. May our praises lead to a look back worshiping God for the consequences He held back from us, so that we may harken to His voice, softening our hearts so that we may be in right relationship with a God who continues to save us through the act of giving us His only begotten son, Jesus Christ.
Let us pray:
God, may this day be the day I continue to lower my will for yours. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Thank you for continuing to save us. Forgive us of our sins, as well as those who have sinned against us. Bless us now that we may bless others. In Jesus Name we pray, amen.