ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 8, 2019 Prayer for the Grieving: In Christ Jesus, we witnessed the power of your love over death. We join the voices who ask the rhetorical questions, “Where, O death, is your sting? Where, O death, is your victory?” Lord of the Empty Tomb, we are able to speak with confidence as those who have, by faith, walked in the shadow of death and witnessed
NOTE: Throughout this week, I will be offering prayers for my daily devotionals. This is the mechanism I am using to process what occurred this past weekend. ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 7, 2019 Prayer of Hope: I refuse to give in! I refuse to give up! The fullness of your life enfleshed chose to reject his own fears to preserve the irrefutable power of love. Great and Merciful God,
Prayer for the Weary: God whose love encircles us, we collapse into your comforting embrace. Breaking news, victims, body count, shattered lives, political speeches, numbness, no real accountability. A mother is gunned down to save a child, and her story is the lead at the top of every hour. The media employs her image for we desperately yearn for a hero in these moments. You were there; you
Prayer for the Week: Where there appears to be so little, O God whose love overflows, teach us to see with the eyes of faith. We make this request as the voices of hope, abundance and joy are lost in a cacophony of fear that portrays this world as a place of insufficiency and inadequacy. Making sure everyone has a place at the table of plenty is demonized,
Scripture: Deuteronomy 23:24-25 If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you can eat as many grapes as you like, until full, but don’t carry any away in a basket. If you go into your neighbor’s grain field, you can pluck ears by hand, but you aren’t allowed to cut off any of your neighbor’s grain with a sickle. Thought for the Day: I love this law, though I
Scripture: John 15:4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. Thought for the Day: Let’s be very clear, the fruit being produced was not for Welch’s Grape Juice or even a grape flavored slush from Sonic. Though I’m pretty certain first century folks,
Scripture: Isaiah 3:14 The LORD will enter into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: You yourselves have devoured the vineyard; the goods stolen from the poor are in your houses. Thought for the Day: As prophets do, Isaiah cut loose on the people. As a nation, they were being judged for their arrogant and haughty ways that left the most vulnerable to fend for themselves.
Scripture: Isaiah 29:19-20 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. For the tyrant shall be no more, and the scoffer shall cease to be; all those alert to do evil shall be cut off… Thought for the Day: A day is coming… Those words have provided great hope for a multitude of people, but
Scripture: 2nd Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brothers and sisters, good-bye. Put things in order, respond to my encouragement, be in harmony with each other, and live in peace—and the God of love and peace will be with you. Thought for the Day: These are some of Paul’s closing words in this second letter to the Church at Corinth. Some might think that final words are not where the meat
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Don’t you understand that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, of course, you fail the test. Thought for the Day: A few days ago, I referenced the author Brennan Manning. Within a few hours of writing that devotional, I had watched a YouTube video of Manning from the 1970’s, and then pulled