Prayer for the Week: You love us as individuals, and you love us into community. Creative God, we are designed to find life and joy in relationship. Whether we name it or not, our lives are a web of dependency, woven together for reciprocity and health. As our egos grow, and our passion for individualism overshadows reality, reveal once again the divine intent for your creation. Your hope
Scripture: 1st John 3:24 All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us. Thought for the Day: I had an interesting conversation with someone in a hospital waiting room recently. The question hinged on the idea: Is God with us only when we do what God
Scripture: 1st John 3:15 All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. Thought for the Day: As I said in an earlier devotional, 1st John does not sugarcoat anything. Every other sentence can feel like a smack upside the head. Of course, does everyone who hates also murder? I do not believe that’s the
Scripture: 1st John 3:10-11 The children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their brothers and sisters. For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Thought for the Day: There are times, as I
Scripture: 1 John 3:1-2 See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will
Scripture: 1st John 4:21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. Thought for the Day: As a person of faith, and a person who lives in the joy of grace, the word MUST always causes me to pause. When I use the word MUST, it usually has to do with my child’s bedroom and its need
Scripture: 1st John 4:19 We love because he first loved us. Thought for the Day: For those of you at Cypress Creek Christian Church, you know this passage well. It is the basis of our Vision and Mission. I immediately thought of this passage as I was rereading Anne Lamott’s book, “Stitches,” earlier today in preparation for my sermon this Sunday. Lamott writes, “…love bats last.” So much
Prayer for the Week: We claim to be Christian, but we do not always follow in the ways of Jesus. We call ourselves Christians, but what we say on social media does not always reflect the love of Jesus. We call ourselves Christians, but we too often demonize the very people with whom Jesus spent his time. We call ourselves Christians, but we do not always choose to
Scripture: Colossians 1:24-25 Now I’m happy to be suffering for you. I’m completing what is missing from Christ’s sufferings with my own body. I’m doing this for the sake of his body, which is the church. I became a servant of the church by God’s commission, which was given to me for you, in order to complete God’s word. Thought for the Day: Paul believes that the sacrifice
Scripture: Ephesians 1:22-23. God put everything under Christ’s feet and made him head of everything in the church, which is his body. His body, the church, is the fullness of Christ, who fills everything in every way. Thought for the Day: There are portions of scripture that make my spirit sing. There are other pieces that create curiosity and questions. And then there are those passages, that if