Scripture: Matthew 5:43-45 You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
Scripture: Psalm 96:11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; Thought for the Day: I reference Psalm 96 yesterday, but as I continued to read through the entire Psalm, I found these words. It made me wonder what it is that makes the heavens glad and the earth rejoice. The author has spoken about the Lord
Scripture: Psalm 96:1-4 O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods. Thought for the Day:
Scripture: Ephesians 4:31 (the Message) Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Thought for the Day: This morning, I will be preaching on these words from Ephesians 4. Actually, this translation is from what is known as the Message, a bit more contemporary and loose translation of the original text. Unlike most translations that were done by dozens and dozens of scholars who debated and
Scripture: Psalm 37:8 Let go of anger and leave rage behind! Don’t get upset—it will only lead to evil. Thought for the Day: There is a part of me that wants to say in response to the scripture, “Well duh!” We all know that anger and rage never produce anything positive. Now I want to make a distinction that some do not make. I believe there is a
Prayer – Teach me your ways, Living and Life-giving Spirit; Guide me to the place where my spirit can drink from the well of grace and mercy; Encourage me amidst the distractions along the way; Find me when the path I have chosen is far from the path you would have chosen. O Holy One of Creation, Teach me about Jesus and his life
Scripture: Proverbs 16:32 Better to be patient than a warrior, and better to have self-control than to capture a city. Thought for the Day: The Proverb is suggesting patience and self-control are better than fame (warrior) and wealth (capturing a city). Among many in America, this would be a hard thing to sell. In fact, they would suggest that impatience and pushing the edges of what many
Scripture: Luke 11:38-40 When the Pharisee saw that Jesus didn’t ritually purify his hands by washing before the meal, he was astonished. The Lord said to him, “Now, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and platter, but your insides are stuffed with greed and wickedness. Foolish people! Didn’t the one who made the outside also make the inside?” Thought for the Day: As the children of
Scripture: Galatians 6:5 Each person will have to carry their own load. Thought for the Day: Once again, our English translation doesn’t quite cut it. I think of load, and my mind thinks of a lot of things. I think about my load of laundry that is currently running. I think of the load of rock I carried into the back yard a few weeks ago as we
In Sunday’s sermon, I started a conversation around Conflict Resolution and some simple tools for those moments of conflict. As I suggested, it is important for us to not only listen, but do so in a way that the other feels as if s/he has been heard. This can be difficult, especially when we have been confronted or accused of doing something. It doesn’t matter if it is