ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS September 7, 2019 Scripture: 1st John 3:1a See what kind of love the Father has given to us in that we should be called God’s children, and that is what we are! Thought for the Day: Children of God! That is what we should be called because, according to the author, that is what we are. It doesn’t say, “…that’s what we will become” or “if
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS September 6, 2019 Scripture: 1st John 2:28 And now, little children, remain in relationship to Jesus, so that when he appears we can have confidence and not be ashamed in front of him when he comes. Thought for the Day: Too many people (and I have done it) read through this verse quickly and project it to some final day, when Jesus appears in ultimate glory.
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS September 5, 2019 Scripture: 1 John 2:25 This is the promise that he himself gave us: eternal life. Thought for the Day: Many who read this simple verse are immediately transported in their minds to a heaven with angels and puffy clouds and golden streets. I’m not knocking that mental picture, but eternal life is not the life after this one. Eternal life, as I have
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS September 4, 2019 Scripture: 1st John 2:18-21 Little children, it is the last hour. Just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really part of us. If they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us.
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS September 3, 2019 Scripture: 1st John 2:12-14 Little children, I’m writing to you because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus’ name. Parents, I’m writing to you because you have known the one who has existed from the beginning. Young people, I’m writing to you because you have conquered the evil one. Little children, I write to you because you know the Father. Parents, I write
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS September 2, 2019 Prayer for the Week: You love me, Merciful God, you love me. There are days when those words flow with ease, when I am able to believe them and embrace them. There are days, Merciful God, when the convictions of faith do not match how I see myself. There are days when I perceive your love as freely given to others, but not
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS September 1, 2019 Scripture: 1st John 2:9-11 The one who claims to be in the light while hating a brother or sister is in the darkness even now. The person loving a brother and sister stays in the light, and there is nothing in the light that causes a person to stumble. But the person who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 31, 2019 Scripture: 1st John 2:3 This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. Thought for the Day: This is not what I hear people of faith communicating. I hear more talk about proper belief, yet a person can believe all kinds of things that have no real impact upon daily life. I believe the sky is blue, but
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 30, 2019 Scripture: 1st John 1:5-6 This is the message that we have heard from him and announce to you: “God is light and there is no darkness in him at all.” If we claim, “We have fellowship with him,” and live in the darkness, we are lying and do not act truthfully. Thought for the Day: Elisabeth Kübler-Ross provided many great insights around death
ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS August 29, 2019 Scripture: Isaiah 43:19 Look! I’m doing a new thing; now it sprouts up; don’t you recognize it? I’m making a way in the desert, paths in the wilderness. A Thursday Prayer: We await your new thing, O Spirit of the Possible. We wait, but is our waiting a spiritualization of our procrastination? Do we relish a postponement when others provide cover with the