A Prayer For The Day: Building on the words of Saint Ignatius of Loyola (Bruce’s words in parenthesis) Lord, teach me to be generous. (in ways that push me beyond comfortable). Teach me to serve you as you deserve; (for a life of service is how I show appreciation); to give and not to count the cost; (for you gave without any concern) to
A Prayer of Generosity: Create within me a spirit of generosity, O Gracious God. Be my guide where opportunities of generosity arise; where children find themselves in need; where communities feel alienated; where a friend simply needs my presence. Create within me a spirit of generosity, O Gracious God, that is capable of expansive
Scripture: Genesis 33:10-11 Jacob said, “No, please, do me the kindness of accepting my gift. Seeing your face is like seeing God’s face, since you’ve accepted me so warmly. Take this present that I’ve brought because God has been generous to me, and I have everything I need.” So Jacob persuaded him, and he took it. Thought for the Day: Jacob and Esau had a rough childhood, and
Scripture: Mark 10:21 Jesus looked at him carefully and loved him. He said, “You are lacking one thing. Go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor. Then you will have treasure in heaven. And come, follow me.” Thought for the Day: Where have I been? These words have been read and spoken by me more times than I could count, yet it was only
Scripture: John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. Thought for the Day: I love those words, and the language of this amazing and life-giving Word taking on flesh might just be the most beautiful imagery of poetry ever documented. This Word continues to be alive through the Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Christ that moves
Scripture: Acts 3:26 After God raised his servant, he sent him to you first—to bless you by enabling each of you to turn from your evil ways. Thought for the Day: There has been a lot of talk around the idea of evil lately, and I figured I’d wade into the muck at least to my knees. In the last week, the shooter in Las Vegas has been
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 When you make a promise to God, fulfill it without delay because God has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill what you promise. Better not to make a promise than to make a promise without fulfilling it. Thought for the Day: Les Brown is a motivational speaker who said, “Honor your commitments with integrity.” You would think we could simply say, “Honor your commitments,” but sadly
Scripture: 2nd Corinthians 8:1-2 Brothers and sisters, we want to let you know about the grace of God that was given to the churches of Macedonia. While they were being tested by many problems, their extra amount of happiness and their extreme poverty resulted in a surplus of rich generosity. Thought for the Day: Where have you seen the generosity of God manifesting itself in human beings? At
Scripture: James 5:19-20 My brothers and sisters, if any of you wander from the truth and someone turns back the wanderer, recognize that whoever brings a sinner back from the wrong path will save them from death and will bring about the forgiveness of many sins. Thought for the Day: Today concludes 20+ days on the book of James. It has been a good experience for me to
Scripture: James 5:12 Most important, my brothers and sisters, never make a solemn pledge—neither by heaven nor earth, nor by anything else. Instead, speak with a simple “Yes” or “No,” or else you may fall under judgment. Thought for the Day: There are so many passages in scripture that leave a person asking, “What was the real issue behind those words?” This is one of those passages. I