May 31st, 2007
Thursday’s Reflection
LIFE, IF WE LET IT, FORMS US. It teaches us the varied wisdom of its seasons: the mysterious arts of welcoming our children; of becoming the nurturers, the active protectors and teachers; then the arts of letting go, of loving more, of having hearts stretch wide and deep enough to surrender — the fiery brilliance of our autumn harvest yielding to the gray yet deeply rooted winter tide.
- Wendy Wright
“Potter and Clay: Thoughts on Forming and Being Formed”
Weavings Journal
From Weavings Journal, March/April 2002. Copyright © 2002 by The Upper Room. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. Learn more about or purchase this magazine.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Wisdom calls out, “The LORD created me first of all, the first of his works, long ago. I was made in the very beginning, at the first, before the world began.”
- Proverbs 8:22-23, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for those graduating — and those left behind. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Pentecost: Happy Birthday to the Christian Church! In honor of Pentecost, the Church’s birthday, explore a new Prayer Method. Here are just a few options.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Justin (June 1).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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May 30th, 2007
Wednesday’s Reflection
WHAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT thing I can say about the Holy Spirit? Power? Tongues? Gifts? No. Fellowship! Yes, fellowship is the deepest work of God’s Spirit. The Spirit of God is drawing us all of the time into a common life with one another. That is the central work of God’s Spirit — creating community.
- Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant
The Way of Transforming Discipleship
From page 71 of The Way of Transforming Discipleship by Trevor Hudson and Stephen D. Bryant. Copyright © 2005 by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Jesus said, “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”
- John 16:7, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for those graduating — and those left behind. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Pentecost: Happy Birthday to the Christian Church! In honor of Pentecost, the Church’s birthday, explore a new Prayer Method. Here are just a few options.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Justin (June 1).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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May 29th, 2007
Tuesday’s Reflection
THE PURE IN HEART will see God; the peacemakers will become the children of God; the persecuted will receive the kingdom of God’s heaven; and those who are reviled falsely by their enemies will enter into the joy of that heaven.
To me, these are not just promises for the future but a present reality beginning, if we choose, this moment.
- Flora Slosson Wuellner
Forgiveness, the Passionate Journey
From page 142 of Forgiveness, the Passionate Journey by Flora Slosson Wuellner. Copyright © 2001 by Flora Slosson Wuellner. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Romans 5:1, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for those graduating — and those left behind. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Pentecost: Happy Birthday to the Christian Church! In honor of Pentecost, the Church’s birthday, explore a new Prayer Method. Here are just a few options.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Justin (June 1).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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May 28th, 2007
Monday’s Reflection
MY GOD, EVERY FIBER of my being vibrates at the touch of your grace — whereby I am given the privilege of being your child. My joy at your overwhelming gestures of love and the high privilege you extend to me of entering into your life invades my being with an acute sense of your ever-nearness. In response to this, my Lord, I offer praises to you.
Yet, my Lord, I am often cold toward you. I forget to love you for long periods of time — and this to my own harm and regret. Forgive me, Lord! Everloving God, set my life aflame with love for you only. O my God, I long to reflect your image throughout the world so that others might observe your doing in me and themselves be convinced that you love them also.
- Norman Shawchuck
A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God
From pages 402-403 of A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God by Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job. Copyright © 2003 by Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
O LORD, our LORD, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
- Psalm 8:1, NIV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for those graduating — and those left behind. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Pentecost: Happy Birthday to the Christian Church! In honor of Pentecost, the Church’s birthday, explore a new Prayer Method. Here are just a few options.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Justin (June 1).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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May 27th, 2007
DAY OF PENTECOST
Sunday’s Reflection
AT PENTECOST the Spirit came to empower the church as prophetic community. To accomplish this, the gifts of the Spirit were distributed to each member so that through their sharing the sum of the gifts might be available to all. The way in which this gift-giving occurred is described in the scriptures as tongues of fire riding on the wind and coming to rest on the apostles. The power and vitality of the image is captivating. The rush of wind and flame, the startled surprise of the ones being gifted, the surge of empowerment that bursts in only to burst through and extend beyond. The coming of the gifts of the Spirit is dynamic and dramatic.
However one defines the gifts of the Spirit, one truth remains: the gifts are not given for individual enrichment or enhancement; they are given to be shared. They are meant to give life to the whole community. … The Pentecost event is at the core of our identity as church. As Jesus promised, the Spirit was sent. And it empowered the church with a variety of gifts meant to be shared.
- Wendy M. Wright
The Rising
From pages 179-180 of The Rising by Wendy M. Wright. Copyright © 1994 by Wendy M. Wright. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Jesus said, “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, … And he will be in you.”
- John 14:16-17, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for memories of those loveed and lost. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- What’s your spiritual type? Do you approach spirituality through your mind or through your emotions? Are you more interested in serving others or experiencing God in silence? Find out your spiritual type by taking the MethodX Spiritual Types Test.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Rita of Cascia (May 22).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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May 26th, 2007
Saturday’s Reflection
PEACEMAKERS ARE THOSE who see that the world and its people are broken but also hold a dream, a vision, that God can and does reach out to heal our world. And God does it through the acts of those who live by the values of this new kingdom where God’s will is being done.
- Mary Lou Redding
The Power of a Focused Heart
From page 93 of The Power of a Focused Heart by Mary Lou Redding. Copyright © 2006 by Mary Lou Redding. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
“In the last days,” God says, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.”
- Acts 2:17, NIV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for memories of those loveed and lost. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- What’s your spiritual type? Do you approach spirituality through your mind or through your emotions? Are you more interested in serving others or experiencing God in silence? Find out your spiritual type by taking the MethodX Spiritual Types Test.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Rita of Cascia (May 22).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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May 25th, 2007
Friday’s Reflection
WITHIN US ALL is a slumbering miracle, a latent Christ, a Light, a Power, and immediacy with God. To find this “indwelling Christ” actively, dynamically working within us, is to find the secret that Jesus wanted to give people. It isn’t a matter of believing in the Inner Light; it is a matter of yielding your lives to Him. … It is having a Center of creative power and joy and creation within you.
- Thomas Kelly
The Sanctuary of the Soul
From page 24 of The Sanctuary of the Soul: Selected Writings of Thomas Kelly edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 1997 by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Jesus said to Philip, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”
- John 14:10 NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for memories of those loveed and lost. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- What’s your spiritual type? Do you approach spirituality through your mind or through your emotions? Are you more interested in serving others or experiencing God in silence? Find out your spiritual type by taking the MethodX Spiritual Types Test.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Rita of Cascia (May 22).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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May 24th, 2007
Thursday’s Reflection
JOY’S VERY BEING is lost in the great tide of selfless delight — creation’s response to the infinite loving of God. But, of course, the point for us is that this selfless joy has got to go on at times when we ourselves are in the dark, obsessed by the sorrow of life, so that we feel no joy because we cannot gaze at the beauty. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, not of our gratified emotions. “Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place, and bless the Lord.”
- Evelyn Underhill
The Soul’s Delight
From pages 31-32 of The Soul’s Delight: Selected Writings of Evelyn Underhill edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 1998 by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
As long as I live I shall sing to the LORD; I shall sing psalms to my God all my life long. May my meditation be acceptable to him; I shall delight in the LORD.
- Psalm 104:33-34, REB
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for memories of those loveed and lost. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- What’s your spiritual type? Do you approach spirituality through your mind or through your emotions? Are you more interested in serving others or experiencing God in silence? Find out your spiritual type by taking the MethodX Spiritual Types Test.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Rita of Cascia (May 22).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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May 23rd, 2007
Wednesday’s Reflection
GOD, IT FRIGHTENS ME TO THINK of any situation being administered by my example. You know as well as I that I say better than I do. Yet if you would grant me one thing, let it be a sensitivity to look out on the world from behind the eyes of each person I meet. Then maybe a few of my doings might add a little to your own pilgrimage in becoming “All in all.” Amen.
- W. Paul Jones
An Eclectic Almanac for the Faithful
From page 112 of An Eclectic Almanac for the Faithful by W. Paul Jones. Copyright © 2006 by W. Paul Jones. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
If we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
- Romans 8:17, NIV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for memories of those loveed and lost. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- What’s your spiritual type? Do you approach spirituality through your mind or through your emotions? Are you more interested in serving others or experiencing God in silence? Find out your spiritual type by taking the MethodX Spiritual Types Test.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Rita of Cascia (May 22).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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May 22nd, 2007
Tuesday’s Reflection
FEAR KILLS A MIND and soul by slowly obliterating the visions we hold for our lives. That we should not fall prey to fear is a constant theme in the scriptures. God does not want us to succumb to the chilling and killing aspects of fear; God encourages people not to be afraid of the curcumstances in which they find themselves. It seems that one of God’s favorite themes is “Do not be afraid” or “Do not fear.” Perhaps God repeats this theme so often because we so often fear circumstances that confront us in our lives and ministries.
- Norman Shawchuck
A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God
From pages 185-186 of A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God by Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job. Copyright © 2003 by Norman Shawchuck and Rueben P. Job. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
The Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God’s children, and by the Spirit’s power we cry out to God, “Father! my Father!”
- Romans 8:15, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for memories of those loveed and lost. Add your prayer to the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- What’s your spiritual type? Do you approach spirituality through your mind or through your emotions? Are you more interested in serving others or experiencing God in silence? Find out your spiritual type by taking the MethodX Spiritual Types Test.
- Saints, Inc.:
- Today we remember Rita of Cascia (May 22).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2007 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
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