August 31st, 2008
Sunday’s Reflection
GOD SAYS to each of us, “You are my chosen one. I love you. I’m proud of you. Know that I have forgiven you. I call you by name. You are mine. I have entered into covenant with you and will stand by you in all times and places.
“Dare to live fully the life to which I have called you.”
- Susan Gregg-Schroeder
The Upper Room Disciplines 1999
From p. 66 of The Upper Room Disciplines 1999. Copyright © 1998 Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase next year’s Disciplines.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Then [the Lord] sent his servant Moses, and Aaron, whom he had chosen. They did God’s mighty acts and performed miracles in Egypt.
- Psalm 105:26-27, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for peace. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | Comments Off
August 30th, 2008
Saturday’s Reflection
GOD OF THE UNIVERSE, who considers every person on earth your child, we confess that we have ignored the ancient scriptural instruction to do justice, love kindness, and, especially, to walk humbly. Guide us as we seek a gentler and more respectful path, to retain the passion to right the wrongs we see, as Zechariah tells us, “not by might, nor by power” but by your spirit living in us. Amen.
- Jim Melchiorre
Novena in Time of War: Soul-Searching Prayers and Meditations
From p. 58 of Novena in Time of War by Jim Melchiorre. Copyright © 2007 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Love one another warmly as Christians, and be eager to show respect for one another.
- Romans 12:10, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for peace. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 2 Comments »
August 29th, 2008
Friday’s Reflection
OBSTACLES are opportunities for grace. The dark and difficult aspects of our own nature, brought into the light of love, can actually become doorways to encountering the nearer presence of God.
- Robert Corin Morris
Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life
From p. 85 of Wrestling with Grace by Robert Corin Morris. Copyright © 2003 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Love must be completely sincere. Hate what is evil, hold on to what is good.
- Romans 12:9, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for peace. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | Comments Off
August 28th, 2008
Thursday’s Reflection
OFTEN PRAYER BEGINS as a longing in the heart, a longing for love, a longing for connection, a longing to make contact with a Power greater than ourselves. Sometimes it begins as a desperate need for help, peace, strength, or comfort. Other times prayer’s beginning is a deep hope for others — an ache for suffering to stop, for the earth’s healing, for care of the poor. Sometimes prayer begins in fear. We reach out for something to save us, to protect us, to let us know that we’ll be OK. Sometimes prayer feels like a longing that’s been met, like a deep spring of peace welling up within our hearts, spilling over and filling us with gratitude and love.
- Mark Yaconelli with Alexx Campbell
“Prayer”
Way to Live: Christian Practices for Teens
From p. 278 of Way to Live: Christian Practices for Teens edited by Dorothy C. Bass and Don C. Richter. Copyright © 2002 by the editors. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Jesus said, “Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
- Matthew 16:25, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for peace. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | 2 Comments »
August 27th, 2008
Wednesday’s Reflection
IN THE FACE of this central Christian mystery, we may be inclined only to stop and adore. But nowhere in the Gospels does Jesus urge us to adore him.
Rather, he calls us to follow him and thereby to partake of his life, his energy, his spirit — living the divine life here and now by participating in the mystery of the Incarnation.
- Michael Downey
Weavings Journal
From p. 29 of Weavings Journal, November/December 1999. Copyright © 1999 by The Upper Room. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this journal.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
- Matthew 16:24, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for peace. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | Comments Off
August 26th, 2008
Tuesday’s Reflection
GOD, DO NOT PERMIT us to be content marking the places where you walked, instead of walking our own walk — with you. How fine if at our end someone could say of us that we were faithful. Amen.
- W. Paul Jones
An Eclectic Almanac for the Faithful
From p. 291 of An Eclectic Almanac for the Faithful by W. Paul Jones. Copyright © 2006 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He said, “I will be with you.”
- Exodus 3:11-12, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for peace. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | Comments Off
August 25th, 2008
Monday’s Reflection
MY SOUL SMILES
My heart dances
My fears flee
My mind wrestles
My tongue shouts praise
My loneliness finds company
My spirit meets God
Surely, we are in the house of the Lord!
- Ciona D. Rouse
The Africana Worship Book: Year A
From p. 49 of The Africana Worship Book: Year A edited by Valerie Bridgeman Davis and Safiyah Fosua. Copyright © 2006 by Discipleship Resources. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry. … I know their sufferings.”
- Exodus 3:7, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for peace. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Personalizing Scripture: Sometimes we can personalize a passage of scripture by placing our own name in it. Some passages lend themselves to becoming personal prayers as we make ourselves the recipients of God’s Word. Try the practice, Personalizing scripture.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Augustine of Hippo (August 28).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | Comments Off
August 24th, 2008
Sunday’s Reflection
EACH ENCOUNTER we have is part of our daily offering to God. Each day, every deed, all the intentional motion of our souls — however helpful or hurtful it may be — is the actual “living sacrifice” we give to God as material with which to weave the human story (see Rom. 12:1). At this daily altar our selves are offered to or withheld from the Spirit’s transforming power.
- Robert Corin Morris
Wrestling with Grace: A Spirituality for the Rough Edges of Daily Life
From p. 21 of Wrestling with Grace by Robert Corin Morris. Copyright © 2003 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Paul wrote: Because of God’s great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer.
- Romans 12:1, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for students, teachers, and school officials. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Struggling with Pain? Learning to live with disease or distress can be a challenge. Read Meditation for Distress, Disease, or Pain.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Rose of Lima (August 23).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | Comments Off
August 23rd, 2008
Saturday’s Reflection
GOD OF SACRED PRESENCE,
may I know
that contentment is not found
in the place we live
but in the person we are.
Amen.
- Richard Morgan
Settling In: My First Year in a Retirement Community
From p. 164 of Settling In by Richard Morgan. Copyright © 2006 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
[Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
- Matthew 16:15, NRSV
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for students, teachers, and school officials. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Struggling with Pain? Learning to live with disease or distress can be a challenge. Read Meditation for Distress, Disease, or Pain.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Rose of Lima (August 23).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | Comments Off
August 22nd, 2008
Friday’s Reflection
OUR HOPE to have our yearnings satisfied rests on the faithfulness of God whom we hunger to know, the One who has been seeking us all our lives. God designed our spiritual hunger and thirst into us; they are a part of the original specifications for being fully human. We are created for relationship with God, and nothing else can satisfy that longing.
- Mary Lou Redding
The Power of a Focused Heart: 8 Life Lessons from the Beatitudes
From p. 58 of The Power of a Focused Heart by Mary Lou Redding. Copyright © 2006 by the author. Published by Upper Room Books. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Scripture Reading
Do not think of yourself more highly than you should. … [J]udge yourself according to the amount of faith that God has given you.
- Romans 12:3, GNT
This Week …
- Special Need:
- This Week: Pray for students, teachers, and school officials. Leave your prayer at the Prayer Wall.
- Tips for Your Spirit:
- Struggling with Pain? Learning to live with disease or distress can be a challenge. Read Meditation for Distress, Disease, or Pain.
- Saints, Inc.:
- This week we remember Rose of Lima (August 23).
- Lectionary Readings:
-
Sponsored by The Upper Room daily devotional guide. Subscribe Today.
Copyright © 2008 The Upper Room | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA
Posted in Daily Reflection | Comments Off
