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Freedom Is Coming Tomorrow: A Juneteenth Reflection
In 1978, I wrote a poem that I now believe represented God’s first calling me into Read More
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Ken A. Ramsey | Read Jeremiah 18:1-11
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Sign Up TodayThe word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah at a crucial time in the life of his people. They live in the ever-lengthening shadow of the Babylonian empire, which looms as a serious threat. In a very short time the Babylonians will overtake, conquer, and scatter Jeremiah’s people. Into this...
Lord, I am grateful that you speak the word I need, even when life renders me speechless. Amen.
The Gospel lesson stresses the cost of disci- pleship. One of the costs involves family, but the implication is that there are compensations as well as costs. Belonging to God affects the way in which one belongs to others. Traditional pat- terns, kinship and otherwise, are transformed. This insight lies at the heart of Paul’s letter to Philemon concerning Philemon’s slave, Onesimus. Without directly requesting that Philemon set Onesimus free, Paul clearly suggests that the ties that bind per- sons as brothers and sisters in Christ transform traditional social patterns, including slavery. Both Jeremiah 18 and Psalm 139 af rm our belongingness to God, individually and corporately.
• Read Jeremiah 18:1-11. How has the “word of the Lord” come to you? What obstacles prevent you from placing your- self entirely in God’s hands?
• Read Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18. How does your life evidence God’s handiwork?
• Read Philemon 1-21. What person or group needs your advocacy in the name of Christ?
• Read Luke 14:25-33. How have you counted the cost of fol- lowing Jesus?
Respond by posting a prayer.
I join many of those who will pray for you as you seek to discern what you are called to be at this moment. May God grant you the courage to fulfill that calling. May we all open our eyes and see the misery, open our ears and hear the cries of God’s people, and, like God through the Lord Jesus Christ, be incarnate amongst them.”
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