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Celebrating Native American Heritage Month
November marks Native American Heritage Month in the United States. Join us as Rev. Bryan Tener Read More
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Alina Kanaski | Read Isaiah 9:1-4
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Sign Up TodayThis joyful pronouncement promises a time to come when all
will rejoice before God, when oppression and war will end,
when the anguish of darkness shall cease. God has promised us
good, good things.
God comes, bringing light. Isaiah contrasts the former time
of contempt with the latter time of...
God, thank you for bringing light to our darkness. May we rejoice. Amen.
The image of light figures in three of the texts. Light not only illumines but brings a changed situation. The psalmist’s confession links light with salvation. The Gospel lesson expresses deliverance in terms of the nearness of God’s reign, which overcomes diseases and distortions. Light permits well-being. Light is the mode of God’s presence.
• Read Isaiah 9:1-4. When has God called you out of the darkness of an old habit, a familiar circumstance, into the light of new opportunity for ministry?
• Read Psalm 27:1, 4-9. Do you feel more comfortable talking with God about your joys or your pains? Is there need for more openness in either?
• Read 1 Corinthians 1:10-18. In your faith community, when have members found themselves at odds over priorities of no eternal value?
• Read Matthew 4:12-23. Put yourself into the story. What do you hear, see, feel, or smell? How have you answered the call of Jesus?
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I could not have found The Upper Room Moments of Prayer (on Facebook Live) sooner. For it is during these moments of centering spiritual practices, meditating on the words of scripture, praying with and for the world, that I find moments of transcendence, hear whispers of peace and hope, see glimpses of truth and justice, behold visions of love and beauty amid all the stark realities that are around me.”
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