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You Are Our Bright Spot
“Giving this year has been remarkable—a bright spot in a trying year. Because of you, and Read More
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ARTHUR MCCLANAHAN | Read Psalm 99:1-9
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Sign Up TodayLove means never having to say you’re sorry” according to Erich Segal’s novel (Love Story), written nearly fifty years ago. That philosophy deems responsibility for hurt feelings unnecessary. Regret becomes irrelevant. Remorse simply doesn’t exist.
If Segal’s philosophy had been prevalent in the early 1990s, then Nelson Mandela’s release from...
Forgiving God, may we willingly say we're sorry for the hurts and wrongs we've done. Help us to forgive others who've done so to us. In that way we can truly love one another. Amen.
In Exodus 33 Moses successfully argues that without Yahweh’s merciful presence Israel is no nation and that Yahweh’s and Moses’ efforts have come to naught. Psalm 99 mentions Yahweh’s royal rule, which brings to mind the human agents of that rule: Moses, Aaron, and Samuel. Each of these leaders facilitated Yahweh’s conversation with the people and Yahweh’s rule over them. The opening lines from First Thessalonians raise a question about the church’s understanding of evangelism. Paul and his coworkers experience a change in themselves because of the Thessalonians, who become a living proclamation of the gospel by virtue of their ready acceptance of it. In the Gospel reading, Jesus answers a question with a question and confuses his “audience” both then and today.
• Read Exodus 33:12-23. When have you most longed for a glimpse of God’s glory? How did God give you the assurance you needed?
• Read Psalm 99. Where in your life is forgiveness needed to restore a loving relationship? How have you experienced “a forgiving God”?
• Read 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10. As your Christian faith has developed, how have you seen it move “from head to heart to hands”?
• Read Matthew 22:15-22. How do you give to God “the things that are God’s”? What are some of those things Jesus wants you to give?
Respond by posting a prayer.
While several strategies for reopening the world are being discussed, I encourage you—the people of God everywhere—to allow this season to be a formative one during which you can make new discoveries about God and increase your faith. Use this time to embark on a life of prayer, a life of study, and a life of action—involvement in the community.”
