Log In Sign Up
Shop
Donate

The Upper Room is here for you in these anxious times. Click Here

May 2, 2018

A Wonderful World

J. Michael Ripski   |   Read Psalm 98:1-9

(Image: Pixabay)

Buy or Subscribe Today

Disciplines is available in a variety of formats: print, digital, and print/digital combo packages. A digital subscription includes access to author bios, the ability to comment, and audio lectio.

Sign Up Today

The psalmist invites us to join the choir for the Lord’s victory celebration. There will be instrumental accompaniment, strings, and brass. Even Creation’s children will be there: the seas roaring, the floods clapping their hands, and the hills alive with the sound of music. What a victory party it’s going...

Eternal Guest of Honor, teach me that in losing I win a wonderful life and a wonderful world. Amen.

1 Comment
Log In to leave a comment
Lectionary Week
April 30 – May 6, 2018
Scripture Overview

The Acts passage continues to tell the story of the advance of the gospel. The Holy Spirit falls on a group of Gentiles. They believe and are baptized, thus showing God’s inclusion of all peoples in the plan of salvation. Psalm 98 is a simple declaration of praise. All creation will sing to and rejoice in the Lord. The two passages from John are linked by their emphasis on the relationship between love and obedience. We do not follow God’s commandments in order to make God love us. On the contrary, because God has first loved us and we love God in return, we follow God’s teachings. Jesus provides the model for us, being obedient to his Father out of love.

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

• Read Acts 10:44-48. When has the Spirit of God brought you to a new understanding?
• Read Psalm 98. Does the guest of honor’s coming to judge the earth make you feel easy or uneasy? Why?
• Read 1 John 5:1-6. Is your life one of “oughts,” “musts,” and “shoulds”? Do you impose them on yourself, or do they come from others? How do you move toward loving obedience?
• Read John 15:9-17. How do you experience yourself as a manifestation of the Logos?

Respond by posting a prayer.

Find Related Resources

View All

You can view content for 30 more days.

Sign Up Today

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.”

Join us every Monday and Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. (CST) for prayer and worship on Facebook Live.

—William Lazarte, a lay member of First United Methodist Church in Torrance, California