Loading more...
After All These Years
Still Praying After All These Years: Meditations for Later Life represents the fulfillment of promises I Read More
Doyle Burbank-Williams | Read Amos 7:7-9
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 TodayTucked in among the tourist traps of the South Dakota Black Hills is a self-entitled “Mystery House.” The mystery of the Mystery House is that water seems to run uphill, and objects dangle strangely out of plumb. But the mystery involved is not in the house; it is in our...
Reorient the level of my heart, O God, not on the ground of society’s values but on the plumb line of the passion of your heart. Amen.
Amos is a farmer called by God to deliver a message to Jeroboam, the king of Israel (the Northern Kingdom in the divided monarchy). Because the king has not listened to the warnings from God, judgment will come. The psalmist also warns of judgment, in this case for those who oppress the weak and needy and fail to protect them from the wicked. Such heartless people will surely be brought low by God. The opening to the letter to the Colossians is a prayer of thanksgiving for their faith in Christ and the spiritual fruit they are producing in the world. The parable in the Gospel reading challenges our human tendency to ignore need. Jesus teaches that mercy should overcome any reason we might find to harden our hearts.
Read Amos 7:7-17. Look for God’s plumb line in the world. In what ways is the ground you stand on askew?
Read Psalm 82. If you sit on the council of the Most High, how does this change your perspective on the world?
Read Colossians 1:1-14. Prayers of mere words are just the beginning of prayer. To what prayerful actions do your prayerful words call you?
Read Luke 10:25-37. The author writes, “Even those trying to be faithful walk askew.” Consider how you live out Jesus’ call to love your neighbor.
Respond by posting a prayer.
“One of the most pressing spiritual needs of our service men and women is to have a sense of rootedness whether at home or in combat, . . . an anchor to hold on to when everything is going to pieces.” Support The Upper Room Chaplains' Ministry.
