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Advent in The Upper Room Chapel
As we journey through this Advent season, Rev. Beth A. Richardson leads us in a moment Read More
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Nick Baird-Chrisohon | Read Psalm 19:7-14
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Sign Up TodayPsalm 19 is, according to many biblical scholars, two psalms edited together. While the two are divergent in their subject matter, with verses 1-6 speaking of God’s nature and 7-14 God’s moral law, both proclaim the awe-inspiring qualities of God. Whereas the first part of this psalm evokes rich imagery,...
Lord, I look to you for guidance. Help me to find you in small, mundane tasks and in grand adventures of faith. May all that I do speak to how transcendent you are. Amen.
As we continue in the season of Lent, we remember another important chapter in salvation history. Just as God established covenants with Noah and Abraham and their descendants, so did God renew the relationship with the Israelites by giving them the law. Obedience to the law was not the means of earning God’s love, but a response of love by the people to the love God had already shown them. The psalmist understands that God’s law creates a cause for rejoicing, for it is more valuable than gold. Both Paul and John address situations in which some had distorted the worship of God. Either they considered themselves too good for the gospel (1 Corinthians), or they had violated the covenant by altering proper worship for the sake of profit (John).
Read Exodus 20:1-17. How do you keep God as the central focus of your life? What draws you away from that focus?
Read Psalm 19. In what ways do you experience God’s laws as “sweeter . . . than honey”? When do you find yourself trying to resist God’s laws?
Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. What does it mean to you that “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom”?
Read John 2:13-22. How do you respond to Jesus’ anger and actions in this reading? Do his actions fit with the way you generally picture Jesus?
Respond by posting a prayer.
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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