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The Journey of Freedom
As the RESILIENCE conference approaches, I find myself thinking about resilience and compassion, solidarity and freedom. Read More
Mark W. Stamm | Read Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
God is addressing you through the scriptures, calling you to participate in what God is doing. That’s never truer than in the psalm appointed for the Liturgy of the Palms. Note its dynamism and allow it to carry you forward.
We praise the God who saves and delivers us. We...
God, thank you for my neighbors and my neighborhood. Help us to see that, in you, the whole world is one neighborhood. Amen.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Psalm 118 is a song of rejoicing, yet it also includes the prophecy that the cornerstone must experience rejection. Isaiah speaks of physical suffering, of being beaten, disgraced, and spat on. We see elements of this in the Gospel reading, where Luke describes the final moments of Jesus’ life. Bloodied and beaten, Jesus hangs on the cross and breathes his last. In Philippians, Paul places this drama within the eternal narrative of God’s redeeming work. Jesus leaves his rightful place and becomes flesh. He experiences pain and suffering, even the most humiliating form of death, crucifixion. Jesus can empathize with our suffering because he has suffered. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Read Isaiah 50:4-9a. How does the Suffering Servant speak to your life today?
Read Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29. How do you hear differently the familiar verses of this psalm when you read them together?
Read Philippians 2:5-11. Do you find it paradoxical to live as a beloved child of God and as a servant? If so, how do you live in this paradox?
Read Luke 22:14–23:56. How do you experience the extreme emotional highs and lows of Palm Sunday and Holy Week, even knowing how it will all turn out?
Respond by posting a prayer.
The worship, preaching, and teaching for The Upper Room’s RESILIENCE conference were among the best I have ever experienced. The event was extremely well organized and went so smoothly. The Upper Room continues to make so much impact on people around the world.”
Join us for the next RESILIENCE conference. Learn more at UpperRoom.org/resilience.
