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Prayers for Mass Shootings and Natural Disasters
In the wake of storms that have devastated communities across the Southern United States, and following Read More
Lisa Schubert Nowling | Read Luke 19:8-10
Zacchaeus isn’t a billionaire, just wealthier than the average person. While his name means “clean” or “innocent,” he has come about his money in suspicious ways. As the chief tax collector, he’s in cahoots with the Roman government and shunned by the crowd. When Jesus comes to town, Zacchaeus, the...
Jesus, may your salvation come to our household and redeem all aspects of our lives so that we are generous to all. Amen.
Habakkuk stands aghast at the “destruction and violence” all around and wonders how justice never seems to conquer. At the end of the reading, God contrasts the proud, whose spirit “is not right in them,” with the righteous who live by faith. The psalmist delights in God’s righteousness and in the commandments of God; however, he admits that “I am small and despised.” The psalmist’s “trouble and anguish” appear in Second Thessalonians also, but here the “persecutions and the afflictions” endured by the faithful serve a particular end: They stand as signs of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel reading Jesus tells Zacchaeus, “Today salvation has come to this house,” which reminds us that the righteous who live by faith are not necessarily the socially or religiously acceptable.
Read Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4. How can you wait actively for God’s response to your prayers and complaints? How will you enact God’s response when it comes?
Read Psalm 119:137-144. How do you follow God’s commandments in the face of injustice and corruption?
Read 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12. The work of the church has never been easy. How does your faith community work to exude God’s love in a time when many reject or feel rejected by church institutions?
Read Luke 19:1-10. When have you run to Jesus? How can you share your experience so others pursue Jesus as well?
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