Monday, August 31, 2015

Prayer of Humility

The Christian Community Comes Alive
Seeds of New Growth


Praying for One Another


Matthew 6:9-15  The Message

7-13 “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply. Like this:
Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
    as above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals.
Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
    Yes. Yes. Yes.
14-15 “In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.
For Reflection 
The Lord's Prayer is familiar to us all.  So familiar in fact, that we often repeat it with out thinking about it.  Sometimes the rote repetition looses some of its meaning.  Here in this translation the prayer may throw us for a loop.  That is the point!  Our feelings of discomfort make us take a new look at an old prayer.  There is no right way to pray.  Just talk to God.  Be humble and honest.

Pray
Pray this prayer in your own words, make this familiar prayer uniquely yours. 

Friday, August 28, 2015

The Contrite and Humble in Spirit

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All


Return to a Just God

Isaiah 57:10-21  The Message

3-10 “But you, children of a witch, come here!
    Sons of a slut, daughters of a whore.
What business do you have taunting,
    sneering, and sticking out your tongue?
Do you have any idea what wretches you’ve turned out to be?
    A race of rebels, a generation of liars.
You satisfy your lust any place you find some shade
    and fornicate at whim.
You kill your children at any convenient spot—
    any cave or crevasse will do.
You take stones from the creek
    and set up your sex-and-religion shrines.
You’ve chosen your fate.
    Your worship will be your doom.
You’ve climbed a high mountain
    to practice your foul sex-and-death religion.
Behind closed doors
    you assemble your precious gods and goddesses.
Deserting me, you’ve gone all out, stripped down
    and made your bed your place of worship.
You’ve climbed into bed with the ‘sacred’ whores
    and loved every minute of it,
    adoring every curve of their naked bodies.
You anoint your king-god with ointments
    and lavish perfumes on yourselves.
You send scouts to search out the latest in religion,
    send them all the way to hell and back.
You wear yourselves out trying the new and the different,
    and never see what a waste it all is.
You’ve always found strength for the latest fad,
    never got tired of trying new religions.
11-13 “Who talked you into the pursuit of this nonsense,
    leaving me high and dry,
    forgetting you ever knew me?
Because I don’t yell and make a scene
    do you think I don’t exist?
I’ll go over, detail by detail, all your ‘righteous’ attempts at religion,
    and expose the absurdity of it all.
Go ahead, cry for help to your collection of no-gods:
    A good wind will blow them away.
    They’re smoke, nothing but smoke.
“But anyone who runs to me for help
    will inherit the land,
    will end up owning my holy mountain!”
14 Someone says: “Build, build! Make a road!
    Clear the way, remove the rocks
    from the road my people will travel.”
15-21 A Message from the high and towering God,
    who lives in Eternity,
    whose name is Holy:
“I live in the high and holy places,
    but also with the low-spirited, the spirit-crushed,
And what I do is put new spirit in them,
    get them up and on their feet again.
For I’m not going to haul people into court endlessly,
    I’m not going to be angry forever.
Otherwise, people would lose heart.
    These souls I created would tire out and give up.
I was angry, good and angry, because of Israel’s sins.
    I struck him hard and turned away in anger,
    while he kept at his stubborn, willful ways.
When I looked again and saw what he was doing,
    I decided to heal him, lead him, and comfort him,
    creating a new language of praise for the mourners.
Peace to the far-off, peace to the near-at-hand,” says God
    “and yes, I will heal them.
But the wicked are storm-battered seas
    that can’t quiet down.
    The waves stir up garbage and mud.
There’s no peace,” God says, “for the wicked.”
For Reflection 
A few Sundays ago some one asked me if I thought Christianity was changing.  My answer, unhesitatingly, was yes!  God is always changing the way God's children worship.  Many feel that the Church is dying.  They point to the disruptive arguments about sex and women's rights and how to serve communion and who should read and interpret the Bible.  Many times the hypocrisy of the church seems cartoonish and driven by self preservation.

Ironically, the maturity of the church hangs in the balance of these arguments.  In my early years arguments about divorce and women as church officers (let alone in the ordained ministry} was argued with such intensity, such vitriol as some argue contemporary issues.  In the pressure of resolving these issues, God worked God's own way.  God will continue to present opportunities to grow into God's kingdom.

The church is not dying.  The church is maturing.  Those who reject religion or  leave religious institutions still have a desire for spiritual transcendence.  God has a long history of sending prophets and leaders to advance God's will.  God will see to it that God's church will evolve so that all will find a pathway to reconciliation and into a loving community, the household of God.

Pray
for those who challenge us.  Pray for those who fear change.  Pray for God's prophets who sacrifice themselves for the advancement of God's agenda.  Pray for the church universal. Pray for and hope for the establishment of the household of God.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

How Shall We Repent?

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All


Return to a Just God

Jeremiah 6:26-30  The Message

26 “Dear Daughter Zion: Dress in black.
    Blacken your face with ashes.
Weep most bitterly,
    as for an only child.
The countdown has begun . . .
    six, five, four, three . . .
    The Terror is on us!”
27-30 God gave me this task:
“I have made you the examiner of my people,
    to examine and weigh their lives.
They’re a thickheaded, hard-nosed bunch,
    rotten to the core, the lot of them.
Refining fires are cranked up to white heat,
    but the ore stays a lump, unchanged.
It’s useless to keep trying any longer.
    Nothing can refine evil out of them.
Men will give up and call them ‘slag,’
    thrown on the slag heap by me, their God.”

For Reflection 
True repentance is turning away from sin and returning to God.   A homecoming filled with joy and the promise of a new life lived in the hollow of God's hand.  Repentance is confessing your sin and accepting the grace in God's forgiveness.  Repentance is practicing obedience to God's will.  Repentance is not just saying you are sorry and begging forgiveness is also wearing the new robes of righteousness.

Pray
prayers of confession and repentance.  Pray that you will rededicate yourself to the righteous life.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

How Have We Spoken Against You?

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All

Return to a Just God


Malachi 3:11-18  The Message

8-11 “Begin by being honest. Do honest people rob God? But you rob me day after day.
“You ask, ‘How have we robbed you?’
“The tithe and the offering—that’s how! And now you’re under a curse—the whole lot of you—because you’re robbing me. Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don’t open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams. For my part, I will defend you against marauders, protect your wheat fields and vegetable gardens against plunderers.” The Message of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
12 “You’ll be voted ‘Happiest Nation.’ You’ll experience what it’s like to be a country of grace.” God-of-the-Angel-Armies says so.

The Difference Between Serving God and Not Serving Him

13 God says, “You have spoken hard, rude words to me.
“You ask, ‘When did we ever do that?’
14-15 “When you said, ‘It doesn’t pay to serve God. What do we ever get out of it? When we did what he said and went around with long faces, serious about God-of-the-Angel-Armies, what difference did it make? Those who take life into their own hands are the lucky ones. They break all the rules and get ahead anyway. They push God to the limit and get by with it.’”
16 Then those whose lives honored God got together and talked it over. God saw what they were doing and listened in. A book was opened in God’s presence and minutes were taken of the meeting, with the names of the God-fearers written down, all the names of those who honored God’s name.
17-18 God-of-the-Angel-Armies said, “They’re mine, all mine. They’ll get special treatment when I go into action. I treat them with the same consideration and kindness that parents give the child who honors them. Once more you’ll see the difference it makes between being a person who does the right thing and one who doesn’t, between serving God and not serving him.”

For Reflection 
What's in it for me?  It has been said that this is the "Me Generation."  That's right, "Its all about me!"  Serving God is not about what we receive in return.  Serving God is about gratitude.  Serving God is about sacrificing self for the establishment of justice, peace, compassion and forgiveness.  Serving God is about living a righteous life; expecting no reward.  serving God is about building a loving community.  That in itself is reward enough.

Pray
that you will respond to the love of God by living a righteous life, fighting for justice, hoping for peace, and freeing others to do likewise.

Monday, August 24, 2015

Return to a Just God

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All


Return to a Just God

Matthew 7:7-14  The Message

7-11 “Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This isn’t a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your child asks for bread, do you trick him with sawdust? If he asks for fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing. You’re at least decent to your own children. So don’t you think the God who conceived you in love will be even better?
12 “Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God’s Law and Prophets and this is what you get.

Being and Doing

13-14 “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.

For Reflection 
Live your life as though what you believe is the motive for what you do.  It is easy to say I have faith in God.  It is easy to love the Lord.  It is easy to follow your religious rituals.  What is not so easy is to live your life as though the lives of all others depended upon it.  Living a righteous life is vigorous and requires total attention.

Pray
that the rigors of life stimulate you into righteousness.

Friday, August 21, 2015

The Lord Waits to Be Gracious

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All


God Demands Justice

Isaiah 30:18-26  The Message

18 But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you.
    He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you.
God takes the time to do everything right—everything.
    Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones.
19-22 Oh yes, people of Zion, citizens of Jerusalem, your time of tears is over. Cry for help and you’ll find it’s grace and more grace. The moment he hears, he’ll answer. Just as the Master kept you alive during the hard times, he’ll keep your teacher alive and present among you. Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job, urging you on whenever you wander left or right: “This is the right road. Walk down this road.” You’ll scrap your expensive and fashionable god-images. You’ll throw them in the trash as so much garbage, saying, “Good riddance!”
23-26 God will provide rain for the seeds you sow. The grain that grows will be abundant. Your cattle will range far and wide. Oblivious to war and earthquake, the oxen and donkeys you use for hauling and plowing will be fed well near running brooks that flow freely from mountains and hills. Better yet, on the Day God heals his people of the wounds and bruises from the time of punishment, moonlight will flare into sunlight, and sunlight, like a whole week of sunshine at once, will flood the land.

For Reflection 
As our world evolves around us we sometimes wonder,  "Where is God?"  Wars abound, vengeance seems to thrive, compassion and a sense of community seems to be dissolving, and injustice is the rule.   Perhaps the question is not, "Where is God?" but rather, where are we, God's children,  God's professed people, followers of Christ?

Pray
that our knowledge of God, our worship of the living Christ, and our acceptance of the Holy Spirit compels us to also become a disciple; a doer of the faith.  Pray for all the visible disciples and strive to become one.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Pursue Justice and Only Justice

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All


God Demands Justice

Deuteronomy 16:16-20  The Message

16-17 All your men must appear before God, your God, three times each year at the place he designates: at the Feast-of-Unraised-Bread (Passover), at the Feast-of-Weeks, and at the Feast-of-Booths. No one is to show up in the Presence of God empty-handed; each man must bring as much as he can manage, giving generously in response to the blessings of God, your God.
18-19 Appoint judges and officers, organized by tribes, in all the towns that God, your God, is giving you. They are to judge the people fairly and honestly. Don’t twist the law. Don’t play favorites. Don’t take a bribe—a bribe blinds even a wise person; it undermines the intentions of the best of people.
20 The right! The right! Pursue only what’s right! It’s the only way you can really live and possess the land that God, your God, is giving you.

For Reflection 
In the old testament I have found  consistency in the intentions of God and the life of Christ.  In both testaments justice is a common theme.  The performance of certain rituals was essential to remind the believers of their duties as children of God.  The God worshipers are to do right to all and wrong to none.  What don't we understand about that?

Pray
for those righteous people who strive to do right to all and wrong to none.  Pray that you will number among them.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

How Shall We Be Judged?

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All


God Demands Justice

Joel 3:9-17  The Message

9-11 Announce this to the godless nations:
    Prepare for battle!
Soldiers at attention!
    Present arms! Advance!
Turn your shovels into swords,
    turn your hoes into spears.
Let the weak one throw out his chest
    and say, “I’m tough, I’m a fighter.”
Hurry up, pagans! Wherever you are, get a move on!
    Get your act together.
Prepare to be
    shattered by God!
12 Let the pagan nations set out
    for Judgment Valley.
There I’ll take my place at the bench
    and judge all the surrounding nations.
13 “Swing the sickle—
    the harvest is ready.
Stomp on the grapes—
    the winepress is full.
The wine vats are full,
    overflowing with vintage evil.
14 “Mass confusion, mob uproar—
    in Decision Valley!
God’s Judgment Day has arrived
    in Decision Valley.
15-17 “The sky turns black,
    sun and moon go dark, stars burn out.
God roars from Zion, shouts from Jerusalem.
    Earth and sky quake in terror.
But God is a safe hiding place,
    a granite safe house for the children of Israel.
Then you’ll know for sure
    that I’m your God,
Living in Zion,
    my sacred mountain.
Jerusalem will be a sacred city,
    posted: ‘no trespassing.’

For Reflection 
We are living in the Valley of Decision.  It is time for us to decide to whom we owe our allegiance.  To what extent do we owe ourselves to the common man, the cultural from which we spring?  To what extent do we owe ourselves to the Lord who asks us to defy the common culture for God Culture?  How, indeed, will we be judged?

Pray
for the wisdom to make the right decisions when facing tough issues.  Pray that what you decide will please God.  Pray for God's grace when facing dilemmas.

Walking in the Way

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All


God Demands Justice

Judges 2:16-23  The Message

16-17 But then God raised up judges who saved them from their plunderers. But they wouldn’t listen to their judges; they prostituted themselves to other gods—worshiped them! They lost no time leaving the road walked by their parents, the road of obedience to God’s commands. They refused to have anything to do with it.
18-19 When God was setting up judges for them, he would be right there with the judge: He would save them from their enemies’ oppression as long as the judge was alive, for God was moved to compassion when he heard their groaning because of those who afflicted and beat them. But when the judge died, the people went right back to their old ways—but even worse than their parents!—running after other gods, serving and worshiping them. Stubborn as mules, they didn’t drop a single evil practice.
20-22 And God’s anger blazed against Israel. He said, “Because these people have thrown out my covenant that I commanded their parents and haven’t listened to me, I’m not driving out one more person from the nations that Joshua left behind when he died. I’ll use them to test Israel and see whether they stay on God’s road and walk down it as their parents did.”
23 That’s why God let those nations remain. He didn’t drive them out or let Joshua get rid of them.

For Reflection 
In biblical times, judges were ad hoc chieftains.  The tribes were loose confederations and judges were military and judicial.  They did not inherit their positions nor were they elected.  However, they were recognized as tribal leaders.  Perhaps they were, in this case more like police;  selected by God and charged with establishing justice and practicing the Torah.  They were impossible to turn around so God left them to their own devices.  Their suffering from their own Godlessness will signify the need to return to obedience to God.

Pray
for those who suffer from their own disobedience to God's will.  Pray for the judges of our time who in God's wisdom point to the righteous paths.  Pray that you will continue to walk in the path of righteousness.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Hope in God's Steadfast Love

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All


God Demands Justice

Psalm 147:1-11  The Message

147 Hallelujah!
It’s a good thing to sing praise to our God;
    praise is beautiful, praise is fitting.
2-6 God’s the one who rebuilds Jerusalem,
    who regathers Israel’s scattered exiles.
He heals the heartbroken
    and bandages their wounds.
He counts the stars
    and assigns each a name.
Our Lord is great, with limitless strength;
    we’ll never comprehend what he knows and does.
God puts the fallen on their feet again
    and pushes the wicked into the ditch.
7-11 Sing to God a thanksgiving hymn,
    play music on your instruments to God,
Who fills the sky with clouds,
    preparing rain for the earth,
Then turning the mountains green with grass,
    feeding both cattle and crows.
He’s not impressed with horsepower;
    the size of our muscles means little to him.
Those who fear God get God’s attention;
    they can depend on his strength.

For Reflection 
How often do you stop the world and Praise God?  Here in this song we are furnished with the stuff of praise;  healing, care-taking, intimate awareness of each element of God's own creative hand, comprehending all, just, humble and dependable.  A loving God.  God's gift of Hope!

Pray
Enumerate God's gifts and praise God with vigor.

Monday, August 17, 2015

You Behaved Worse than Your Ancestors

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All


God Demands Justice

Jeremiah 16:9-13  The Message

God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Watch this! I’m about to banish smiles and laughter from this place. No more brides and bridegrooms celebrating. And I’m doing it in your lifetime, before your very eyes.
10-13 “When you tell this to the people and they ask, ‘Why is God talking this way, threatening us with all these calamities? We’re not criminals, after all. What have we done to our God to be treated like this?’ tell them this: ‘It’s because your ancestors left me, walked off and never looked back. They took up with the no-gods, worshiped and doted on them, and ignored me and wouldn’t do a thing I told them. And you’re even worse! Take a good look in the mirror—each of you doing whatever you want, whenever you want, refusing to pay attention to me. And for this I’m getting rid of you, throwing you out in the cold, into a far and strange country. You can worship your precious no-gods there to your heart’s content. Rest assured, I won’t bother you anymore.’
 
For Reflection 
The first generation that falls into sin fails.  The second generation has acclimated to that failure and is unaware of the sin.  They have few points of contrast in their lives.  God offers an interpretation of their lives apart from God that provides such a comparison.  Banishment and estrangement will cause them to realize the suffering they have brought onto themselves.  God will let their sin become their punishment.  They will get little pleasure, little joy, from their sin.  They will become as sick of worshiping false gods as they were fond of them.  Their illusion of peace, comfort and joy will be  dashed upon the rock of disillusionment. Not abiding in God eventually makes life intolerable.

Pray
that when you find life intolerable you will remember the life in the presence of God.  Pray that you will return to the only source of comfort, peace and joy, a life lived in the hollow of God's hand.

I Call Upon the Lord

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All


God Demands Justice

2 Samuel 22:1-7  The Message

22 David prayed to God the words of this song after God saved him from all his enemies and from Saul.
2-3 God is bedrock under my feet,
    the castle in which I live,
    my rescuing knight.
My God—the high crag
    where I run for dear life,
    hiding behind the boulders,
    safe in the granite hideout;
My mountaintop refuge,
    he saves me from ruthless men.
I sing to God the Praise-Lofty,
    and find myself safe and saved.
5-6 The waves of death crashed over me,
    devil waters rushed over me.
Hell’s ropes cinched me tight;
    death traps barred every exit.
A hostile world! I called to God,
    to my God I cried out.
From his palace he heard me call;
    my cry brought me right into his presence—
    a private audience!

For Reflection 
David had supreme trust in God.  He sought and found God.  David, unlike other kings, did not seek the approval of men.  David was a righteous, just and compassionate leader.  This is a song of praise raised to God for God's abiding comfort and guidance and protection.  David, like all of us who are God seekers, found a private relationship with God.

Pray
prayers of praise for God's abiding grace.  Praise God for freeing you to follow in God's footsteps with Christ.  Praise God for God's protection.  Praise God for the opportunities to serve in God's angel army.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Walking in the Lord's Ways

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All


A Call for Repentance

Hosea 14  The Message

Come Back! Return to Your God!

14 1-3 O Israel, come back! Return to your God!
    You’re down but you’re not out.
Prepare your confession
    and come back to God.
Pray to him, “Take away our sin,
    accept our confession.
Receive as restitution
    our repentant prayers.
Assyria won’t save us;
    horses won’t get us where we want to go.
We’ll never again say ‘our god’
    to something we’ve made or made up.
You’re our last hope. Is it not true
    that in you the orphan finds mercy?”
4-8 “I will heal their waywardness.
    I will love them lavishly. My anger is played out.
I will make a fresh start with Israel.
    He’ll burst into bloom like a crocus in the spring.
He’ll put down deep oak tree roots,
    he’ll become a forest of oaks!
He’ll become splendid—like a giant sequoia,
    his fragrance like a grove of cedars!
Those who live near him will be blessed by him,
    be blessed and prosper like golden grain.
Everyone will be talking about them,
    spreading their fame as the vintage children of God.
Ephraim is finished with gods that are no-gods.
    From now on I’m the one who answers and satisfies him.
I am like a luxuriant fruit tree.
    Everything you need is to be found in me.”
If you want to live well,
    make sure you understand all of this.
If you know what’s good for you,
    you’ll learn this inside and out.
God’s paths get you where you want to go.
    Right-living people walk them easily;
    wrong-living people are always tripping and stumbling.
 
For Reflection 
Does this sound like anything remotely related to a retributive god, a god who lurks in the shadows hoping to catch a person sinning?  Our God is a loving caring god.  God loves like no other loves.  God supports like no other supports.  God guides like no other guides.  God forgives like no other forgives. God embraces and those who accept God's embrace live well.

Pray
prayers of thanksgiving for the living God, found in Jesus Christ.   Pray so that you remain in an intimate relationship with Christ.  Pray that you will emulate the living Christ.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

The Lord Weighs the Heart

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All


A Call for Repentance

Proverbs 21:2-8  The Message

We justify our actions by appearances;
    God examines our motives.
Clean living before God and justice with our neighbors
    mean far more to God than religious performance.
Arrogance and pride—distinguishing marks in the wicked—
    are just plain sin.
Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run;
    hurry and scurry puts you further behind.
Make it to the top by lying and cheating;
    get paid with smoke and a promotion—to death!
The wicked get buried alive by their loot
    because they refuse to use it to help others.
Mixed motives twist life into tangles;
    pure motives take you straight down the road.
 
For Reflection 
What we all need is to look into the mirror of the heart.  We spend time combing our hair just so, adjusting our makeup, smoothing our skirts, and straightening our ties.  How much time do we spend adjusting our souls?

Pray
that you will be aware of the needs of your soul.  Pray that you will adjust your soul to be in alignment with the Holy Spirit.

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

The Consequences of Changing Behaviors

God' Prophets Demand Justice

Advocates of Justice for All


A Call for Repentance

Ezekiel 18:21-28  The Message

21-23 “But a wicked person who turns his back on that life of sin and keeps all my statutes, living a just and righteous life, he’ll live, really live. He won’t die. I won’t keep a list of all the things he did wrong. He will live. Do you think I take any pleasure in the death of wicked men and women? Isn’t it my pleasure that they turn around, no longer living wrong but living right—really living?
24 “The same thing goes for a good person who turns his back on an upright life and starts sinning, plunging into the same vile obscenities that the wicked person practices. Will this person live? I don’t keep a list of all the things this person did right, like money in the bank he can draw on. Because of his defection, because he accumulates sin, he’ll die.
25-28 “Do I hear you saying, ‘That’s not fair! God’s not fair!’?
“Listen, Israel. I’m not fair? You’re the ones who aren’t fair! If a good person turns away from his good life and takes up sinning, he’ll die for it. He’ll die for his own sin. Likewise, if a bad person turns away from his bad life and starts living a good life, a fair life, he will save his life. Because he faces up to all the wrongs he’s committed and puts them behind him, he will live, really live. He won’t die.

For Reflection 
We die drowning in our own choice to sin.  We live in the hollow of God's hand and because of that choice we thrive.  God does not will us ill.  God gives us the opportunity to to live a just and righteous life. 

Pray
for those whose choices mire them in the muck of their lives.  Pray for those who believe their sin is inescapable.  Pray for those who are working their way out of sin and into righteous life.  Pray for courage to live righteous lives in the face of the seductive common place.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Avoiding a Parent's Negative Example

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All

A Call for Repentance

Ezekiel 18:14-20  The Message

14-17 “Now look: Suppose that this child has a child who sees all the sins done by his parent. The child sees them, but doesn’t follow in the parent’s footsteps—
    doesn’t eat at the pagan shrines,
    doesn’t worship the popular idols of Israel,
    doesn’t seduce his neighbor’s spouse,
    doesn’t bully anyone,
    doesn’t refuse to loan money,
    doesn’t steal,
    doesn’t refuse food to the hungry,
    doesn’t refuse to give clothes to the ill-clad,
    doesn’t live by impulse and greed,
    doesn’t exploit the poor.
He does what I say;
    he performs my laws and lives by my statutes.
17-18 “This person will not die for the sins of the parent; he will live truly and well. But the parent will die for what the parent did, for the sins of—
oppressing the weak,
robbing brothers and sisters,
doing what is dead wrong in the community.
19-20 “Do you need to ask, ‘So why does the child not share the guilt of the parent?’
“Isn’t it plain? It’s because the child did what is fair and right. Since the child was careful to do what is lawful and right, the child will live truly and well. The soul that sins is the soul that dies. The child does not share the guilt of the parent, nor the parent the guilt of the child. If you live upright and well, you get the credit; if you live a wicked life, you’re guilty as charged.


For Reflection 
Our parents teach us a lot of things.  Through example, we as children learn what we want to do an to be.  We also learn what we do not want to do and be. We are born and become independent beings.  we are not hard wired in every respect to our parents.  We share genetic traits but are independent to develop apart from them.  In Christ we are free to act independently.  In Christ we are free to say no to the common place and yes to righteousness.

Pray
prayers of thanksgiving for the living God, found in Jesus Christ.   Pray so that you remain in an intimate relationship with Christ.  Pray that you will emulate the living Christ.

Monday, August 10, 2015

Justice, Righteousness, and Repentance

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All

A Call for Repentance

Isaiah 1:24-31  The Message

24-31 This Decree, therefore, of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    the Strong One of Israel:
“This is it! I’ll get my oppressors off my back.
    I’ll get back at my enemies.
I’ll give you the back of my hand,
    purge the junk from your life, clean you up.
I’ll set honest judges and wise counselors among you
    just like it was back in the beginning.
Then you’ll be renamed
    City-That-Treats-People-Right, the True-Blue City.”
God’s right ways will put Zion right again.
    God’s right actions will restore her penitents.
But it’s curtains for rebels and God-traitors,
    a dead end for those who walk out on God.
“Your dalliances in those oak grove shrines
    will leave you looking mighty foolish,
All that fooling around in god and goddess gardens
    that you thought was the latest thing.
You’ll end up like an oak tree
    with all its leaves falling off,
Like an unwatered garden,
    withered and brown.
‘The Big Man’ will turn out to be dead bark and twigs,
    and his ‘work,’ the spark that starts the fire
That exposes man and work both
    as nothing but cinders and smoke.”

For Reflection 
If we had to we could name the cruel and wicked rulers of the nations.  At the very least, we could name countries where tyrants reign.  God's right ways are the hope of all who suffer corrupt and tyrannical leaders.

Pray
for the time when the "Big Men" will be dethroned.  Pray for the time when justice and peace reign.  Pray for justice.  Pray for repentance.  Pray for peace.

Friday, August 7, 2015

God Abandoned Shiloh

God's Prophets Demand Justice
God' Prophets Demand Justice


Advocates of Justice for All


A Choice to Be Just

Psalm 78:56-72  The Message

56-64 But they kept on giving him a hard time,
    rebelled against God, the High God,
    refused to do anything he told them.
They were worse, if that’s possible, than their parents:
    traitors—crooked as a corkscrew.
Their pagan orgies provoked God’s anger,
    their obscene idolatries broke his heart.
When God heard their carryings-on, he was furious;
    he posted a huge No over Israel.
He walked off and left Shiloh empty,
    abandoned the shrine where he had met with Israel.
He let his pride and joy go to the dogs,
    turned his back on the pride of his life.
He turned them loose on fields of battle;
    angry, he let them fend for themselves.
Their young men went to war and never came back;
    their young women waited in vain.
Their priests were massacred,
    and their widows never shed a tear.
65-72 Suddenly the Lord was up on his feet
    like someone roused from deep sleep,
    shouting like a drunken warrior.
He hit his enemies hard, sent them running,
    yelping, not daring to look back.
He disqualified Joseph as leader,
    told Ephraim he didn’t have what it takes,
And chose the Tribe of Judah instead,
    Mount Zion, which he loves so much.
He built his sanctuary there, resplendent,
    solid and lasting as the earth itself.
Then he chose David, his servant,
    handpicked him from his work in the sheep pens.
One day he was caring for the ewes and their lambs,
    the next day God had him shepherding Jacob,
    his people Israel, his prize possession.
His good heart made him a good shepherd;
    he guided the people wisely and well.
 
For Reflection 
God has a history of intervening in the matters of God's creation.  Do you believe God does so today?  Can you think of a time when, perhaps, God changed the course of human affairs?

Pray
not for the wrath of God, but, for the peace God can bring.  Pray for the souls that work tirelessly in God's name for a just, compassionate world.