Mighty One In your justice In your mercy bring equity to your world raise up all who suffer from discrimination break the rod of oppression and prejudice free us from our addiction to violence and d...
Luke 5:31-32, 1 Timothy 1:15, 1 John 1:9, Romans 5:6-8, Mark 2:17, Isaiah 1:18, Micah 7:18-19
It is quite enough that you have sinned. Now let go of it. Don’t let your despondency lead to an even greater offence. The Lord says, ‘I do not wish the death of the sinner, but rather that he repent ...
Hope remains possible even amid our failures—whether we disappoint God, let down our families, or fall short of our own expectations—because divine compassion operates like an inexhaustible well. Each...
Isaiah 1:11–17, Jeremiah 7:1–11 , Amos 5:21–24, Luke 4:16–30 , John 1:1–14 , Psalm 50:16–23
The Enlightenment was, among many other things, a protest against a system that, since it was itself based on a protest [the Reformation], could not see that it was itself in need of further reform. (...
Many Christians know John Newton as the author of the hymn Amazing Grace and other beloved hymns. Fewer know that Newton’s own life matches the beauty of transformation written in Amazing Gra...
Desegregation was one of the big goals of the civil rights movement. “Separate but equal” in the South became “separate and unequal.” The disparities were in things as small as water fountains and as ...
I was sixteen when a white deputy sheriff shot and killed my twenty-five-year-old brother, Clyde, in New Hebron, Mississippi, where we had grown up. Clyde had returned home from fighting in World War ...
Jeremiah 31:3, Isaiah 1:18, Exodus 16:4-15 , John 3:16, Luke 15:11-32, Psalm 23:5, Mark 14:22-26, Luke 22:14-23, 1 Corinthians 11:23-25
Mark Rutland humorously recalls a survey asking Americans which words they most long to hear. As expected, the top response was, “ I love you. ” The second was, “ I forgive you .” ...
Isaiah 1:18, Ezekiel 36:25-27, 2 Chronicles 7:14 , Luke 15:11-32, 1 John 1:8-9, Psalm 51:10-12
Gracious God, we confess our sin to you, for we have denied your light in us; we have betrayed your Holy Spirit in us. For those sins which weigh upon us, and those we do not even know we ...
Isaiah 1:18-19, Daniel 9:4-9, Joel 2:12-13, Luke 7:36-50, 1 John 1:8-9 , Psalm 103:10-12
Pastor: Assured of His steadfast love, let us take refuge in the mercy of God, confessing our sins and rejoicing in His gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ, our Lord. ( Silence for reflecti...
2 Samuel 12:13-14 , Isaiah 1:18 , 1 John 1:8-9, Luke 18:9-14, Acts 2:38, Psalm 96:1
Pastor: Church, we are Easter people living in resurrection victory. Along with the Psalmist, we worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. We declare His glory in the midst of His people. We p...
One of the great problems of history is that the concepts of love and power have usually been contrasted as opposites, polar opposites, so that love is identified with a resignation of power, and powe...
Isaiah 60:1-3, Isaiah 9:2, Matthew 2:1-12, Luke 2:8-20, Psalm 97:1-3, Isaiah 1:2
Pastor: Arise, shine, for your light has come, People: and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Pastor: For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peop...
Isaiah 1:18, Ezekiel 36:26 , Micah 7:18-19 , 1 John 1:9, Luke 15:20-24, Psalm 51:10
To help us in our confession we may want to picture a path littered with many rocks. Some are small pebbles, others are quite large, and still others are almost completely buried so that we cannot kno...
David Seamands (1922-2006) was an author, scholar, evangelical renewal leader and counselor. In an article for Christianity Today , he shares his earnest experience of many of his patients who we...
The first thing to notice is that violence is intentional. For example, one of the most brutal forms of violence affecting millions of poor women and girls in our world is sex trafficking. Lured a...
Psalm 51:1-3, 10, 12-13, 1 John 1:9, Isaiah 1:18, Luke 18:9-14 , Micah 7:18-19, Hebrews 10:22, Luke 15:11-32
Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgres...
Isaiah 1:17, James 2:14-17, Amos 5:24, Luke 10:25-37, Matthew 23:23, Proverbs 31:8-9, Micah 6:8
Righteous God, we receive your grace and forget your justice. You teach us to move with compassion yet we have remained complacent. God, forgive us for our complacency and our apathy. Fuel us with you...
Matthew 5:35-40, Luke 10:30-37, James 2:14-17, Isaiah 1:17, Romans 12:13 , Micah 6::8 , 1 John 3:16-18
Our God, we have been slow to stand and slow to act. We have been unmoved in the face of wrongs. Rather than welcoming others, we have put up walls. We have served this god of self-preservation. But ...
Psalm 51:1-17, Luke 15:11-32, Joel 2:12-13, Isaiah 1:18, 1 John 1:8-9, 2 Corinthians 5:17-19, Luke 18:9-14
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create andmake in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthilylamenting our sins and acknow...
Proverbs 8:22-31 , Exodus 3:1-6, Isaiah 1:1-10, Revelation 3:7-8 , Luke 1:78-79 , Ephesians 2:14-18 , Matthew 1:23
O Wisdom from the mouth of the Most High, encompassing everything, setting everything in order, come to teach us the way of understanding. O Adonai and Leader of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the ...
Psalm 51:10-12, Luke 15:11-32, 1 John 1:9, Isaiah 1:18, 2 Corinthians 5:17
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and ac...
Context This passage takes a number of turns that may, at first, seem disconnected from one another. Our text is part of a larger teaching discourse of Jesus in Luke’s gospel that has been causing te...
2 Chronicles 7:14, Luke 19:1-10, Luke 15:11-32, Isaiah 1:18, James 5:16
The Celebrant and People together, all kneeling Most holy and merciful Father: We confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinne...
1 Timothy 6:6-19, Deuteronomy 6:5, Deuteronomy 5:21, Isaiah 1:23, Joshua 1:7, Psalm 62:9-10, Matthew 7:24-25, Luke 12:15, Luke 12:32-34
Ageless Wisdom If you are reading this as a pastor, teacher or preacher, I want you to jot down how old you are here _________. If you wrote a number less than 30 know this letter and this passage...
Preaching Commentary Penitential Psalms When discussing the forgiveness of sins offered in Christ, John Calvin refers to Psalm 32:1 and says, “It is certain that David is not speaking concerning th...
1 Timothy 6:6-19, 1 Timothy 6:6-19, Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15, Luke 16:19-31, Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16, Deuteronomy 6:5, Deuteronomy 5:21, Isaiah 1:23, Joshua 1:7, Psalm 62:9-10, Matthew 7:24-25, Luke 12:15, Luke 12:32-34
AIM Commentary Ageless Wisdom If you are reading this as a pastor, teacher or preacher, I want you to jot down how old you are here _________. If you wrote a number less than 30 know this letter...
AIM Commentary Ancient Lens “ What’s the historical context?” Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled A contemporary commentator ends each daily program with these words, “Let not your hearts be trou...
James 1:27, Isaiah 1:17, Psalm 68:5, Matthew 25:34-40, 1 Timothy 5:3-4, Zechariah 7:9-10, Matthew 12:48-50, Romans 8:14-17, Luke 4:18, Acts 4:34-35, James 2:15-16
Christianity revitalized life in Greco-Roman cities by providing new norms and new kinds of social relationships able to cope with many urgent urban problems. To cities filled with the homeless and im...