Current Affairs and Causes on Parents

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Modern Parents Need Help with Technology

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 11:18-19, Proverbs 22:6 , Exodus 20:8-10, Matthew 6:33, Romans 12:2, Psalm 119:37

If there is one word that sums up how many of us feel about technology and family life, it’s Help! Parents know we need help. We love the way devices make our lives easier amid the stress and busy...

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Lord of Hope and God of all that’s new—Father

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:12, Colossians 3:14, 1 Peter 3:8, Ephesians 4:2-3, Psalm 136:1

Lord of Hope and God of all that’s new—Father, Son and Holy Spirit: We’re filled with wonder, gratitude, and joy inspired by the gifts of new life You freely give us. There’s the joy and wonder of eve...

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Caring For Them is What We’re on this Earth For

Author

Thomas G. Long

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 1:17, Colossians 3:12, Romans 12:10, Proverbs 31:8-9, Galatians 6:2, Matthew 25:40, James 1:27

In this beautiful illustration from Tom Long’s well-known preaching guide, The Witness of Preaching , a pastor shares a true story of what valuing human life can look like when God’s Kingdom takes ro...

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A Brother’s Sacrifice

Author

Anne Lamott

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 6:2, 1 Samuel 18:20, Ruth 1:16, 1 John 3:16, Romans 12:1

An eight-year-old boy had a younger sister who was dying of leukemia, and he was told that without a blood transfusion she would die. His parents explained to him that his blood was probably compatibl...

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Manipulating Justice

Author

Gary A.Haugen

Keywords

Justice

Scripture

Romans 12:17-21, Matthew 23:23, Amos 5:24, Zechariah 7:9-10, James 1:19-20

As any parent of small children will tell you, children have an amazingly acute sense of justice. Even the most fractional disparity in the distribution of the most trivial family good will be met wit...

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God of all nations, Savior of the

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:12, Revelation 7:9, James 5:16, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Isaiah 2:4, 1 Timothy 2:1-2

God of all nations, Savior of the Church and Lord of our hearts: We come to You, at this time, with our hands empty and our souls crying out: “Lord, help us!” “Do what only You can do!” Change the cou...

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Father–Father of the Lord Jesus and our

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:9, James 5:14-15, 2 Corinthians 5:20, Matthew 9:37-38, Galatians 6:9-10, Romans 12:5, 1 John 3:1

Father–Father of the Lord Jesus and our Father: You’ve blessed us beyond imagination. You redeem us, forgive us and lavish Your gifts on us: Thank You. You choose us, when we wouldn’t choose ourselves...

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God and Father of all, in your lovey ou

Keywords

Scripture

Acts 10:34-35, Acts 2:1-12, John 4:1-42, Romans 12:10, 1 John 4:20-21

God and Father of all, in your love you made all the nations of the world to be a family, and your Son taught us to love one another. Yet our world is riven apart with prejudice, arrogance, and pride....

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True Love

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:1, Isaiah 58:10, Philippians 2:3-4, Matthew 20:26-28, 1 Timothy 6:17-19, Luke 9:23

Merciful Jesus Give us courage to deny privilege to lay down favor and safety in order to take up the cross of opportunity and justice Too often we fail to do this Merciful Jesus Give us courage to d...

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A Guard Against Paternalism

Author

Kent Annan

Keywords

Justice

Scripture

Galatians 6:2, Romans 12:10, Isaiah 1:17, Micah 6:8, James 5:16

Practicing confession is one way to guard against paternalism in both extreme and more subtle ways. For example, we can tell stories of justice in a way that discounts other people’s agency—that is, t...

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How Do Porcupines Cuddle?

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, Philippians 2:3-4, Proverbs 15:1, Colossians 3:12-13, Ephesians 4:2-3, Romans 12:18

The furniture salesman said the couch would seat five friends without a problem. Then I realized, I don’t have five friends without a problem. Old joke—sorry—but still. It reminds me of the old saying...

Quote

Author

Wendell Berry

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 3:8, Philippians 2:3-4, Galatians 5:14, Romans 12:10, Ephesians 4:32, Luke 6:31, Matthew 7:12

Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.

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Compassionate God—In Christ, you enter

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

1 Timothy 2:1-4, Psalm 33:22, Philippians 4:6-7, John 14:1, 1 Peter 5:7, Romans 12:15

Compassionate God—In Christ, you enter our condition; you experience our sorrow and our joy ... and redeem them. By Your Holy Spirit, you carry us along: in crisis and celebration, in despair and acco...

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Stuck in the Houses Our Words Construct

Author

Gregory Spencer

Keywords

Scripture

James 3:5-6, Psalm 19:14, 2 Corinthians 4:18, Proverbs 18:21, Romans 12:2

All day long, all of us are framing and reframing our lives. We talk about the memory of our adorable but sexist grandpa. We label ourselves as movie critics or introverts or justice-lovers. We say th...

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Preventing Vengeance

Author

Mia Levetan

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 4:8–15, Exodus 21:23–25, Micah 6:6–8 , Matthew 5:38–45, Romans 12:17–21, Psalm 46:9–10

I did some of my Clinical Pastoral Education Units in Gastonia. One of the units that I served was the Emergency Department. If there was an incident that was suspected to be gang related, they would ...

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An Honor to Die for this Child

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 13:3, Philippians 2:3-4, Romans 12:21, Isaiah 1:17, Proverbs 31:8-9, Matthew 25:40, John 15:13

During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Corrie ten Boom tried to enlist a pastor to help hide Jews. Showing him a Jewish baby in need of rescue, the pastor said “No. Definitely not. We could lo...

liturgy

Lord: In our times of weakness and our

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

Matthew 11:28-30, Colossians 3:12, Matthew 5:14-16, Romans 12:18, Matthew 5:9, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Lord: In our times of weakness and our hours of need, Yours is the strength that enables us to carry on, Yours the shoulder we rest our heads upon. When our load is heavy and too much to bear, Yours a...

Quote

Author

A Franciscan Blessing

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 1:27, Romans 12:15, Luke 4:18-19, Psalm 34:18, James 1:27

God bless us with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that we may live deep within our hearts. God bless us with righteous anger at injustice, oppression, and exp...

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The Messy Middle

Author

William Bridges

Keywords

Crises

Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Hebrews 10:23, Romans 12:2, Psalm 37:23-24, Philippians 1:6, Isaiah 43:19, Ecclesiastes 3:1

The Messy Middle In his classic work Transitions, author and professor William Bridges shares an excellent anecdote about life in crisis: it can happen at any time and in a myriad of ways. It also de...

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Times of Crisis: Reappraising and Rebuilding Lives

Author

Jared Diamond

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 34:18, Romans 12:15, John 11:35, Isaiah 61:3, 2 Corinthians 1:4, Lamentations 3:32

On November 28, 1942, a fire broke out and spread rapidly through an overcrowded Boston nightclub called Cocoanut Grove (the owner’s spelling), whose sole exit became blocked. A total of 492 people di...

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Attitude Is Everything

Author

Dynamic Preaching

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 100:2, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Galatians 6:9, Romans 12:11, Ecclesiastes 9:10

Harry Emerson Fosdick once told how as a child, his mother sent him to pick a quart of raspberries. Reluctantly he dragged himself to the berry patch. His afternoon was ruined for sure. Then a thought...

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Nudges for the Better

Author

Andy Crouch

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 30:19 , Proverbs 4:26-27, Genesis 2:9 , Matthew 6:22-23 , Romans 12:2, Psalm 119:105

As popularized in Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s fascinating book by the same name, nudges are small changes in the environment around us that make it easier for us to make the choices we want to ...

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The Most Powerful Choices in our Lives

Author

Andy Crouch

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 6:6-9, Daniel 6:10, Proverbs 4:23-27, Psalm 119:9-11, Romans 12:1-2, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

The most powerful choices we will make in our lives are not about specific decisions but about patterns of life: the nudges and disciplines that will shape all our other choices. This is especially tr...

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Rosa Parks & Helpful Comparisons

Author

Richella J. Parham

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:2, Luke 4:18-19, Ecclesiastes 3:7-8, Amos 5:24, Proverbs 31:8-9, Micah 6:8, Isaiah 1:17

Very often, comparison to an ideal is a helpful practice, not a harmful one. Helpful comparisons are those that place a normal or ideal condition on one side of a scale and a real-life condition on th...

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Hard to Care about Anything

Author

Lily Rothman

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 6:9, James 2:14-17, 1 John 3:18, Revelation 3:15-16, James 4:17, Hebrews 6:11-12, 1 John 3:17, Romans 12:11

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, a pervasive sense of societal malaise seems to be affecting a significant portion of the population. Journalist and managing editor of Time , Lily Rothman, ...

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Defending the Truth

Author

Richard J. Mouw

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 20:16 , Zechariah 8:16–17, Leviticus 19:17–18, Ephesians 4:15, Romans 12:17–18, Psalm 15:1–3

I once had the opportunity to speak briefly to a large Mormon audience at the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. I told them that I feel badly about the fact that we evangelicals often tell Mormons what th...

liturgy

Lord Jesus: knowing that you are good

Author

Richard Herman

Scripture

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, Romans 12:15, Psalm 30:2, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Ephesians 4:15, James 1:5, Psalm 145:9

Lord Jesus: knowing that you are good and strong, loving, wise, holy and faithful, we come to you today in prayer for all the needs and concerns in our minds and hearts. Lord, we pray for Your whole c...

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Making Coffee

Author

Robert G. Morgan

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 19:17, 1 John 3:18, John 13:14-15, Matthew 25:35-36, Romans 12:13, Philippians 2:3-4, Galatians 6:9-10

Mr. Sam Rayburn was Speaker of the United States House of Representatives longer than any other man in our history. There is a story about him that reveals the kind of man he really was. The teenage ...

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Paul and Onesimus

Author

Melinda Joy Mingo

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 15:7, Matthew 18:21-22, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Romans 12:10, Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:13

One of my favorite Bible illustrations of someone willing to go against the norms of society to befriend another based on love and forgiveness is found in the New Testament book of Philemon. It is a m...

liturgy

Adapted from Romans 12:1-2

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:1-2

Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don’t be conformed to this world, bu...

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