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liturgy
True Love
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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Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you. -
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Creating Christian Consumers
I’ve served on staff at a few different churches throughout Silicon Valley for the last decade and a half, including a medium-sized church, a young church plant, and a multisite megachurch. At each, w... -
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The Importance of Selective Change
Crises, and pressures for change, confront individuals and their groups at all levels, ranging from single people, to teams, to businesses, to nations, to the whole world. Crises may arise from extern... -
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The Fruit of a Productive Disagreement
A productive disagreement yields fruit: the fruit of security, by removing a threat, reducing a risk, resulting in a deal, or concluding with a decision; the fruit of growth, by revealing new informat... -
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Hard to Care about Anything
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, ... -
Quote
To reach people we must appreciate and adapt to their culture, but we must also challenge and confront it. This is based on the biblical teaching that all cultures have God's grace and natural rev... -
Quote
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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We the people of this new generation highly resolve that those who sacrificed before us shall not have sacrificed in vain. Let justice roll on. -
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Nudges for the Better
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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How to Make a Sacrifice
How do you define what it means to “make a sacrifice?” We say we sacrifice for our family, or sacrifice for our careers. We speak of Jesus sacrificing himself so that we can experience eternal life. A... -
liturgy
Almighty God, too often we settle for
Almighty God, too often we settle for brokenness in our lives. Rather than offering forgiveness, we hold onto offense. Rather than pursuing justice, we turn away . Rather than offering mercy, we c... -
illustration
Caring For Them is What We’re on this Earth For
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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The Messy Middle
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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A Jubilee Church
From the outside Calvary Church in Holland, Michigan, looks like a typical large church that many Americans attend. The church developed the typical way: it started small and then began to grow. As th... -
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The EAC
Perhaps the most intense place to experience drifting is commonly known as the EAC, the East Australian Current. If you’ve ever seen the Disney Pixar film Finding Nemo, you’ve been exposed to the EAC,... -
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Stuck in the Houses Our Words Construct
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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A Failure to Appreciate the Other’s Point of View
Most quarrels are due to a misunderstanding, and the misunderstanding is due to our failure to appreciate the other person’s point of view. It is more natural to us to talk than to listen, to argue th... -
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A Different Way of Doing Justice
After the fall of apartheid in South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu led his country in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The TRC rejected the two extremes normally implemented after such... -
liturgy
Adapted from 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... -
Quote
The Power—the Spirit—is thus a social power, working to bring all minds into its own unity, sometimes by similarity and at other times by contrast. There is a diversity of gifts, but the same spirit. -
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Tension Leads to Breakthrough
Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and ob... -
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The Most Powerful Choices in our Lives
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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Manipulating Justice
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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The Dark Side of the Web
In October 2014 Wired magazine reported on the dirty work every social media company must somehow handle: moderating the deluge of exploitative, degrading content posted in unimaginable quantities aro... -
Quote
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. While they were saying among themselves it cannot be done, it was done. -
Quote
To frame is to put a language boundary around our experience. It is to name what happens in particular ways, to say how we see the world, and to see the world how we say it is. Framing includes tellin... -
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Attitude Is Everything
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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Confess Your Mixed Motives
In U2’s song “One,” Bono sings, “Have you come here to play Jesus / To the lepers in your head?”2 Yes, if you are involved in justice work, you probably have. So have I. This isn’t bad. Just honest. W... -
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The CNN Effect
In the 1990s, political scientists began to study what they called the “CNN Effect.” Breathless, twenty-four-hour media coverage makes it considerably harder for politicians and CEOs to be anything bu...
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A
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B
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C
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D
- Daily Life
- Danger
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- Division
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- Dreams
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- The Digital World
E
- Economics
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- Elderly People
- Elders
- Election Day
- Elections (Political)
- Embrace
- Emotions
- Empowerment
- Encouragement
- Enemies
- Energy
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- Equality
- Eschatology (End Times)
- Eternal Life
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- Ethics
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- Everyday Life
- Evil
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- Example
- Excellence
- Exclusion
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- Expressing Emotions
- Eyes
- The Early Church
- The Earth
F
- Face of God
- Facing your Fears
- Failure
- Fairness
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- Faith and Doubt
- Faith in Action
- Faithfulness
- Fame
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- Following Jesus
- Food
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- Forgetfulness
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- Friend of God
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- Friendship
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- Fruit
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- Future
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G
- Gardening
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- Generations
- Generosity
- Getting What You Want
- Gifts
- Giving
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- Giving to the Poor
- Global Church
- Glory
- God
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- God's Plans
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- Going to Church
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- Goodness
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- Greed
- Grief
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- The Good Shepherd
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H
- Habits
- Half-Truths
- Hands
- Happiness
- Hard Work
- Hard-Heartedness
- Harvest
- Hatred
- Having A Wake-Up Call
- Healing
- Healing Blindness
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- Health
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- Heart
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- Helping Others
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- Heroes
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- History
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- Homelessness
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- Humility
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- The Holy Land
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I
- Identity
- Idolatry
- Idols
- Ignorance
- Ignoring God
- Illness
- Image Bearers
- Immanuel
- Immigrants
- Immigration
- Immortality
- Impact
- Impatience
- In, But Not Of, the World
- Inaction
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- Independence Day
- Indifference
- Inequality
- Information
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- Inheritance
- Injury
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- Inspiration
- Institutions
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- Insults
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- Invitation
- Isolation
- Israel
- Israel-Palestine Conflict
- The Image of God
- The Incarnation
- The Internet
J
K
L
- Labor Day
- Lament
- Language
- Law (Torah)
- Laws
- Leadership
- Learning
- Legacy
- Lent
- Liberation
- Lies
- Life
- Life and Death
- Life of Faith
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- Life Satisfaction
- Life Story
- Light
- Light and Darkness
- Light of the World
- Limitations
- Listening
- Living Life
- Living Sacrifice
- Living Water
- Loneliness
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- Love
- Love of God and Neighbor
- Loving Kindness
- Loving Other Christians
- Loving your Neighbor
- The Lamb of God
- The Lord's Supper
M
- Magnificat
- Making a Difference
- Man of Sorrows
- Manipulation
- Manna
- Marginalized
- Marital Problems
- Marriage
- Martyrdom
- Mary the Mother of Jesus
- Masks
- Materialism
- Maundy Thursday
- Meaning
- Media
- Meditation
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- Memorial Day
- Mental Health
- Mental Illness
- Mercy
- Military Service
- Mind
- Mind and Body
- Ministry
- Minorities
- Miracles
- Mission
- Mission of the Church
- Missionaries
- Missions
- Mistaken Identity
- Mistakes
- Modern Life
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- Modern-Day Slavery
- Modernity
- Money
- Moral Choices
- Moral Silence
- Morality
- Moses
- Motivations
- Mourning
- Multi-Ethnic Church
- Multiculturalism
- Music
- Mystery
- Mystery of Life
- The Meaning of Life
- The Messiah
- The Military
- The Mind of Christ
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N
O
P
- Pace
- Pain
- Pain and Joy
- Parenting
- Parents
- Partisanship
- Passion
- Pastors
- Paths
- Patience
- Patriotism
- Peace
- Peacemaking
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- People
- Peoples
- Perfection
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- Personal
- Personal Agendas
- Perspective
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- Place
- Plagiarism
- Political Freedom
- Political Leaders
- Politicians
- Politics
- Pollution
- Poor
- Poor in Spirit
- Possessions
- Possibility
- Postmodernism
- Poverty
- Power
- Power of Love
- Powerlessness
- Praise
- Prayer
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- Preaching
- Prejudice
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- Price
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- Prison
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- Private Faith
- Privilege
- Problems
- Productivity
- Progress
- Promises
- Prosperity
- Protection
- Proud
- Provision
- Public Faith
- Purity
- Purity Of Heart
- Purpose
- The Passing of Time
- The People of God
- The Prince of Peace
- The Prophets
R
- Race
- Race and Reconciliation
- Racial Reconciliation
- Racism
- Raising Children
- Real Estate
- Reality
- Rebellion
- Receiving
- Receiving Forgiveness
- Receiving Gifts
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- Receiving Love
- Receiving the Gospel
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- Reconciliation
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- Redeemer
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- Reform
- Reformation Sunday
- Refuge
- Refugees
- Regret
- Relationships
- Relevance
- Religion
- Religion and Politics
- Religion and Public Life
- Religions
- Religious Conflict
- Religious Liberty
- Religious Pluralism
- Reminders
- Renewal
- Renewing our Minds
- Repentance
- Reputation
- Rescue
- Resentment
- Resilience
- Resistance
- Responsibility
- Rest
- Restoration
- Restoring Sight
- Resurrection
- Resurrection Life
- Resurrection of the Dead
- Resurrection to New Life
- Revelation
- Revival
- Rewards
- Rich and Poor
- Riches
- Right Relationships
- Righteousness
- Risks
- Romantic Relationships
- Rootedness
- Routines
- Rule of Life
- Running to God
- The Rich
- The Risen Lord
- The Rock
- The Roman Empire
S
- Sabbath
- Sacrifice
- Sacrificial Giving
- Sacrificial Living
- Sacrificial Love
- Safety
- Salt and Light
- Salt of the Earth
- Salvation
- Sanctification
- Savior
- Scapegoats
- School
- Science
- Science and Religion
- Screens
- Scripture
- Secularism
- Seeds
- Seeking God
- Seeking Happiness
- Seeking the Truth
- Segregation
- Self-Achievement
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Centeredness
- Self-Control
- Self-Deception
- Self-Discipline
- Self-Image
- Self-Improvement
- Self-Interest
- Self-Love
- Self-Reliance
- Self-Renunciation
- Self-Righteousness
- Self-Sacrifice
- Selfishness
- Selflessness
- Servant Leadership
- Servanthood
- Service
- Settling
- Sexism
- Shalom
- Shame
- Sharing
- Sheep
- Shelter
- Shepherd
- Shepherds
- Sickness
- Sight
- Silence
- Sin
- Sinfulness
- Singing
- Single Parents
- Sins of Omission
- Skepticism
- Slavery
- Smart Phones
- Social Justice
- Social Media
- Soil
- Soldiers
- Solutions
- Solving Poverty
- Sorrow
- Speaking Out
- Speaking Truth to Power
- Speech
- Speed
- Spending Time
- Spiritual Disciplines
- Spiritual Hunger
- Spiritual Problems
- Spiritual Thirst
- Sports
- Spring (Season)
- Staying Positive
- Steadfast Love
- Stealing
- Step-parents
- Stereotypes
- Stewardship
- Stillness
- Storms
- Storytelling
- Stranger
- Strength
- Strength of Character
- Stress
- Struggles
- Submission
- Success
- Suffering
- Suicide
- Sun
- Superiority
- Surgery
- Surprise
- Surrender
- Sustainability
- Sustainer
- The Sacraments
- The Saints
- The Sick
- The Soul
T
- Taking Up the Cross
- Talking
- Teachers
- Team
- Teamwork
- Tears
- Technological Progress
- Technology
- Temptation
- Tension
- Terrorism
- Thankfulness
- Thanksgiving (General)
- Thanksgiving (Holiday)
- The Temple
- The Trinity
- The Twelve Disciples
- Therapy
- Third Third of Life
- Thirst
- Thoughts
- Time
- TIme Management
- Tired
- Tolerance
- Tongue
- Town
- Tragedy
- Transformation
- Transgressions
- Transitions
- Trauma
- Travel
- Trees
- Trouble
- True Self
- Trust
- Truth
- Turning a Blind Eye
U
W
Top_level_categories by Reference
Genesis
Exodus
Deuteronomy
Ruth
1 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Esther
Job
Psalm
- Ps 1 (11)
- Ps 2 (2)
- Ps 4 (2)
- Ps 6 (2)
- Ps 8 (7)
- Ps 9 (3)
- Ps 10 (3)
- Ps 11 (1)
- Ps 12 (2)
- Ps 14 (1)
- Ps 15 (3)
- Ps 16 (4)
- Ps 18 (1)
- Ps 19 (8)
- Ps 20 (2)
- Ps 22 (2)
- Ps 23 (16)
- Ps 24 (5)
- Ps 25 (3)
- Ps 27 (5)
- Ps 29 (2)
- Ps 30 (6)
- Ps 31 (1)
- Ps 32 (3)
- Ps 33 (7)
- Ps 34 (40)
- Ps 37 (9)
- Ps 39 (2)
- Ps 41 (1)
- Ps 42 (7)
- Ps 46 (26)
- Ps 49 (1)
- Ps 50 (2)
- Ps 51 (23)
- Ps 52 (2)
- Ps 55 (1)
- Ps 56 (1)
- Ps 62 (1)
- Ps 63 (3)
- Ps 66 (2)
- Ps 68 (1)
- Ps 71 (2)
- Ps 72 (6)
- Ps 73 (3)
- Ps 77 (2)
- Ps 78 (4)
- Ps 80 (1)
- Ps 82 (16)
- Ps 85 (4)
- Ps 86 (1)
- Ps 89 (3)
- Ps 90 (13)
- Ps 91 (2)
- Ps 92 (2)
- Ps 96 (4)
- Ps 98 (2)
- Ps 99 (1)
- Ps 100 (4)
- Ps 101 (1)
- Ps 103 (13)
- Ps 104 (3)
- Ps 106 (1)
- Ps 111 (1)
- Ps 112 (1)
- Ps 113 (2)
- Ps 115 (1)
- Ps 116 (2)
- Ps 117 (1)
- Ps 118 (4)
- Ps 119 (22)
- Ps 121 (3)
- Ps 122 (1)
- Ps 124 (1)
- Ps 127 (5)
- Ps 128 (2)
- Ps 130 (4)
- Ps 131 (2)
- Ps 133 (4)
- Ps 136 (2)
- Ps 139 (14)
- Ps 141 (3)
- Ps 143 (1)
- Ps 145 (4)
- Ps 146 (5)
- Ps 147 (5)
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Isaiah
- Isa 1 (38)
- Isa 2 (3)
- Isa 5 (5)
- Isa 6 (15)
- Isa 7 (1)
- Isa 9 (10)
- Isa 11 (1)
- Isa 25 (2)
- Isa 26 (3)
- Isa 28 (4)
- Isa 30 (4)
- Isa 32 (2)
- Isa 33 (2)
- Isa 40 (26)
- Isa 41 (17)
- Isa 42 (2)
- Isa 43 (12)
- Isa 44 (3)
- Isa 45 (2)
- Isa 47 (1)
- Isa 49 (1)
- Isa 50 (1)
- Isa 51 (1)
- Isa 52 (1)
- Isa 53 (20)
- Isa 55 (19)
- Isa 56 (2)
- Isa 57 (1)
- Isa 58 (23)
- Isa 59 (3)
- Isa 60 (3)
- Isa 61 (23)
- Isa 65 (1)
- Isa 66 (1)