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liturgy
Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy
Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: You taught us to pray not only for ourselves but for people everywhere, so now hear us as we pray for others, in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord... -
liturgy
Almighty God–Father, Son and Holy, You Tell
Almighty God–Father, Son and Holy Spirit: You tell us to pray with thanksgiving...and we do; giving thanks for Your daily provision and care, for the birth of a child, for new jobs and new friends, fo... -
liturgy
God, our Father: Your love gives us
God, our Father: Your love gives us more than we can ever hope for, and far beyond what we deserve. You clothe us in the righteousness of Christ. You give us dreams and visions of what we can become b... -
illustration
Rosa Parks & Helpful Comparisons
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... -
Quote
Machiavelli, for example, rooted political restlessness in the fact that human appetites are by nature "insatiable" because human beings are "able to desire everything" but unable ... -
illustration
Systems Can’t Fix Us
T. S. Eliot once described the current human endeavor as that of finding a system of order so perfect that we will not have to be good. The way of Jesus tells us, by contrast, that any number of syste... -
illustration
Persuading Ourselves of the Truth
When we observe evil, sinful behavior from a distance, the inclination is simply to see people as acting with malicious intent. We assume they are “bad people.” But often the motivations that lead to ... -
illustration
A Guard Against Paternalism
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... -
illustration
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... -
Quote
Almost anything you do in the garden, for example weeding, is an effort to create some sort of order out of nature's tendency to run wild. There has to be a certain degree of domestication in a ga... -
illustration
Paul Miki’s Testimony
Christianity first reached Japan in 1549, due to the heroic missionary work of the Jesuit priest Francis Xavier and his companions. In the next sixty years, over three hundred thousand Japanese citize... -
illustration
Indian Removal Act's Tragic Consequences
In 1830, the Indian Removal Act led to what’s known as the Trail of Tears, in which almost fifty thousand indigenous people were removed from the southeastern United States and relocated west of the M... -
illustration
When Democracy Goes Wrong
A recent article from Ars Technica shared a few hilarious stories of a few recent naming contests. The moral of the story is, be careful what you choose to allow others to come up with. For example,... -
blog
What It Takes to Birth a Multi-Ethnic Church and a Just Mission
A House for All People Every summer my church hosts a week-long summer camp where children experience the beauty and majesty of the Lord. The first year we sent our daughter to it, she loved it and l... -
Quote
The authority by which the Christian leader leads is not power but love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion. Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those w... -
illustration
Using Christianity as a Means of Social Control
A great burst of proselytizing among slaves followed the Nat Turner revolt. Whereas previously many slaveholders had feared slaves with religion—and the example of Turner himself confirmed their fears... -
illustration
A Triumphal Procession
Two thousand years ago, triumphal processions were massively popular. It was, in all likelihood, the only chance most people would have to see the leaders and heroes of the day. For the Romans they t... -
illustration
Thinking Biblically about Work and Ownership
In modern Western culture we place a high value on work, which is fine, but one of the philosophical assumptions that can come with such values is that we assume that we own what we earn or buy. From ... -
illustration
Practicing Corporate Repentance
In his insightful work, Beyond Racial Gridlock, George Yancey provides a multi-faceted picture of both the brokenness of American race-relations, as well as a response couched in the gospel. In this e... -
illustration
The Transfer of Energy
In physics, power is defined as the transfer of energy. In a light bulb, for example, electricity is transferred into light and heat. A 100-watt light bulb is more powerful than a 60-watt light bulb b... -
illustration
A Matter of Life and Death
Ideas are a matter of life and death. Take slavery, for example, which deems some peoples as inferior to others and regards people as objects to be used. Eugenics similarly witnesses to a whole set of... -
Quote
Thus, cases of injustice, and oppression, and tyranny, and the most extravagant bigotry, are in constant occurrence among us every day. It is the custom to trumpet forth much wonder and astonishment a... -
illustration
Six Factors Impacting our Understanding of Christ and Culture
We have the same biblical texts that earlier generations of Christians thought their way through, of course, but our reflections are shaped by six unique factors. (1) Especially in the Anglo-Saxon wo... -
blog
Unholy Power Plays
"All these I will give you..." One of the three diabolical tests of Jesus in the Judean wilderness is the “temptation to be powerful” as Henri Nouwen puts it in his 1989 reflection on Chris... -
illustration
Struggling with Charity
On the fifteenth of each month, Alicia has thirty dollars withdrawn from her checking account to sponsor Belyse, a beautiful, brown-eyed girl from Kenya, who then gets school and a hot meal each day. ... -
illustration
These Impious Galileans
A passage often referred to in order to describe the sacrificial, countercultural quality of the early church comes to us interestingly enough, from one of its strongest critics, known later to histor... -
illustration
Paul and Onesimus
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... -
Quote
Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you. -
Quote
The task of Christian spokespersons, leaders, and professionals is to exemplify and teach foundational traits of the good life Jesus manifests. But this must also include the more specific traits requ... -
illustration
The Power of Privilege
In January 1999 I was flying on Saudi Arabian Airlines from Mumbai, India, to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and then onward to London. I arrived at the Mumbai airport to find a long line. Perhaps seventy-five...
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N
O
P
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R
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S
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T
- Tabernacle
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U
W
- The Weak
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Genesis
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Psalm
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- Ps 37 (3)
- Ps 38 (1)
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- Ps 62 (2)
- Ps 66 (1)
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- Ps 82 (14)
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- Ps 95 (1)
- Ps 96 (1)
- Ps 98 (4)
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- Ps 103 (7)
- Ps 106 (1)
- Ps 112 (1)
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- Ps 121 (7)
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- Ps 139 (6)
- Ps 145 (6)
- Ps 146 (5)
- Ps 147 (5)
- Ps 148 (1)
Proverbs
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Isaiah
- Isa 1 (30)
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- Isa 25 (1)
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- Isa 29 (1)
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- Isa 33 (2)
- Isa 40 (10)
- Isa 41 (16)
- Isa 42 (4)
- Isa 43 (2)
- Isa 44 (1)
- Isa 45 (2)
- Isa 46 (1)
- Isa 49 (1)
- Isa 51 (2)
- Isa 53 (6)
- Isa 55 (3)
- Isa 56 (1)
- Isa 57 (4)
- Isa 58 (10)
- Isa 59 (2)
- Isa 60 (4)
- Isa 61 (12)
- Isa 65 (1)