Life on Planet Earth on Rights

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The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or dusty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the Divinity its...

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Timothy Keller

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Romans 12:1, Luke 1:38, Luke 5:1-11, Mark 10:17-27, Genesis 22:1-18, Ephesians 2:10

I asked her what was so scary about unmerited free grace? She replied something like this: If I was saved by my good works -- then there would be a limit to what God could ask of me or put me through....

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Biblical Rigtheousness Goes Beyond the Private

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John R. W. Stott

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Scripture

Micah 6:8, Isaiah 1:16-17, Amos 5:24, Jeremiah 22:3, Zechariah 7:9-10

For biblical righteousness is more than a private and personal affair; it includes social righteousness as well. And social righteousness, as we learn from the law and the prophets, is concerned with ...

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Bartolomé de las Casas

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The entire human race is one … all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.

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Religious Faith in the Workplace? The Resistance May Not Be What You Think

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John C. Knapp

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More often than not, park-it-at-the-door thinking [about religious faith] has less to do with hostility to faith than with the avoidance of risk, for many employer’s fear that any hint of religion is ...

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Author

Nicholas Wolterstorff

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Ephesians 2:14, Colossians 3:15, Matthew 5:9, Isaiah 9:6-7, Romans 14:17, Psalm 85:10, Micah 4:3-4

In shalom, each person enjoys justice, enjoys his or her rights. There is no shalom without justice. But shalom goes beyond justice. Shalom is the human being dwelling at peace in all his or her relat...

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Recognizing Privilege (is Hard)

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D. L. Mayfield

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Privilege

Talking about affluence and privilege is hard, but it doesn’t have to be. I am continually grateful for the perspectives of people outside my own fold. Like Dr. Martin Luther King, for instance, who t...

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Prayer for Sound Government

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1 Timothy 2:8, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Proverbs 11:14, Proverbs 21:1, Daniel 2:21, Proverbs 29:2, Romans 13:1-7

The responses in bold may be omitted. O Lord our Governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth. Lord, keep t...

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MLK Day Prayers for Church Services: Liturgy & Sermon Resources

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The Pastor's Workshop

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Scripture

Micah 6:8, Amos 5:24, Isaiah 1:17, Galatians 3:28, James 2:1, Ephesians 2:14

Updated for 2026. January 19, 2026 is Martin Luther King Jr. Day— the only U.S. national holiday commemorating a pastor. Under his leadership, non-violent civil rights advocacy achieved leaps f...

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God of all nations and peoples, Lord of

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Roy Pearson

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God of all nations and peoples, Lord of all places and lands, who didst form man of the dust of the ground, and make of him a living soul, we praise thee for the infinite variety of thy human creature...

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Merciful God, We come before you with

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Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Merciful God, We come before you with thankful hearts. Thankful for the many gifts you have given us. You have clothed us and given us shelter. You have given us food to fill our stomachs, friendship...

liturgy

Based on I Timothy 4:10 (NEB)

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We have set our hope on you, our living God, as those who set course for home from distant places. But we need your help if we are to keep on course: we need fresh sight of you, on which to check our ...

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The Results of Solitary Confinement

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Brian Fikkert and Kelly M. Kapic

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Researchers have found that when prisoners are placed in solitary confinement with little human contact and minimal sensory stimulation, severe psychological and physical issues often ensue: depressio...

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The Three Basic Truths About Guilt

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Valorie Burton

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There are three basic truths about guilt. If you’ll come back to these concepts anytime you begin to feel guilty, you will understand better what is going on emotionally and how you should approach th...

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Heroes Depend on Others

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John M. Perkins

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People like me, Martin Luther King Jr., and a few others sometimes earn a hero status for things we did during the civil rights movement, but really the daily, faithful acts of ordinary black and whit...

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When Scandals Become Blasé

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Jonathan K. Dodson

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Scripture

Hebrews 13:4, Matthew 18:6-10

In his thoughtful book, Our Good Crisis: Overcoming Moral Chaos with the Beatitudes , Jonathan K. Dodson describes what has become a reality of modern-day life-scandals happen every day, and no-one...

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Author

Brennan Manning

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Authentic faith leads us to treat others with unconditional seriousness and to a loving reverence for the mystery of the human personality. Authentic Christianity should lead to maturity, personality,...

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Traversing a Timeless Biblical Demand & Our Particular Place and Time

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Tim Muehlhoff and Richard Langer

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During the 1992 presidential election, I (Rick) was directing the small group ministry at our church. Bill Clinton was running against George H. W. Bush, and given that many evangelicals found Bill Cl...

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Wait

Author

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Martin Luther King, responding to criticism from Southern White Pastors with respect to Civil Rights Activism: Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to s...

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Curious About Oregon

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D. L. Mayfield

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The Latin root of curiosity means “cure,” which makes me wonder if it isn’t a way to heal some of our oldest sicknesses. Like, perhaps, the “amnesia of affluence” that theologians point out in the Bib...

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The Narrative of Racial Difference

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Bryan Stevenson

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In this excerpt by Bryan Stevenson, the civil rights attorney and author of Just Mercy, explains the origins of racial identity and difference, necessitated by a slave-based (American Christian) socie...

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Becoming Locals

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Alan Briggs

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“I got here as fast as I could.” This is my answer when people ask if I’m a Colorado native. This is a state where being born here gives you bragging rights. Drive around and you’ll see bumper sticker...

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Stories Teach Us about How the World Works

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Steven Sloman

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A good story goes beyond just describing what actually happened. It tells us about how the world works more broadly, in ways that pertain to things that didn’t actually happen or at least haven’t happ...

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How Did I Get Here?

Author

John M. Perkins

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Scripture

Ephesians 3:20

In John Perkins’ memoir, Dream with Me, the civil rights leader describes how a life lived with God can change very suddenly, and what was seemingly impossible can become possible: How in the world ...

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Tell Them About the Dream, Martin!

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Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Scripture

Matthew 5:9, James 2:8, Proverbs 21:3, Romans 12:21, Isaiah 1:17, Galatians 3:28

Most of us in the United States know the famous “I have a Dream” speech Martin Luther King Jr. gave at the Lincoln Memorial as part of the 1963 March on Washington. On a sweltering, humid day in the n...

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The Unfulfilled Atheist

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Brian Loritts

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Some years ago, I was approached by a young man in our church who described himself as an “unfulfilled atheist.” He wanted to know why he should consider Christianity. I responded to him by asking him...

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When Failure Launches our Greatest Success

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Charles Colson

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Sometimes God takes our greatest failures and turns them into our greatest successes. Charles “Chuck” Colson had risen the ladder of national political success at breakneck speed. After a tour in the ...

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First and Third World Fears & Authentic Worship

Author

Mark Labberton

Keywords

Fear

Scripture

Psalm 27:null, 1 John 4:19

One Sunday I was preaching on Psalm 27. It is a remarkable psalm of hope for God’s- deliverance from fear for those who have faced tough times. With the same candor found in many psalms, this one vivi...

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The Meaning of Entitlement

Author

Kristen Welch

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Selfishness

Entitlement is a hot topic today. The root word entitled means exactly what it says—to give someone a title or a right. It used to be reserved for the wealthy and the privileged, based upon economics ...

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Author

John Paul II

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Freedom

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.

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