Relationships and Community on Mourning

liturgy

Father–Father of the Lord Jesus and our

Author

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...

liturgy

Lord—you not only know all things...

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 28:19-20, Isaiah 41:10, John 11:25-26, James 5:14-15, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Lord—you not only know all things... You notice all things. You notice when we are joyful—and You laugh, too. You notice when we are in grief or despair—and you cry with us. When we are alone or confu...

liturgy

Gracious God, we are called to be a

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 51:10-12, Hebrews 4:16, Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 1:7, Psalm 103:12, 1 John 1:9

Gracious God, we are called to be a joyful people, giving thanks for You and Your good gifts. There are times, however, when sin and sorrow grow, pushing joy to the side. We lose sight of Your grace, ...

liturgy

Dearest Father, we long for light, but

Author

Scott B. Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:43, John 1:1-14, John 8:12-20, 1 John 1:5-10, Psalm 27:, John 9:5, 2 Corinthians 5:1-10

Dearest Father, we long for light, but dwell in darkness. We crave the warmth of the sun, but crawl into our caverns of sin and sadness. We are a people who prefer the misery and melancholy that we kn...

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Emotions, Language, and the Experience of Homesickness

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 11:13-16, 2 Corinthians 5:1-2, John 14:2-3, Revelation 21:3-4, Matthew 8:19-20, Luke 9:57-58

In her book Keeping Place: Reflections on the Meaning of Home , Jen Pollock Michel reflects on the nature of home in a transient age. In this short excerpt, Michel focuses on the language associate...

Quote

Author

Blaise Pascal

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 3:13-14, Romans 12:18, Colossians 3:13, James 5:16, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Psalm 147:3

Time heals griefs and quarrels, for we change and are no longer the same persons. Neither the offender nor the offended are any more themselves.

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“I’m Going Home, I’m Going Home”

Author

James S. Hewett

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 3:20-21, Revelation 21:3-4, 2 Corinthians 5:1, Psalm 23:6, John 14:2-3

A prominent citizen in town was dying. As he lay in his lovely home, the best doctors surrounding him, he whispered, with a note of despair, ‘I’m leaving home, I’m leaving home.’ Across town there la...

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Throwing Away Valuable Resources

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 42:, Philippians 3:13-14, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 2 Corinthians 11:24-30

In many parts of the country, leaf clean-up is an annual chore. They fall from the trees, blanket our lawns, and we often bag them up and toss them out (or burn them). There’s a lesson in this… In my...

liturgy

Gracious and loving God, Father, Son

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

James 5:15, Psalm 147:3, Galatians 3:28, Matthew 5:44, 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Corinthians 15:54-55, Ephesians 4:32

Gracious and loving God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit: We praise you for how wide, how high, and how deep is Your vast love for all people. Incarnate in Jesus, You offered Your life for the healing of ...

liturgy

We bring before God those times when

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:1-2, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 4:4, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Colossians 3:2, John 15:5, Psalm 51:10

We bring before God those times when God’s Kingdom and love have not shaped our lives, asking to be forgiven and made new. Lord Jesus, too often this week you have only been a small part of our live...

liturgy

Leader: We are people of the

Author

Jacob Traeger

Scripture

1 Corinthians 15:20-22, Romans 6:4, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Psalm 32:5, 1 John 1:8-9, Philippians 4:6-7, Hebrews 13:5-6

Leader: We are people of the resurrection. Witnesses to God’s glorious victory in Jesus Christ, which brings peace and transforms the power structures of this world. But we also know that we live in ...

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The Debt Must Be Paid

Author

Peter Kreeft

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 3:23-26, 1 Peter 2:24, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:13-14, Isaiah 53:5, Hebrews 9:22

Mercy goes beyond justice, it does not undercut it. If I forgive you the hundred dollar debt you owe me, that means I must use one hundred dollars of my own money to pay my creditors. I cannot really ...

liturgy

Create in us a clean heart, O God.

Author

Austin D. Hill

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 10:22, Luke 15:11-32, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ezekiel 36:26-27, 1 John 1:9, Psalm 51:10-12

Create in us a clean heart, O God. Please cleanse us from our sins and iniquity. Restore to us the joy of salvation that comes from you. Have mercy on us according to your steadfast love. Renew us wit...

Quote

Author

Lewis B. Smedes

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 43:18-19, Philippians 3:13-14, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 4:31-32, Colossians 3:13, Romans 12:17-19, Micah 7:18-19

Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope ...

liturgy

Holy Spirit, you have come to reconcile

Author

Chip Hardwick

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:14-15, Ephesians 4:31-32, Colossians 3:12-13, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, Psalm 139:23-24, Matthew 18:21-35

Holy Spirit, you have come to reconcile us to each other, but we resist your work to bind us together. We hold onto grudges. Even though we know God has forgiven us in Jesus Christ, we are slow to for...

liturgy

Thus says your Lord, the Lord, your God

Author

Bud Thoreen

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 51:22-23, 2 Corinthians 5:17, John 8:36, Isaiah 43:25, Psalm 103:12, Colossians 1:13-14, Ephesians 1:7

Thus says your Lord, the Lord, your God who pleads the cause of his people: “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering; the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more. Live in the freedo...

liturgy

We praise and thank you, O Lord, that

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 119:103, Luke 22:19, Psalm 34:18, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Matthew 28:19-20, John 14:16-17, Matthew 6:9-13, Numbers 6:24-26, Matthew 25:36, Psalm 33:12, Romans 8:26, Acts 1:8, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Acts 2:42

We praise and thank you, O Lord, that you have fed us with your Word [and at your table]. Grateful for your gifts and mindful of the communion of your saints, we offer to you our prayers for all pe...

blog

The Costly Love of the Father: Sermon Illustration Tuesday

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 15:11-32, Psalm 23:null, John 21:15-19, Luke 19:1-10, Genesis 45:4-7, Psalm 23:5, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

In the old American South (and in many places in the American North) a European American who invited an African American as a guest to an expensive restaurant in a white section of town would subject ...

illustration

No Bell Sounded for the Guilty

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 12:1-3, 2 Corinthians 5:14—15, Genesis 44:18-34, Daniel 6:16-23, Psalm 91:14-16, John 15:12-13, Romans 5:6-8, John 15:13, 1 Peter 2:21

During the time of Oliver Cromwel ascendancy in England, a young soldier faced execution as the curfew bell was set to toll. Desperate to save him, the soldier's beloved approached Cromwell, plead...

liturgy

Gracious God, we ask for Your

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 43:18-19, Hebrews 10:22, Colossians 3:10, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Titus 3:5, Psalm 51:10

Gracious God, we ask for Your forgiveness and receive it with joyful hearts. Renew our minds so that we may discern what is good. Fill us with Your Spirit so that we may be Your witnesses in the world...

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Our Need for Forgiveness: Our Search for Wholeness

Author

Annemarie S. Kidder

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 3:23, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Hebrews 10:22, Romans 3:23-24, Psalm 32:5, Acts 3:19, Proverbs 28:13

The practice of confession in the context of a liturgy or in a private ecclesiastical setting has declined drastically over the past fifty years, and in particular since the Protestant Reformation in ...

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A Messenger of the Divine Mercy

Author

John H. Baumgaertner

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 52:7, Acts 16:25-34, 1 John 1:9, Psalm 51:12, 2 Corinthians 5:20, John 3:17, Matthew 11:28-29

In a series of sermons for the Lenten season, pastor and author John H. Baumgaertner shares one of the greatest moments that can ever happen to a pastor, though, in truth it is available to all who ha...

liturgy

Heavenly Father, we come before Your

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:17, Matthew 6:14, Titus 3:5, Ephesians 1:7, Romans 12:2

Heavenly Father, we come before Your throne of grace to confess our sin. We have been selfish instead of generous; we have been proud instead of humble; we have held grudges instead of forgiving; we h...

Quote

Author

Elyse M. Fitzpatrick

Keywords

Scripture

John 3:16, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Psalm 103:10-12, Ephesians 2:4-5, Romans 5:8, 1 John 1:8-9, Romans 3:23-24

I am more sinful and flawed than I ever dared believe, more loved and welcomed than I ever dared hope.

Quote

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

Micah 7:18, Colossians 3:13, Hebrews 8:12, Ephesians 4:31-32, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Philippians 3:13-14

"Here is your brother”, he [Aslan] said, "and-there is no need to talk to him about what is past.”

liturgy

Gracious God, we know that You have

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:10, 1 John 1:9, James 5:16, Matthew 6:14-15, Romans 12:18, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

Gracious God, we know that You have forgiven us in Jesus Christ, but we often remain slow to forgive one other. You have sent Your Spirit to reconcile us to each other, but we resist Your work to bind...

Quote

Author

Thomas à Kempis

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:15, Colossians 3:1-2, Romans 12:1, John 15:4-5, Philippians 3:7-8, Galatians 2:20, Matthew 6:33

Let this be thy whole Endeavour, this thy prayer, this thy desire, that thou mayest be stripped of all selfishness, and with entire simplicity follow Jesus only.

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Getting to Do the Things She Loves

Author

Chris Spielman

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 3:20-21, 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 2 Corinthians 5:1-2, Revelation 21:4, Isaiah 40:31, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

Chris Spielman was at one time a paragon of athletic performance. A two-time All-American Linebacker at Ohio State University, and later three-time all pro for the Detroit Lions, Spielman knew what it...

illustration

The Reconciling Love of the Father

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:12-13, Romans 8:15-17, Galatians 4:4-5, Ephesians 2:12-13, Colossians 1:21-22, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

In her book Keeping Place: Reflections on the Meaning of Home , Jen Pollock Michel reflects on the nature of home in a transient age. In this short excerpt, Michel reflects on the Biblical doctrine...

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From Dropout to Disciple-Maker

Author

Bobby Harrington

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:1-10, Psalm 40:2-3, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Luke 15:20, John 1:5

I (Josh) know a young man named Mark who was on the brink of self-destruction. He partied away his first semester of junior college and was later kicked out of school. He was devastated by his loss an...

relationships and community on Mourning

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