Relationships and Community on Community

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Prayers of the People, Form IV

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:15, Acts 2:1-41, Mark 2:1-12, Luke 10:25-37, John 11:25-26, Revelation 21:4

Deacon or other leader Let us pray for the Church and for the world. Grant, Almighty God, that all who confess your Name may be united in your truth, live together in your love, and reveal your glo...

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A Lack of Accountability

Author

Václav Havel

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:15, Romans 8:18-23

Whenever I have encountered any kind of deep problem with civilization anywhere in the world—be it the logging of rain forests, ethnic or religious intolerance or the brutal destruction of a cultural ...

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Read any study on human satisfaction

Author

Bryan C. Loritts

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 , Genesis 2:18, 1 Samuel 18:1-4, Mark 8:36, Philippians 2:3-4, Psalm 133:1

Read any study on human satisfaction and you will see the paramount role of relationships with others. And yet, so many of us readily exchange friendship and community for success and achievement, onl...

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Sabbath-Keeping and Legalism

Author

Walter Brueggemann

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:1-3, Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Mark 2:27-28, Matthew 12:8, Luke 6:5

For the most part, contemporary Christians pay little attention to the Sabbath. We more or less know that the day came to reflect, in U.S. culture, the most stringent disciplinary faith of the Puritan...

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Goodness: A Home for Humanity

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:null, Genesis 2:null

In Genesis 1–2, God makes a home for his people. From the primeval wilderness and wasteland God begets beauty and form, building the grand house called Earth. God’s creative acts are not simply intend...

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Seeing the Value of Their Work

Author

Tom Nelson

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:15, 1 Kings 5:13-18, Colossians 3:23-24, Ephesians 4:28, Matthew 25:31-40, Psalm 90:17

After attending a conference in New York City, a pastoral colleague, Reid Kapple, was flying home to Kansas City on US Airways flight 745 when the plane suddenly lost cabin pressure. As the plane desc...

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Finding Meaning in Daily Work

Author

Tom Nelson

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:15, Exodus 31:3-5, Proverbs 16:3, Colossians 3:23-24, Matthew 25:14-30 , Psalm 90:17

We talk about our work all the time. It is rare that a conversation with a person we have recently met does not at some point lead to the inevitable question, What do you do? by which we mean, how do ...

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Author

Walter Wangerin Jr.

Keywords

Weddings

Scripture

Song of Solomon 8:6-7, Hebrews 13:4, Matthew 19:4-6, Genesis 2:18, 21-24

Marriage begins when two people make the clear, unqualified promise to be faithful, each to the other, until the end of their days. That spoken promise makes the difference. A new relationship is init...

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Jesus Christ, the love that gives

Author

Hildegard of Bingen

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 3:17-19, Ephesians 5:25-27, John 15:15, 1 Corinthians 12:27, John 1:1-2, Genesis 2:7, Romans 8:11

Jesus Christ, the love that gives love, You are higher than the highest star; you are deeper than the deepest sea; You cherish us as your own family; You embrace us as your own spouse; You rule over u...

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That Wagonload

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 127:3-5, Proverbs 17:6, 1 Timothy 6:17-19, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, Genesis 2:18, Genesis 2:24, 1 Timothy 5:8

John Fiske, a Harvard scholar, once visited Herbert Spencer, regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of his time in England. During their conversation, Spencer asked about Mrs. Fiske and the chil...

liturgy

God, be all our love, all our hope, all

Author

John Cassian

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:7, Matthew 26:36-46, Philippians 1:21-24, Luke 10:38-42, Acts 17:28, Colossians 3:17

God, be all our love, all our hope, all our striving; let our thoughts and words flow from you, our daily life be in you, and every breath we take be for you. Amen.

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Balancing Home and Career Gracefully

Author

Tom Nelson

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 31:10–31, Genesis 2:15, Nehemiah 4:17–18, Colossians 3:23–24, Luke 10:38–42, Psalm 128:1–2

Contemporary society assumes that we make a choice: one member of a household will be the “homemaker” and the other the “breadwinner” (i.e., in the marketplace generating income to sustain the home). ...

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The Biblical Helper: Ezer

Author

John Mark Comer

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:18–25 , Exodus 17:8–13, Ecclesiastes 4:9–12, John 14:16–17 , Romans 16:1–4, Psalm 118:6–7

Adam was called by God to take care of Eden. But it was too much work for one man. Eden was massive. Adam was incapable of gardening the whole thing. He needed help. That’s why God created Eve. Go...

blog

Myths About Faith and Work

Author

Kara Martin

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 2:12, Genesis 2:15-20, Colossians 3:22-24, John 5:17, 1 Corinthians 7:17

Myths about Faith and Work Faith is to be lived out 24-7-52. For many Christians this involves living out our faith at work. But several myths about faith and work can prevent us from being effecti...

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How to Get Married, the Secular Edition

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:18, 24, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, Proverbs 27:17, Ephesians 4:2-3 , Colossians 3:13-14, Psalm 127:1

Where do you turn for marriage advice when you aren’t religious? This is becoming an ever-increasing question as western cultures become more and more secular. One option is to turn to the London-base...

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A Savior Who Was a Spitter

Author

Steve Arterburn and Jack Felton

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:21–23, Exodus 3:7–10, Isaiah 55:10–11, John 9:1–7 , Acts 10:34–35 , Psalm 19:3–4

Some time ago, I read about the work of a Wycliffe Bible translator in a remote village in Papua New Guinea. When the opening chapters of Genesis were first translated into the native language, the at...

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The Intern: The Movie Gets the Power of Work

Author

Tom Nelson

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:15, Ecclesiastes 3:1–2, 12–13, Isaiah 6:8, Psalm 92:12–14, Matthew 25:21, Colossians 3:23–24

The movie The Intern did not win any Academy Awards, which is hardly surprising. Punchy blockbuster comedies rarely receive Hollywood’s highest honors. But its message is nevertheless award wort...

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"He's Got Me"

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, Proverbs 31:10-12, Mark 10:8, Genesis 2:18, Proverbs 19:14, Matthew 19:6

During an interview that took place during the 1976 presidential election, Rosalynn Carter was asked what her husband, Jimmy Carter, had that his opponent, Gerald Ford, didn’t. She responded simply, “...

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Trusting in God’s Good Gifts

Author

Rachel Marie Stone

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:, Genesis 3:, John 6:35, John 10:10, 1 Corinthians 10:16, James 1:17

God wants to feed his people. In keeping the one tree from them, God protected Adam and Eve. When they broke table fellowship with God, they suspected that God was withholding something good, that thi...

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Like an Old Coat

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 18:22, Matthew 1:18-25, 1 Samuel 1:, Genesis 2:24, 1 Peter 4:8

On a little study table in my office, there’s a card with a quote from Victor Hugo’s epic novel Les Misérables: My coat and I live comfortably together. It has assumed all my wrinkles, does not hurt...

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“Does My Ash Look All Right?”

Author

Tish Harrison Warren

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 3:19, Job 42:5-6, Ezekiel 9:4, Genesis 2:7, Ecclesiastes 3:20, Daniel 9:3

One Ash Wednesday a decade ago, when I was new to Anglicanism, I knelt at a rail as Fr. Thomas, my priest, smeared a black cross on each forehead. “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall ret...

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Our Spirituality and our Sexuality are Linked

Author

Ruth Haley Barton

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:23-25, Song of Solomon 7:10-12, Hosea 2:19-20, 1 Corinthians 7:3-5, Ephesians 5:31-32, Psalm 63:1-5

As we begin to awaken fully to the spiritual, social and sexual dimensions of ourselves in God’s presence, we find that they are inseparably intertwined and not to be compartmentalized. In fact, many ...

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A Balancing Act

Author

Sam Metcalf

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:24, 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, Ephesians 4:15-16

I remember playing a game as a child in which we would bend one knee and grab our foot behind us and then try to race—limping, stumbling and falling over as we struggled across the grass toward a fini...

Quote

Author

John Inge

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:null

One only needs to open the Bible at the beginning of Genesis and read a few pages to be left with the impression that place is important to the writer. The second creation account (Genesis 2) revolves...

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Was I Supposed to Agonize Over Commitment?

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:18, Proverbs 18:22, 1 Corinthians 7:2, Proverbs 19:14

Too many young guys are waiting for writing in the sky before they make a relational commitment. It doesn’t have to be that complicated. My grandpa DeYoung met my grandma on his paper route. Then they...

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Heightening Powers of Perception: the Bad and the Good

Author

Phillip Yancey

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 34:8, Matthew 6:28-29, Romans 1:20, 1 Kings 19:11-12, Exodus 3:1-6, Genesis 2:7

The drug problems in the U.S. demonstrate this pattern: by heightening powers of perception, chemical stimulants open up a new world to a generation that has never learned to appreciate fully the worl...

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Our Relational Design

Author

Richard Plass and James Cofield

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:27, Genesis 2:23-24, Matthew 19:4-5, 1 Corinthians 11:11, Ephesians 5:31-32

Maleness and femaleness is the fundamental way we carry our relational design. Interestingly, the English word sexuality comes from the Latin word sexus, which means “being divided, cut off, separated...

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God’s First Menu

Author

Tim Chester

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:16

What is the very first thing God said to humanity after he created Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden of Eden? “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden” (Gen. 2:16). God’s first words a...

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Nothing to Hide

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 139:23-24, Ephesians 5:11-13, Hebrews 4:13, Genesis 2:25, Genesis 3:7-11, Isaiah 47:3, Revelation 3:18

The relationship between wartime leaders Winston Churchill and Franklin Delano Roosevelt has been well chronicled by historians of the period. On one visit to the United States, Roosevelt wheeled hims...

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Calling Means Finding Purpose in Every Kind of Work

Author

Kevin DeYoung

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 9:10, Proverbs 16:3, 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, Genesis 2:15, Romans 12:4-6

God calls His people to lots of different things. Sometimes you feel a sense of calling to your job and, you know what, sometimes you don’t. You just work. I’m extremely thankful that I love what I do...

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