Relationships and Community on Death And Dying

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I Knew You would Come

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:10, James 5:19-20, Ruth 1:16-17 , 1 Samuel 18:1-4, 2 Samuel 23:15-17 , John 15:13, Luke 10:30-37, Psalm 133:1

Though Jim was just a little older than Phillip and often assumed the role of leader, they did everything together. They even went to high school and college together. After college they decided to jo...

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The Greatest Sacrifice

Author

Richard J. Mouw

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 31:8–9, Exodus 1:15–21, Isaiah 58:6–7, John 15:13, Matthew 25:35–40 , Psalm 82:3–4

In The Hiding Place Corrie ten Boom tells of the time she and her father needed to find a safer place for a Jewish mother and child they had been concealing from the Nazis. A local clergyman cam...

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Author

Hans Urs von Balthasar

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 8:9, Romans 6:4, John 12:24, Galatians 2:20, John 15:13

This total self-giving, to which the Son and the Spirit respond by an equal self-giving, is a kind of “death,” a first, radical “kenosis,” as one might say. It is a kind of “super-death” that is a com...

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May This Body Nourish Us in Faithfulness

Author

Jake Meador

Keywords

Scripture

John 15:13, Romans 5:8, 1 John 3:16, Matthew 5:9, Micah 6:8, Isaiah 53:5, Hebrews 12:2

At a funeral Mass for a friend of Archbishop Romero who was murdered by the government because of her faith in Christ, Romero invited those present to follow this Lord who died, this God who sacrifice...

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Dying for His Subjects

Author

Charles Colson

Keywords

Scripture

John 15:13, Isaiah 53:5, Philippians 2:8-11, Romans 5:8, Hebrews 12:28, Revelation 17:14, Revelation 19:16

When I was in Moscow in 1990 preaching at the Moscow Baptist Church, just blocks from the Kremlin, I told a packed crowd of worshipers that all through human history, as far back as recorded time and ...

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Author

Richard B. Hays

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 4:16, John 10:11-18, Galatians 2:20, Romans 5:8, John 15:13

The content of the word “love” is given fully and exclusively in the death of Jesus on the cross; apart from this specific narrative image, the term has no meaning.

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An Honor to Die for this Child

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Hebrews 13:3, Philippians 2:3-4, Romans 12:21, Isaiah 1:17, Proverbs 31:8-9, Matthew 25:40, John 15:13

During the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Corrie ten Boom tried to enlist a pastor to help hide Jews. Showing him a Jewish baby in need of rescue, the pastor said “No. Definitely not. We could lo...

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Who are You to Think You are Better than Our Lord?

Author

Madeline L'Engle

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:18, John 15:9-17

While exploring an experience of deep guilt and shame with her spiritual director, the author of Madeleine L’Engle, wrote One time I was talking to Canon Tallis, who is my spiritual director as we...

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Author

Elisabeth Elliot

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 11:23-28, Ruth 1:16, 1 John 4:18, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, John 15:12-13

To love means to open ourselves to suffering. Shall we shut our doors to love, then, and be “safe”?

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Control Issues

Author

M. Robert Mulholland Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 16:9, Jeremiah 29:11, John 15:1-27, Proverbs 3:5-6, Galatians 2:20, Matthew 6:25-34

In their excellent book Invitation to a Journey , M. Robert Mulholland and Ruth Haley Barton describe the foundation of life as being spiritual in nature. This means we are constantly be “formed” s...

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Author

Søren Kierkegaard

Keywords

Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:1-3, John 15:12-13, 1 John 4:19, Matthew 22:37-40, Matthew 19:16-30

To cheat oneself out of love is the most terrible deception; it is an eternal loss for which there is no reparation, either in time or in eternity.

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To Love is to Suffer

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 4:18, John 15:12-13, Romans 12:9-10, Matthew 26:27, Mark 14:15, Luke 22:23, John 18:19

After C. S. Lewis lost his wife Joy to cancer, he wrote these words about the inextricable link between love, suffering, and vulnerability: To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your...

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Covering the Bald Spots

Author

Sharon Hodde Miller

Keywords

Scripture

Jeremiah 17:7-8, John 15:4-5, Matthew 23:27-28, Isaiah 58:11, Ezekiel 36:26-27

Every year at the end of November, my husband, Ike, and I load the kids in the car and drive to the nearest Christmas tree lot. We are committed “real tree” people—not to be confused with “fake tree” ...

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The Lord our God is rich in mercy, slow

Author

Jacob Traeger

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:10, Psalm 103:8, Luke 6:35-36, Colossians 3:13, John 15:12-13, Titus 3:4-5

The Lord our God is rich in mercy, slow to anger, and abounds in steadfast love. He does not pay us back what we deserve, but even while we were his enemies he sent his son to die for us. Christ died ...

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Author

Eugene Peterson

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:14, Matthew 9:36, Luke 19:10, John 15:15, Mark 10:45, Philippians 2:5-7, 1 John 4:9-10

The ways Jesus goes about loving and saving the world are personal: nothing disembodied, nothing abstract, nothing impersonal. Incarnate, flesh and blood, relational, particular and local. The ways em...

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Joy With Flesh On

Author

Ashley Hales

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:31, Exodus 16:4–5, Isaiah 40:31, Mark 10:14–15, John 15:5,11, Psalm 16:11

I have a photo of one of my children: on a day of pure sunshine, he is running down the hillside, leading with his chest, his smile and stride wide as his speed picks up. Running is pure delight. Agai...

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A True Friend

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:9-10, Luke 6:31, John 15:13, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, Proverbs 27:9, Proverbs 27:6, Proverbs 17:17

The [true] story is told that Voltaire, the French Enlightenment philosopher, was speaking at the funeral of an aristocrat. In the speech he declared, “He was a great patriot, a humanitarian, a loyal ...

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Friends in Peace and in War

Author

John C. Maxwell

Keywords

Scripture

Galatians 6:2, 1 Samuel 18:1-3, Romans 12:10, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, Proverbs 17:17, John 15:13

Though Jim was just a little older than Phillip and often assumed the role of leader, they did everything together. They even went to high school and college together. After college they decided to jo...

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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...

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Author

Susan Springer

Keywords

Scripture

John 15:5, Colossians 3:16-17, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:19-20, Matthew 5:14-16, John 6:51

When he said, “I am the bread of life,” he must have meant he was scattering bits of himself like a trail of crumbs leading us to speak and act and scatter forgiveness in his name to the ends of the e...

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Author

Steve Carrell

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 23:44-49, Mark 4:35-41, Exodus 19:16-19, John 15:13, Philippians 2:10-11, Romans 8:38-39

“Would I rather be feared or loved? That’s easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.”

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Gracious Father, too often we base our

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:10, Romans 8:38-39, Titus 3:4-5, Isaiah 55:1, Psalm 103:10-12, John 15:9

Gracious Father, too often we base our worth on our performance. We believe if we do well, your love grows, and if we falter, your love lessens. Our God, how far this is from the truth. We confess our...

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The Trickiness of Defining Love

Author

John Mark Comer

Keywords

Scripture

Deuteronomy 7:7–9 , Hosea 3:1–3, Exodus 34:6–7, John 15:12–13 , 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 , Psalm 136:

In love . What does that even mean? “Love” is a junk drawer we dump all sorts of ideas into, just because we don’t have anywhere else to put them. I “love” God, and I “love” fish tacos. See ...

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I Know the Way Out

Author

James K. A. Smith

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 1:3-4, John 15:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Job 2:11, Proverbs 17:17

I can’t help but recall here a scene from The West Wing. White House chief of staff Leo McGarry reaches out to his deputy, Josh Lyman, who is struggling with PTSD. Leo tells him a parable: This guy’...

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Author

C. S. Lewis

Scripture

1 Corinthians 13:, Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:32, John 15:9, Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:19, Hosea 2:

Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal.

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...

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The Greatest Preacher in Atlanta

Author

Paul E. Hopkins

Keywords

Scripture

1 Thessalonians 2:7-8, John 10:42-45, Mark 10:42-45, Romans 12:15, John 15:5, 1 Peter 5:2-3

Retired professor of homiletics Fred Craddock suggests a different vision of fruitfulness. Fred told me a story about a friend of his who wanted Craddock to go with him to hear “the greatest preacher ...

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Author

William Blake

Keywords

Scripture

1 John 4:10-11, John 13:1-17, Romans 12:9-10, John 15:12-13, Philippians 2:3-4, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love seeketh not Itself to please, Nor for itself hath any care; But for another gives its ease, And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair. So sung a little Clod of Clay, Trodden with the cattle’s feet; B...

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Author

Martin Luther

Keywords

Scripture

John 14:19-23, John 15:4-10, Romans 8:1-19, 1 Corinthians 6:17, 2 Corinthians 4:6-11, 2 Corinthians 13:5, Ephesians 3:16-21, Galatians 2:20, Colossians 3:15, 1 John 4:4, Revelation 3:20

Should anyone knock at my heart and say, “Who Lives here? I should reply, “Not Martin Luther, but the Lord Jesus Christ.”

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Gracious God, We build walls to protect

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 73:25-26, John 15:15, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 3:8-9, Isaiah 55:8-9, Psalm 37:5

Gracious God, We build walls to protect ourselves, but it leads to isolation. We make independence the highest value, instead of complete dependence on You. Forgive us for our inability to surrender e...

relationships and community on Death and Dying

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