Relationships and Community on Birthday

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How to Sing “Happy Birthday”

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 3:1–12 , Isaiah 43:1–2, 1 Samuel 16:6–13, Luke 15:11–32, John 10:14–16 , Psalm 139:1–6

John Berkley told a story about how he loves live professional choir concerts. At one concert, the conductor asked if anyone in the audience was there celebrating their birthday. Now, it was actually ...

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The Gift of an Invitation

Author

Ruth Haley Barton

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 55:1–3, Exodus 3:1–12, Proverbs 9:1–6, Matthew 11:28–30, John 1:35–39, Psalm 3:4:8

One of the reasons I love a good invitation is that I get tired of being told what to do. As the very responsible oldest daughter of a pastor and someone who entered vocational ministry at a young age...

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Dysfunctional Greeting Cards

Author

Wayne Stiles

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4-5, Matthew 6:6-8, Matthew 6:6-8, Galatians 50:20

I’m convinced some company today could make a killing if it had the guts to market dysfunctional greeting cards. Most birthday or holiday cards gush with flowery sentiments such as, “To the greatest f...

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Turning a Gift into a Commodity

Author

Mike Cosper

Keywords

Gifts

Scripture

Hebrews 13:16, Matthew 6:3-4, Luke 6:38, Proverbs 19:17, 2 Corinthians 9:7, Acts 20:35

The other way to destroy the relational bonds of gift giving is to turn a gift into a commodity. Let’s say it’s my birthday. Ten friends come over to my house, and we eat a good meal, and they all bri...

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Two Ministers and the Rusty Old Can

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

One particularly crafty, if not insidious way a “good works” righteousness can seep into our theology is by positioning faith as the pre-eminent work. We must never forget that faith itself is a...

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Remembering the Martyred Saints

Author

Ben Lansing and D. J.Marotta

Keywords

Scripture

Daniel 3:16–18, Daniel 6:19–22, Acts 7:54–60, Hebrews 11:35–38, Psalm 116:15

Two thousand years ago, Christians were often hunted down and killed. Amid this darkness, the church began a radical practice. When a brother or sister was martyred for faith in Jesus, the Christian c...

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The Kingdom is Not a Mad Scramble for “Enough”

Author

Mia Levetan

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 16:1–36 , Isaiah 55:1–2, 1 Kings 17:8–16, Matthew 14:13–21, 2 Corinthians 9:6–11, Psalm 23:1–5

I was recently at a eight-year-old’s birthday party, and at this birthday party there was a piñata. All of the kids took turns whacking a paper mache shark with a PVC pipe until eventually the shark b...

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A Jagged Symbol of Equality & Inequality

Author

Tony Evans

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 59:1-3, Micah 6:6-8 , Ephesians 2:13-18 , Galatians 3:26-28, Romans 12:4-5 , Psalm 85:10

My friend Ray McMillan introduced me to the Liberty Bell as a perfect object lesson for America’s racial divide. In addressing why “the bell won’t ring,” Ray describes the crack as a perfect illustrat...

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The Brother of David Livingstone

Author

Billy Graham

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 6:19-21, Matthew 16:24-26, Mark 10:29-30, Romans 12:1-2, Matthew 10:38-42, Matthew 25:14-40, Acts 1:1-11, Acts 2:32-47, Acts 9:1-19, Acts 13:42-52, Acts 28:28-31

Nearly 200 years ago there were two Scottish brothers named John and David Livingstone. John had set his mind on making money and becoming wealthy, and he did. But under his name in an old edition of ...

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Brené Brown Struggling to Belong

Author

Brené Brown

Keywords

Scripture

Numbers 12:null, Joshua 2:null, Matthew 9:9, Mark 5:1-10, Mark 5:25-34, Luke 19:1-10, John 4:1-42, Galatians 3:28

Belonging can be such a fickle and painful process in life. As the popular researcher and writer Brené Brown describes in her book, Braving the Wilderness, she struggled to fit in after moving to New ...

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Our Sweet, Precious, and Pleasing Acts of Obedience

Author

Kevin DeYoung

Keywords

Why do we imagine God to be so unmoved by our heart-felt attempts at obedience? He is, after all, our heavenly Father. What sort of father looks at his daughter’s homemade birthday card and complains ...

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Tappers and Listeners

Author

Chip and Dan Heath

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 13:13, Colossians 4:6, Proverbs 25:11, Luke 24:45, 1 Corinthians 8:1-2, James 1:19

In 1990, Elizabeth Newton earned a Ph.D. in psychology at Stanford by studying a simple game in which she assigned people to one of two roles: “tappers” or “listeners.” Tappers received a list of twen...

Quote

Author

R. C. Sproul

Keywords

The day of one's birth is a good day for the believer, but the day of death is the greatest day that a Christian can ever experience in this world because that is the day he goes home, the day he ...

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God of grace and truth, holy and

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Peter 5:7, Romans 8:38-39, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Matthew 11:28-30, Isaiah 41:10

God of grace and truth, holy and compassionate—Father, Son and Holy Spirit: You hold the universe in Your hands and earth’s oceans hardly moisten Your palm; yet—You number the hairs of our heads and k...

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When We Act Like Piñatas: Sermon Illustration Tuesday

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

Conflict

When my kids were little, I used to hang piñatas from our favorite tree in the backyard as often as possible. Sometimes we did it for their birthdays, but sometimes we did it because it was Saturday, ...

Quote

Author

Albert Einstein

Keywords

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life.

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Father: today we celebrate your gift.

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Father: today we celebrate your gift. At creation you gave us the gift of life; through the life, death and resurrection of your Son, Jesus, you gave us new life; at his ascension, we gained a mediato...

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God of Grace and God of Glory – rich in

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

God of Grace and God of Glory – rich in love and mercy, all powerful and everywhere present: We come to You at Your bidding, trusting in Your faithful compassion and not in our fruitless efforts to do...

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God our Father, Savior and Sustainer—

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

God our Father, Savior and Sustainer— You are the God who knows our name, and the God who revealed Your name as “I Am Who I Am” and shows us Your face in the face of Jesus. You are known to us ... and...

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A Childbirth that Created Gratitude

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 6:1-2, Proverbs 1:8-9, Colossians 3:20

When my niece bore her first child, she invited her brother and mother to stand in the delivery room. After witnessing three hours of pushing, when the baby finally crowned, my nephew turned to his mo...

Quote

Author

John Chrysostom

Keywords

Love

Scripture

Psalm 30:11-12, Luke 15:11-32, John 2:1-11, John 15:11, Zephaniah 3:17, Luke 15:7

Where love rejoices, there is festivity.

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Father – God of Joy and Hope;

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Father – God of Joy and Hope; Wonderful Lord and Spirit of delight and wonder: You invite us to come to you with thanksgiving and joy, laughter and quiet awe. Your arms of welcome are out wide. So we ...

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Lord our Lord – How majestic is Your

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 8:1-9

Lord our Lord – How majestic is Your name in all the earth. The sun’s light is but a dim flicker next to the brightness of Your glory. Your care is far more intimate than that of a mother sparrow hove...

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Welcoming, Hospitality, Parable of the Great Banquet

Author

BBC News

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 14:15-24

A man named Jim Haynes died last year at 87 years old, in Paris where he’d lived for decades. Jim Haynes was known as the “man who invited the world over for dinner.” Why? Because for more than 40 yea...

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The Power of Invitations

Author

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 12:1-3, Exodus 3:10-12, Isaiah 55:1-3 , Luke 14:16-24, Matthew 11:28-30 , Psalm 23:5

Invitations are powerful. Like tides, they ebb and flow, shaping the contours of our existence. Some invitations we desperately want but never get—“Will you marry me?” or “Would you consider a promoti...

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Adapted from Psalm 90 (2)

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 90:1, Psalm 90:12, Psalm 90:14

Leader: "Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations. From everlasting to everlasting, You are God." People: But in comparison, the days of our life on this earth are but a ...

Quote

Author

William Shakespeare

Keywords

Prepare for mirth, for mirth becomes a feast.

Quote

Author

The Impressive Clergyman

Keywords

“Mawidge…mawidge is what bwings us togewer today…”

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Blessing Educators and Support Staff at the Start of the School Year

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Eternal God, Maker of all that is seen and unseen, thank you for the great gifts of learning, growing, and discovering. Thank you for all who are standing here today, and for the millions more who’ve ...

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Blessing Students as They Return to School

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Welcoming One, we welcome you and we welcome another school year. Thank you for the blessings of learning and growing, thinking and creating, reasoning and discovering. Fulfill these blessings in ever...

relationships and community on Birthday

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