Relationships and Community on Stars

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Fixing a Person in the Stars

Author

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, 1 John 4:7-8, Mark 12:31, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, John 13:34

Mike Mason recounts how his friend Daniel Adair once said: Whenever I meet someone new, I take that person and fix him or her in my heart. To do this, I literally see that person as a star, and I ...

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Adapted from Psalm 8:1-4,9

Author

Allen Thompson

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 8:1-4

Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemi...

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Author

Gustave Martelet

Keywords

While man is at home with animals and the stars, he is also the cosmic neighbor of the Absolute.

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O God, whose reason rules the world,

Author

Boethius

Keywords

Scripture

Proverbs 8:22-31, 2 Corinthians 12:1-4, Exodus 19:16-20, Matthew 17:1-8, Job 38:41

O God, whose reason rules the world, who formed the starry heights above, timeless, time’s chain far forth you hurled, unmoved, gave all things power to move. Prevailed on by no outside cause to fashi...

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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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Inspired by Psalm 8 (1)

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 8:null

Lord, our Lord – How excellent is Your name in all the earth! From star to star and galaxy to galaxy, From pole to pole and horizon to horizon There is no place where Your glory is hidden, No-one and ...

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Prayer Service for Peace in Israel and Palestine

Author

Lisa Ann Moss Degrenia

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:1-5, Psalm 86:1, Psalm 22:1-2, Psalm 28:7, Psalm 65:5

Prayer Service for Peace in Israel and Palestine This service is designed as an evening, outdoor prayer vigil using handheld candles. Feel free to modify the order of worship as needed, including...

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Sherlock Holmes and Watson Go Camping

Author

Geoff Anandappa

Keywords

Scripture

Job 38:7, Psalm 8:3-4, Genesis 15:5, Daniel 12:3, Matthew 2:2

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are going camping. They pitch their tent under the stars and go to sleep. In the middle of the night Holmes wakes Watson up: “Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me wh...

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Mother's Day Intercessory Prayer

Author

Richard Herman

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 7:11-15, John 19:25-27, 1 Samuel 1:1-28, John 14:27, Jeremiah 30:17, Isaiah 66:13, Psalm 34:18

Thank You, Lord, for the gifts of life, of love and of care that come from You, wrapped in our moms and step-moms, in our grand-moms, great-grandmas, daughters, sisters, and aunts. We’re grateful for...

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Author

Wendell Berry

Keywords

When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty...

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Author

Robert Louis Stevenson

Keywords

The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of God just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plai...

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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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Community & Identity in the Himba People

Author

Ann Voskamp

Keywords

There’s a brilliant family of people in Africa, called the Himba. When a Himba woman is expecting a child, she goes out into the wilderness with a few of her sisters, and together they wait till they ...

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Practicing Corporate Repentance

Author

George Yancey

Keywords

In his insightful work, Beyond Racial Gridlock, George Yancey provides a multi-faceted picture of both the brokenness of American race-relations, as well as a response couched in the gospel. In this e...

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Why Some Navy Seals Make it and Some Do Not

Author

Simon Sinek

Keywords

During the interview, Simon mentions that only 10% of Navy Seals make it through the initial training process and he gives some insights as to who gets through. It’s not the big, muscle-bound guys. T...

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Should You Have A Best Friend (In Ministry)?

Author

John Townsend

Keywords

Scripture

1 Thessalonians 5:11, Galatians 6:2, Romans 12:15, John 15:13-15, Proverbs 18:24, Proverbs 27:17, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

In this excerpt from Dr. John Townsend, the renowned psychologist and author, shares a story from his time in seminary, where one of his professors and mentor changes his mind regarding the importance...

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Celebrities vs. Saints

Author

Ben Lansing and D. J.Marotta

Keywords

Scripture

Micah 6:8, 1 Samuel 16:6–7, Isaiah 42:1–3, Matthew 5:14–16, Philippians 2:3–8, Psalm 1:1–3

The saints of the church flicker like candles along a dark corridor. They are not 1400-watt LED floodlights to blind you with their brilliance; those are the celebrities. A celebrity is a flashbulb st...

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Emotional Nanocrafts in the Space Between Us

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 12:10, Revelation 3:20, Matthew 25:40, Luke 8:43-48, Song of Solomon 2:14, Psalm 42:7

In I’d Like You More If You Were More Like Me , John Ortberg uses an interesting analogy for an aspect of our relationships. In 2015, Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner announced the Starshot Initiati...

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Author

Douglas Kaine McKelvey

Keywords

We praise you, O God, for light in darkness, for bonfires and beacons, for hope and companionship and bright waystations on our journey.

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Hallelujah! Help Us Shine! An opening prayer for Christmas or Epiphany

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:null, Matthew 2:null, John 1:1-14, Matthew 2:1-12

Hallelujah! Help Us Shine! Welcome Glorious One Lord of Life and Light Dawn in us your power and peacemaking Hallelujah! Help us shine! You bathe us in the light of your grace, that we may be grace...

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To Be One of the Great Ones Is Not What It Seems

Author

C. S. Lewis

Keywords

Scripture

1 Samuel 16:7, Isaiah 53:2, Micah 6:8

For those of us who live in the shadow of self-doubt, who may wonder what meaning a life of relative anonymity may have in a society filled with the cult of celebrity in which likes, reposts, and digi...

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Author

Winston S. Churchill

Keywords

You have enemies? Why, it is the story of every man who has done a great deed or created a new idea. It is the cloud which thunders around everything that shines. Fame must have enemies, as light must...

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Adapted from Isaiah 60; Ephesians 5

Author

Jacob Traeger

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 60:null, Ephesians 5:null

Wake up! Get out of bed! Feel the sunlight on your face! Feel God’s bright glory has risen for you. But the earth is dark. Everywhere we look there is selfishness sin, greed, death, destruction. You ...

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Sisters and brothers, if the torch of

Author

Cody Sandahl

Keywords

Scripture

1 Peter 5:8, Ephesians 6:10-11, Romans 12:11-12, Philippians 2:14-16, Hebrews 10:23, 1 Thessalonians 5:6, Matthew 25:1-4

Sisters and brothers, if the torch of your faith is lit right now, it might fizzle out within fifteen minutes of leaving here today. So refill the oil of your faith. Trim the charred ends away from yo...

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Crystallizing Each Other

Author

David Brooks

Keywords

Romantic Relationships

Combustion is also the phase of peak idealization. In his great book On Love, Stendhal once described a salt mine near Salzburg, Austria. The miners would stick small, leafless branches down into the ...

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Author

Sam Ewing

Keywords

Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all.

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Author

Victor Hugo

Keywords

Popularity

Popularity? It's glory's small change.

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Eternal Light, who has folded back the

Author

Carl A. Glover

Keywords

Scripture

John 8:12-20, Psalm 136:, Psalm 27:, Isaiah 60:1, Psalm 119:105, John 9:5, Matthew 4:12-17, John 12:35

Eternal Light, who has folded back the curtain of darkness and caused the dawn of a new day to brighten the earth, we ask you to gladden our hearts with your light. Give us the light of faith, that do...

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Adapted from Isaiah 60:1-5a

Author

Bud Thoreen

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 60:1-5, Isaiah 60:19

Leader: Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. People: For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will ar...

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Author

Columba of Iona

Keywords

Be a bright flame before me, O God a guiding star above me. Be a smooth path below me, a kindly shepherd behind me today, tonight, and forever. Alone with none but you, my God, I journey on my way; wh...

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