The Culture of Hope Founded on Faith
The first time I sang “The Lord’s Prayer” in a high school choir rehearsal, I fell in love with it. The soaring melody lines and close harmonies of the song by Albert Hay Mallotte seemed to capture the beauty and sacredness of Jesus’ words in a compelling way. Even though I had memorized the words as a child, the song gave me a new level of understanding of the prayer found in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. In both passages,…..
Picture this: you are driving in heavy traffic in an unfamiliar city. You see your destination but there is not an empty parking space anywhere. You drive farther along, then circle around each block in between. Still no vacant parking space. What do you do now? Get angry? Circle the blocks on the other side of your destination? Have you ever thought about praying for a parking space?
This may seem an event too small for God to be concerned…..
The envelope arrives in your mailbox telling you that you have “definitely won” an enormous amount of money. Then you read the fine print, “if the number inside is the winning number.” Your interest is piqued and you follow all the directions, send the official entry form back, and pray that the Lord would make you the winner. In the weeks, months, and years to come, you receive a continuous flow of solicitations to enter the sweepstakes, each one more…..
Exodus 25-31 describes the instructions God gave Moses about the building, accessories, and maintenance of the Tabernacle. Moses was told to request willing sacrifices of the people with which to make a dwelling place for God among them: “And this is the offering which you shall take of them: gold, silver, and brass; blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen; goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, and badgers’ skins; shittim wood; oil for the light, spices for anointing oil and for sweet incense;…..
On Facebook a few years ago, I encountered two posts from “Hope for the Broken-Hearted”. It feels like a good fit for where I am today.
One was a “Prayer of Release” in which the supplicant releases burdens and control to God, requests the promised peace of God, and thanks God for the subsequent protection and sustaining peace. The Bible clearly calls us to humble ourselves before God and to cast our cares on Him in 1 Peter 5:6-7. Philippians…..
God of All Comfort
There are a few items I have been batting around in my brain regarding God’s comfort. In John 14:26-27, Jesus promised the presence of the Holy Spirit as our Comforter in His place: “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I…..
Jesus Never Changes
Fifteen years ago, Dan was diagnosed with Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Seven months of treatments involving chemotherapy and radiation followed. The year before I had developed a digital “Change Management” file, in the face of my own three surgeries in seven months, that was very helpful in dealing with the 180° turn-around that cancer brought into our lives. In those documents are ideas about change, like the human circumstance of constant change (as in, there are three constants…..
Every Home Has a Hush
There’s an old Spanish saying that “Every home has a hush” – everyone carries a burden in some form or fashion. But it was the poet Robert Browning Hamilton who suggested that difficulty can be a strong teacher:
“I walked a mile with Pleasure; She chatted all the way; But left me none the wiser, For all she had to say. I walked a mile with Sorrow; And ne’er a word said she; But, oh!…..
Those Who Seek Him
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests…..
Last week we explored the idea that God’s Grace teaches us to love God by bringing salvation to all mankind, teaches us to live in obedience to God, and teaches us to long for our eternal hope in God’s presence. In Scripture we are metaphorically referred to as the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, and the Bond-Servant of Christ. God’s Grace also teaches us the expression of love for him is the “acceptable sacrifices” of Hebrews 12:28-13:17, including…..