Justice and Peace!
Epiphany
The boots of all those invading troops,
along with their shirts soaked with innocent blood,
Will be piled in a heap and burned,
a fire that will burn for days! ~ Isaiah 9:5 (MSG)
With the loving mercy of our God, a new day from heaven will dawn upon us... It will guide us into the path of peace. ~ Luke 1:78-79 (NCV)
KEY IDEA:
As the Lord establishes justice he makes a way of peace for us to travel.
PRAYER:
Lord, making peace and justice seems impossible to my way of thinking. But being that you are loving and merciful it starts to make sense. As a matter of fact I am counting on your love and mercy to see me through. Without your kindness I would not stand a chance. Help me to start to see things your way so that I can speak up for Jesus -- who is both the advocate for justice and peace. Re-frame my thinking so that your love and mercy defines it all. I pray this in the name of Jesus -- my Lord and Savior. Amen.
*ABOUT THE
DAILY TEXTS
The Daily Texts have been published by the Moravian Church since 1731. In 2015 I started posting these Bible verses for my spiritual formation students at Pacific Islands University. In the process of responding to the verses, I found the rhythm of looking for a common thread and writing a prayer based on that key idea to be helpful for my own soul. The prayers are more or less modeled on the TRIP method, which is what I ask my students to do in their journaling. ~ Brad Boydston
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase — my own freestyle biblical adaptation — somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
