Solidarity
I, the Lord, have called you... You will open the eyes of the blind
and set free those who sit in dark prisons. ~ Isaiah 42:6a,7 (GNT)
Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place. ~ Hebrews 13:3 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
God has called us to have empathy with those who are suffering -- to care for them as best we can.
PRAYER:
Lord, I'm grateful that you care so much about hurting people. Because Christ was one of us you totally understand the pain of rejection and the agony of incarceration. Too many people are suffering in literal and figurative prison cells. But I'm often too busy to really care. Maybe the whole concept is too overwhelming for me.
So I ask that you would give me appropriate empathy that is about the needs of others -- and not just my need to be helpful. Give me the heart of Jesus. I want to act in solidarity with those who are hurting. 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 -- a 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)
