Empathy
Transfiguration Sunday
For he’s always at hand to take the side of the needy, to rescue a life from the unjust judge. ~ Psalm 109:31 (MSG)
They kept on asking Jesus about the woman. Finally, he stood up and said, “If any of you have never sinned, then go ahead and throw the first stone at her!” ~ John 8:7 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
God is available to take the side of the victims of injustice.
PRAYER:
Lord, thank you for standing with us when we face injustice. I need my own attitude adjustment, though. I am pretty quick to make decisions about people on the limited information I have. Grant me a heart full of empathy. I am going to learn how to treat all people -- whether good or bad -- with the same grace that you extend and which is passed on to us through Jesus our 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 -- 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)
