Giving
The Fourth Sunday of Advent
Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly... ~ Deuteronomy 15:10 (NLT)
Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. ~ Philippians 4:5 (CEB)
KEY THOUGHT:
Outrageous generosity reflects the Lord's presence in our lives.
PRAYER:
Thank you, God, for being so generous with us. You gave us your only Son so that we might experience life. Forgive me for being stingy. I worry that people will take undue advantage of my generosity. That turns me into a Scrooge some of the time. Save me from being overly-concerned about what others do or don't do. I can see now that we're all taking undue advantage of your generosity. 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)
