HOLY WEEK
Your enemies will stay far away.
You will live in peace,
and terror will not come near. ~ Isaiah 54:14 (NLT)
I give you peace, the kind of peace that only I can give. It isn’t like the peace that this world can give. So don’t be worried or afraid. ~ John 14:27 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
Jesus is giving us his peace so we don't have to be afraid.
PRAYER:
Thank you, Lord, for sharing your peace with us. You continue to extend it to us -- even when we prefer to figure things out on our own and live with the fear of all that. It does not make sense that we are so easily caught up in the fear of our times. Intervene and step me through the process of embracing your peace. I'm not going to entertain fear any longer. Amen.
HOLY WEEK
His love has taken over our lives;
God’s faithful ways are eternal.
Hallelujah! ~ Psalm 119:2 (MSG)
God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us. If God did this, won’t he freely give us everything else? ~ Romans 8:32 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
God never stops being generous because he loves us so much.
PRAYER:
Hallelujah, Lord! I'm so thankful for your generosity -- especially the gift of your Son Christ Jesus. He gave up his life to die on a cross, so that we might have victory over sin and death. I take your generosity for granted. But when you bring it all to mind, which I trust that you will continue to do, it captures my thoughts and my imagination. I then want to join the psalmist in shouting "Praise the Lord!" Amen.
HOLY WEEK
Sing to the Lord! Bless his name!
Share the news of his saving work every single day! ~ Psalm 66:2 (CEB)
After singing songs of praise, they went out to the Mount of Olives. ~ Mark 14:26 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
Sing praise to God for his salvation.
PRAYER:
Lord, I join with all your saints in praising you for the salvation that you secured for us through the cross and resurrection. I confess, though, that my singing is often off-key. I turn the song of your salvation into a song about me and how good I am. That is not really news worth sharing. I am asking you to give me singing lessons so that the song which flows from my life is clearly about you and what you have done for us. Amen.
PALM SUNDAY
Who can tell all the great things he has done?
Who can praise him enough? ~ Psalm 106:2 (NLT)
The next day a large crowd was in Jerusalem for Passover. When they heard that Jesus was coming for the festival, they took palm branches and went out to greet him. They shouted,
“Hooray!
God bless the one who comes
in the name of the Lord!
God bless the King
of Israel!” ~ John 12:12-13 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
Jesus is the Savior King who should be celebrated.
PRAYER:
Hooray for you, Jesus! You are the one who deserves a million parades. You are truly the king. Even though I can't possibly acknowledge all that is about you that is worthy of recognition I can join the parade of blessing. I'm going to parade with you -- even if your procession passes an ugly place. 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)
