The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
The Lord said: I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. ~ Hosea 6:6 (NLT)
Now faith, hope, and love remain—these three things—and the greatest of these is love. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:13 (CEB)
KEY IDEA:
God's first priority is love.
PRAYER:
God, you are love and love is the action you stress above everything else. Yet I am like most people and I prioritize the things which make me look like a good Christian. And sometimes all that religious activity drains my energy so that I have little left to spend on loving people. Show me how to navigate this problem. Help me to become your person, driven by your kind of love. I am going to make love my top priority. Amen.
Just as water fills the sea,
the land will be filled
with people
who know
and honor the Lord. ~ Isaiah 11:9b (CEV)
God himself was pleased
to live fully in his Son.
And God was pleased
for him to make peace
by sacrificing his blood
on the cross,
so that all beings in heaven
and on earth
would be brought back to God. ~ Colossians 1:19-20 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
The future God is making looks inviting.
PRAYER:
God, you are busy remaking creation -- restoring peace, reconciling humanity to yourself... It all looks bright and wonderful. Help me to live in light of the future and to not get so discouraged by the problems of the present. When I let things get to me I'm not trusting you. But I am going to look at things in light of your promised future. Amen.
God, I am not going to stop living the way that you have taught me, even if that means living in danger of being killed. ~ Psalm 119:109 (ABP)
Paul wrote: So, when you accepted the message, you followed our example and the example of the Lord. You suffered, but the Holy Spirit made you glad. ~ 1 Thessalonians 1:6 (CEV)
KEY IDEA:
Stick with God and his message even if that leads to trouble for you.
PRAYER:
Lord God, you stick with us. You haven`t left us nor forgotten about us. Yet we, and I in particular, am busy making things up as I go. Sometimes it is consistent with your message and at other times I am way off. Keep guiding me so I can be close to you even when the rest of the world is uneasy with you. Amen.
God doesn’t lose his temper.
He’s powerful, but it’s a patient power.
Still, no one gets by with anything. ~ Nahum 1:3 (MSG)
Interpret our Master’s patient restraint for what it is: salvation. ~ 2 Peter 3:15a (MSG)
KEY IDEA:
God is patient with us.
PRAYER:
Lord God, I am grateful for your patience with me. Often I feel that the world is trying to push and rush me. Yet, you confidently wait. Given your patience, I would hope that it would rub off on me and that I would become more patient with others. Yet, that is not the case. Fill me with your patience so that I can help others experience it, too. 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)
