The 3rd Sunday after Pentecost
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to the Most High.
It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning,
your faithfulness in the evening...
~ Psalm 92:1-2 (NLT)
God is the one who makes us patient and cheerful. I pray that he will help you live at peace with each other, as you follow Christ. Then all of you together will praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ~ Romans 15:5-6 (CEV)
SUMMARY SENTENCE Praise the Lord together, for he is the reason we are together.
PRAYER Most High God, your love never fails. It bubbles over until it saturates our lives and we start to love, too. Help me to enjoy my place off the stage singing your praises with all the others. I want to keep the focus on you. Amen.
Everything the Lord does
is glorious and majestic,
and his power to bring justice
will never end. ~ Psalm 111:3 (CEV)
So everyone who worships the Lord must turn away from evil. ~ 2 Timothy 2:19b (CEV)
SUMMARY SENTENCE Evil actions are inconsistent with worshiping a righteous and just God.
PRAYER Thank you, God, for sending Christ into the world to establish a just and righteous regime. In spite of my rhetoric about all that he has done, I've been slow to fully embrace his approach to justice and rigtheousness. I think it's because I'm envisioning it all as a distant and future reality. Stir within me now a passion for your agenda. I'm going to worship you with integrity. Amen.
I will instruct you and teach you
about the direction you should go.
I’ll advise you and keep my eye on you. ~ Psalm 32:8 (CEB)
Don’t be stupid. Instead, find out what the Lord wants you to do. ~ Ephesians 5:17 (CEV)
SUMMARY SENTENCE
Smart people listen to what the Lord is saying.
PRAYER
Lord God, thank you for your instruction. I admit, though, that I often think I'm smarter than I am -- and I am inclined to create my own solutions to the problems I encounter. Keep reminding me of your instructions -- especially as they've been given to us through scripture. I'm going to pay attention to your direction. Amen.
Noah did everything the Lord told him to do. ~ Genesis 6:22 (CEV)
Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see. ~ Hebrews 11:1 (CEV)
SUMMARY SENTENCE Faith is what enables us to take calculated risks.
PRAYER Lord, thank you for the adventure which is my life. I am in a bit of a rut, though. I'm so comfortable with my routine now that even if you told me to go build an ark it would fall on deaf ears. Don't give up on me. I want to hear and obey. 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)
