YOUR EYES

PSALM 119:37 (MSG)
Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets,
invigorate me on the pilgrim way.

LUKE 11:34 (MSG)
Your eye is a lamp, lighting up your whole body. If you live wide-eyed in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a musty cellar.

SUMMARY SENTENCE
Where you focus your eyes affects the kind of person you become.  

DAILY FODDER
How does one shift from focusing on the cheap and meaningless to the things that matter? How do we come to recognize what matters and is worthy of attention?

PRAYER
Light of the world, thank you for giving me eyes to see love's light. I know that in looking at the vanities of this world there is darkness. Sometimes I can hardly turn away. Enlighten me in mind, body, and soul. Keep me focused on your light. I pray that it will shine through all that I do. Amen. (Daily Texts, Ground Up Grace edition)

THE LORD’S PRAYER (ABP)
Our Father in Heaven,
     we hold your name in the highest regard.
Please come and establish your reign here on earth
     so that everything that happens here will align
     with what is happening in heaven.

Give us enough food for today.

Forgive us our wrongdoing,
     and we’ll forgive those who have wronged us.
Shield us from the trials and temptations that come our way.
Lastly, we pray that you will protect us from all forms of evil. Amen.

EXTREME LOVE

The First Sunday after Epiphany

PROVERBS 10:12 (CEV)
Hatred stirs up trouble;
   love overlooks the wrongs
   that others do.

1 JOHN 4:10-11 (MSG)
   This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

   My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other

SUMMARY SENTENCE
Join God in turning the world upside down through radical love.  

DAILY FODDER
How can we experience extreme divine love?

PRAYER
God, your perfect love is beyond my comprehension. Forgive me for thinking that I have to fully grasp it in order to experience and share it. Keep me focused on Jesus, the most tangible expression of your love. I want to enter into your love through him. Amen.  

THE LORD’S PRAYER (ABP)
Our Father in Heaven,
     we hold your name in the highest regard.
Please come and establish your reign here on earth
     so that everything that happens here will align
     with what is happening in heaven.

Give us enough food for today.

Forgive us our wrongdoing,
     and we’ll forgive those who have wronged us.
Shield us from the trials and temptations that come our way.
Lastly, we pray that you will protect us from all forms of evil. Amen.

GOD'S PEACE

EZEKIEL 37:26 (MSG)
I’ll make a covenant of peace with them that will hold everything together, an everlasting covenant.

REVELATION 1:4 (CEB)
Grace and peace to you from the one who is and was and is coming,

SUMMARY SENTENCE
God shares his peace. 

DAILY FODDER
The internal peace within the Holy Trinity must be incredible.

PRAYER
God of peace, thank you for sending the Prince of Peace to invade our chaotic world. I get caught up in the unrest and stress of it all. Calm me down and help me to lean into your peace so I can be a calming influence. I want to be an unanxious presence in the world. Amen. 

THE LORD’S PRAYER (ABP)
Our Father in Heaven,
     we hold your name in the highest regard.
Please come and establish your reign here on earth
     so that everything that happens here will align
     with what is happening in heaven.

Give us enough food for today.

Forgive us our wrongdoing,
     and we’ll forgive those who have wronged us.
Shield us from the trials and temptations that come our way.
Lastly, we pray that you will protect us from all forms of evil. Amen.

THE NEW COMMANDMENT

DEUTERONOMY 5:29 (MSG)
What I wouldn’t give if they’d always feel this way, continuing to revere me and always keep all my commands; they’d have a good life forever, they and their children!

JOHN 13:34-35 (MSG)
Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.

SUMMARY SENTENCE
Jesus' new old command: love one another.

DAILY FODDER
Why does Jesus feel the need to command people to love one another? How would his first listners have undersood this directive? What is "new" about the command?

PRAYER
Loving God, thank you for sharing your love with people—even hard to love people—including me. Forgive me for my hohum response. It's not that I don't love you or the people around me but I can be pretty self-absorbed. Help me to get outside myself so that I become a mighty flowing river of love. I understand that this is possible, not just because you command it, but because you love us. Amen

THE LORD’S PRAYER (ABP)
Our Father in Heaven,
     we hold your name in the highest regard.
Please come and establish your reign here on earth
     so that everything that happens here will align
     with what is happening in heaven.

Give us enough food for today.

Forgive us our wrongdoing,
     and we’ll forgive those who have wronged us.
Shield us from the trials and temptations that come our way.
Lastly, we pray that you will protect us from all forms of evil. Amen.