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| | During this time in which the whole world is dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, we are posting Daily Bible Readings from the International Bible Lessons for Christian Teaching, Spring 2020, plus a meditation to help guide your prayers, for your inspiration and encouragement.
Do you know someone that would benefit from these emails? Please forward this link to friends, family, and your church. |
| | | God’s Blessings and Delights Await
7 Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, “How shall we return?”
8 Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, “How are we robbing you?” In your tithes and offerings! 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. 11 I will rebuke the locust for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. 12 Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.
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| | Bless the Space Between Us
A Shared Community of Christ Prayer from President Stephen M. Veazey
Eternal God of abiding love, everlasting source of hope and peace, we prayerfully come to you in faith and humility, trusting in your compassionate concern for us and all creation.
During this time of mounting sickness and fear, when we have been asked to distance ourselves from others for the good of all, we humbly ask that you “bless the space between us” (John O’Donohue).
Give us assurance that physical space does not diminish the bonds of love and commitment that spiritually bind us together as families, friends, and as community in Christ.
Daily may we gain comfort and strength in the faithful witness of scripture, that nothing—not illness, distress, or even death—can separate us from your love and eternal purposes as revealed in Jesus Christ.
Grant to those who find themselves more isolated or alone a durable sense of their worth and place in your household, O God, a spiritual household of divine hospitality that knows no quarantines or borders. May we, as disciples and ministers of the gospel, find innovative ways to make that truth evident when more familiar forms of ministry are not available to us.
In times of personal angst for our own health and security, may we, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, hear your anointing words of blessing and feel your healing touch. May such experiences fill our souls with peace and hope.
And let us not forget those for whom concerns for health and safety are everyday realities made even more acute and burdensome now. May we continue to find ways to join with you in tending the needs of the “least of these” in our congregations, villages, cities, and nations.
O God of all people, places, and situations, we trust that there is no time or condition in which you are not already present. With that in mind, we pray that these times and circumstances, as daunting as they are, will serve to bring out the best in us as individuals, families, nations, and as a church.
We look to you, Eternal One, to be our hope and redeemer. May the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.
In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
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| NCC NOW is a periodic, timely email with brief updates and news from the National Council of Churches.
Serving as a leading voice of witness to the living Christ in the public square since 1950, the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCC) brings together 38 member communions and more than 40 million Christians in a common expression of God's love and promise of unity. |
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