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| We are steeped in news stories of sickness, injustice, vulnerability and loss. These daily prayers and Scripture readings are an antidote infusing us with the Spirit that heals and refreshes, reminding us we are in this together, called to action, connected to God, the Source of Life.
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| | Sunday, Fifth Week of Easter
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| The Consequence of Injustice (Jeremiah 21:8-14, NRSV)
The Home Daily Bible Readings for Monday through Saturday are selected in support of the print passage for Sunday’s lesson in the Uniform Lessons Series, ©Spring 2020.
21:8 And to this people you shall say: Thus says the Lord: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 Those who stay in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but those who go out and surrender to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have their lives as a prize of war. 10 For I have set my face against this city for evil and not for good, says the Lord: it shall be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.
11 To the house of the king of Judah say: Hear the word of the Lord, 12 O house of David! Thus says the Lord:
Execute justice in the morning,
and deliver from the hand of the oppressor
anyone who has been robbed,
or else my wrath will go forth like fire,
and burn, with no one to quench it,
because of your evil doings.
13 See, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley,
O rock of the plain,
says the Lord;
you who say, “Who can come down against us,
or who can enter our places of refuge?”
14 I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings,
says the Lord;
I will kindle a fire in its forest,
and it shall devour all that is around it.
A Lesson On Greed (Luke 12:13-21, NRSV)
Today’s Gospel lesson is selected from the Book of Common Worship: Daily Prayer (Louisville, KY:Westminster/John Knox, 1993).
12 13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” 16 Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
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| | We Pray Now
By Jim Winkler, President and General Secretary, National Council of Churches
We pray for our elected officials–that they would place the needs of those who have fallen ill at the center of their concern and that they would prioritize the health and well-being of their people over their own political status and advantage.
We pray for our elected leaders that they might not themselves fall ill and awaken in them the stamina and the wisdom and the compassion needed to deal with this crisis.
We pray our elected officials will not use this pandemic to extend their own power and punish their perceived enemies.
We pray our elected officials will know justice and mercy and show it to the people for which they are responsible.
We pray our elected officials will exhibit humility and not blame others for this pandemic.
We pray our elected officials will rise to this critical occasion, forego war and strife, and seek unity for the sake of the whole world and that this Kairos moment might generate the momentum required to fight all diseases and climate change and poverty.
We pray our elected officials will commit to fighting the giant triplets of materialism, militarism, and racism.
We pray that our elected leaders will help to lead us into a post-coronavirus world that will be free of want, free of war, and free of fear. Under their leadership, may the people know lasting peace and good health.
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| 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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