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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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| | Tuesday, Sixth Week of Easter
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| God Requires Godly Rule (Deuteronomy 17:18-20, 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.
17:18 When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law written for him in the presence of the levitical priests. 19 It shall remain with him and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 neither exalting himself above other members of the community nor turning aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he and his descendants may reign long over his kingdom in Israel.
The Parable of the Sower Explained (Matthew 13:18-23, NRSV)
Today’s Gospel lesson is selected from the Book of Common Worship: Daily Prayer (Louisville, KY:Westminster/John Knox, 1993).
13:18 “Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
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| | May It Be So
By Nancy Hastings Sehested, a founder of the Alliance of Baptists, serving as co-pastor of Circle of Mercy, Asheville, N.C.
May our first responder, God,
be the merciful presence in the midst of absence.
May we breathe freely in body and spirit,
and shelter in the place of God’s grace and love.
May our eyes stay opened to seeing
we are one body created to cherish each other and this one earth home.
May we walk on in courage,
following the risen Christ,
leaning into the wild wonder
that something holy and extraordinary
can still happen in us, between us and all around us in this hurting and hoping world.
May it be so.
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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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