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A Different Pew, A Deeper Faith
Photograph by Daniel Gomez / Unsplash I am sitting in a back pew of my new Read More
Nadiyka Gerbish (Ukraine) | Read 2 Timothy 1:1-7
I so love the passion in Paul’s letters: the honesty, the vulnerability, the anger at times, the longing. I am always intensely moved by reading the lines in which one seasoned man is writing to another—younger but already well-experienced—about his tears. Paul envisions how satisfied he will be to see...
Dear God, thank you for caring for us, for noticing our tears and fears, and for filling us with your peace. As your Holy Spirit urges us to keep going, help us always to trust you and your love for us. Amen.
Lamentations opens with a description of the plight of the people of Judah, the southern kingdom. The people have been taken into exile as part of God’s judgment for their idolatry. The psalmist struggles to sing the songs of the Lord. In fact, those who overthrew Jerusalem have forced them to sing for their amusement, so the joy is gone. The psalmist prays that one day God will repay the invaders. In Second Timothy, Paul praises God for Timothy’s faith and for the legacy of faith that comes through his family. He charges him to preach boldly and without hesitation the gospel of Christ. In the Gospel reading, Jesus challenges the disciples to show greater faith and to understand that we are all servants in God’s kingdom.
• Read Lamentations 1:1-6 and 3:19-26. Where do you find hope in the midst of pain and suffering?
• Read Psalm 137. How do you remember your spiritual traditions and sacred places? How do you look for God’s work in new and challenging circumstances?
• Read 2 Timothy 1:1-14. What spiritual practices help you to “guard the good treasure entrusted to you”?
• Read Luke 17:5-10. How might a posture of cyclical servanthood to and with all creation transform or increase your faith?
Respond by posting a prayer.
