Tag: Worship

Sunday Reading: 1 Corinthians 13.4-7, 11-13 – love

Reading: 1 Corinthians 13.4-7, 11-13

christ-on-cross 2Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance….

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

Three things will last forever — faith, hope, and love — and the greatest of these is love.

Prayer: Heavenly Father – Sometimes my life is confusing… I think I know what I know, and then I’m not so sure. The world of my childhood no longer exists and my values and life principles are being challenged on every front. Thank you for your steady hand guiding this world to its ultimate end – when “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” Lord Jesus – Thank you for showing me what love truly is by laying down your life for me even though I was far away from you. Holy Spirit – Help me live a life of love… putting others first, letting go of wrongs, upholding truth, optimistic and faithful. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Hymn: “Love Divine All Loves Excelling” – Charles Wesley (1747)

Morning Reading: Luke 7:36-50 NLT – much love

Reading: Luke 7:36-50 NLT

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

image
“Woman your sins are forgiven.”
Photo by Peter Jenkins

“That’s right,” Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”

And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Prayer: Lord Jesus – Thank you for loving us without reservation or conditions… no matter who we are, or what we have done. Thank you for your forgiveness purchased at great price on the Cross. Fill us with a spirit of boundless love and gratitude to live as people who have been forgiven and set free. Amen.

Spiritual Song: “Silent No More” (YouTube)

Morning Reading: Luke 7.24-35 NLT – living proof

Reading: Luke 7.24-35 NLT

After John’s disciples left, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. “What kind of man did you go into the wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind? Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? No, people who wear beautiful clothes and live in luxury are found in palaces. Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet. John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say,

Chrisitian orthodox priests baptize a pilgrim in the waters of the Jordan River
Chrisitian orthodox priests baptize a pilgrim in the waters of the Jordan River

‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way before you.’

I tell you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of God is greater than he is!”

When they heard this, all the people — even the tax collectors — agreed that God’s way was right, for they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and experts in religious law rejected God’s plan for them, for they had refused John’s baptism.

“To what can I compare the people of this generation?” Jesus asked. “How can I describe them? They are like children playing a game in the public square. They complain to their friends,

‘We played wedding songs, and you didn’t dance, so we played funeral songs, and you didn’t weep.’

For John the Baptist didn’t spend his time eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’ The Son of Man, on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ But wisdom is shown to be right by the lives of those who follow it.”

Baptismal Declarations:

    • I renounce Satan and turn away from all his evil works and empty promises.
    • I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins and welcome him as my Savior and Lord.
    • I put my whole trust in his grace and love and – with God’s help – will be his faithful follower.

Prayer: Grant, O Lord, that all who are baptized into the death of Jesus Christ your Son may live in the power of his resurrection and look for him to come again in glory; who lives and reigns now and for ever. Amen.

Spiritual Song: “Creed” – Third Day

Morning Reading: Luke 7.18-23 NLT – power proofs

Reading: Luke 7.18-23 NLT

The disciples of John the Baptist told John about everything Jesus was doing. So John called for two of his disciples, and he sent them to the Lord to ask him, “Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?”

Jesus_healing_blindJohn’s two disciples found Jesus and said to him, “John the Baptist sent us to ask, ‘Are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else?’”

At that very time, Jesus cured many people of their diseases, illnesses, and evil spirits, and he restored sight to many who were blind. Then he told John’s disciples, “Go back to John and tell him what you have seen and heard—the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. And tell him, ‘God blesses those who do not turn away because of me.’”

Prayer: “Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.” Move among us, Lord Jesus, with mercy and healing graces today. Amen.

Hymn: “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” – Robert Robinson (1758)

Morning Reading: Luke 7.11-17 ESV – compassion… arise

Reading: Luke 7:11-17 ESV

Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him.

widow nain
“The Resurrection of the Widow’s Son at Nain”
(circa 1894) by James Tissot – closeup

As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.

And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”  Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”  And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!”

And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

Prayer: God of Compassion – visit us with Your healing touch. Have mercy on the sick and dying, the widow and orphan, and the least among us. Lord Jesus – You have broken our bondage to sin and death, loose us and set us free. Holy Spirit – Move with power among us that all might know “God has visited his people!” Amen.

Spiritual Song: “Kindness” – Chris Tomlin (YouTube)