Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Today’s meal is going to make some of us uneasy because it will make you look deep within yourself to see if you are lying to yourself about who you are. It all starts with prayer.
Today’s Prayer
Father, on behalf of my brothers and sisters in Christ everywhere I come to ask that You would help us to understand that You have a plan for our lives, even beyond our farthest dreams. You want us to trust You and to be obedient, to seek Your will first, and then to use our creativity and intelligence to carry it out. Help us not to run ahead of You, deciding on our own what is the best action to take without ever seeking Your advice. When we realize that we are to be partners, then we understand that the opportunities You provide us will lead to the greatest fulfillment for our lives. Let us accept joyfully whatever You give us to do, no matter how small. Let our daily actions be Your gospel. In Jesus’ name I pray and give thanks, Amen.
Let’s eat.
Living in the Truth and the Light
1 John 1-10
We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. Living in the Light. This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
Quote of the Day
I believe that God both wills and is able to bring good out of everything, even the worst. For this He needs people who are prepared to allow everything to be served for the best. I believe that in every crisis God wants to provide us with as much power of resistance as we need. But God never gives it in advance so that we will entrust ourselves. I believe that even our mistakes and wrongdoing are not fruitless and that it is no more difficult for God to cope with them than with our presumed good deeds. I believe that God is no “timeless fate” but, rather, that he waits upon and responds to our sincere prayer and responsible deeds. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer~