Luke 12:32-34 Prayer for the day: Generous Lord! We are often preoccupied with worldly things. Teach us to trust that you will provide not only for our human concerns but also those concerns of the soul. Question for reflection: Where do you have excess in your life? Where can you purge excess to make room
prayer
Building obstacles to God
Luke 12:13-21 Prayer for the day: Help me to place my trust in you, God of Life. Amen Question for reflection: In our quest for security, we falsely believe that the things of this world will ease our anxiety and keep us safe. We accumulate more and more things, only to find that what we
Justice before worship
Amos 5:21-24 Prayer for the day: Make me thirst for justice, Loving God. Amen Question for reflection: Amos and other Old Testament prophets waste no words in letting us know God wants more than our empty words and self-serving actions. “If you really want to live, you must stop doing wrong and start doing right.
Do you love me?
John 21 Prayer for the day: Give me faith, Inviting God, to follow you. Amen Question for reflection: If you were in the boat with the disciples, after a long night of fishing without catching a single fish, and Jesus told you to cast your net on the other side of the boat, would you
These hands are holy hands
Mark 2:23-3:6 Prayer for the day: Give me strength, Holy God, to do what is right. Amen Question for reflection: As we read in these two stories, the Pharisees were intent on catching Jesus in the act of doing something they considered wrong. They remind me of an old-fashioned private eye lurking in the shadows
Holy worship
Luke 4:5-8 Prayer for the day: Almighty God, People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered. Help me to love them anyway. If I do good, people may accuse me of selfish motives. May I do good anyway. If I am successful, I may win false friends and true enemies. May I succeed anyway. The good I
Bread that gives life
John 6:52-59 Prayer for the day: Listening God, Help me to rise to the challenge of following you. May my commitment to you grow like leavened bread rising on a warm day. Question for reflection: What are areas in your own community that could use leavening? ~ Katie Cummings, National Youth Conference Coordinator Congregational
Following Jesus
Matthew 4:12-22 Prayer for the day: God who Journeys with us, Help me to not become absorbed in the unquenchable desire for quantity over quality when it comes to serving and following you. I am enough. My desire to follow you is enough. Search my heart and help me to seek the Kingdom Life. Question
Compassionate worship
Luke 13: 10-17 Prayer for the day: God, May I not become so consumed in the routine of “worship” that I do not see those struggling before my eyes. Stir my heart to act in the ways of compassion that each moment of my day will be lifted up as worship to you. Question for
Creating holy space
Colossians 3:12-17 Prayer for the day: Benevolent God, You need no invitation to be present in our lives. May we be receptive to your ever present spirit working among us. Question for reflection: Reflect on the ways that you see God moving in your midst within your own congregation. ~ Katie Cummings, National Youth