Posts with the tag “weekly-collect-devotional”

This little nugget of a prayer reminds us that the God who made us knows when we need comfort. Just like the disciples, we are often left gaping mouthed at circumstances, “How can this possibly work out, Lord? How can this be good or end well or bring you glory?” In God’s kindness, he assured the disciples that they wouldn’t be without a Helper. They would “receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you” (Acts 1:8) and be witnesses to neighbors close by and far off.   Read More

This week we are praying for God to grant us the knowledge that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. We worship and fellowship together so that we may believe and know together.  Read More

Jesus is not a deity who makes impossible demands of his people from on high, distant and removed from the realities of worry and hardship. He is the Good Shepherd. I don’t know a ton about shepherds, but I do know that their job requires them to be with their sheep—walking the same terrain, battling the same elements, fending off the same enemies. The day-to-day life of the shepherd is intimately tied to that of the sheep. Indeed, the sheep cannot follow the shepherd if the shepherd doesn’t go there first! To me, that is a beautiful image of guidance and leadership that we get from Jesus’s role as our Good Shepherd.   Read More

As I read the Collect this week, I noticed our petition, “give us grace thankfully to receive his inestimable benefits” and realized that in the Easter season we enjoy that His celebrating heart and enduring joy do not run out like mine. His benefits cannot be contained even inside the biggest party– even if the whole world was one resounding ALLELUIA, His benefits would surpass it! So, we ask for grace to receive the benefits– to be filled up by His glory and beauty and steadfastness and grace and joy! And for what? We are filled up with His benefits so that we can “daily follow His footsteps.”  Read More

I want to be a person who has the soul training to give thanks in the face of hardship; because giving thanks to God in this way is an act of defiance against the narrative that death wins. It is refusing to be won over by the lie that grief, pain, and wrongness get to define our story because we know that Jesus is risen. We are not “uninformed about those who sleep in death” and therefore “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14).  Read More