reconciliation

Reflect When the time comes for Jacob to return to his homeland, he is understandably nervous about it. After all, he swindled his brother twice and then ran away. His last view of his brother—and the one he has carried with him during the intervening years—is of Esau filled with rage and vowing to kill […]

Reflect Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman must be counted as one of the loveliest recorded in the gospels. Despite centuries of animosity between Jews and Samaritans, Jesus reaches out to the woman with a request: “Give me a drink.” From this most basic of all requests springs a conversation that reveals the torment of […]

Reflect Former President Jimmy Carter has gained a reputation as a mediator, working to resolve conflicts between nations, political ideologies and his own Southern Baptist denomination. His political background, as well as his own character and personality, made it possible for him to convince warring factions to sit down together and work out their differences. […]

Focus Pay attention to the tension in your body. Let go of it and any expectations to do anything, but God’s will today. Prepare yourself to hear God’s word. Read 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10 (NRSV) So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, […]

Focus Let yourself become open to God and the knowledge that comes from the Word. Ask God for peace at this time. Read Genesis 45:1-15 (NRSV) Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him […]

Focus Experience silence in the midst of your busy day. Take some time to relax into a time to be with God. Read 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NRSV) So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled […]

There was a moment during the Friday morning business meeting at General Assembly recently when an all-too-familiar wave of something akin to nausea swept over me. Perhaps you’re familiar with it, too: that gut-cramping, face-flushing moment when you realize you’ve been caught in sin; that moment when you know you’ve done something really bad, and […]

Focus Experience silence in the midst of your busy day. Take some time to relax into a time to be with God. Read Hebrews 10:1-4 (NRSV) Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that […]

Focus Experience silence in the midst of your busy day. Take some time to relax into a time to be with God. Read Ephesians 4:25–5:2 (NRSV) So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do […]

We will have much to be thankful for when Thanksgiving rolls around this year. Not that we don’t have plenty of reasons to be grateful already, but in this, the ugliest election year most of us have ever endured, we have been “blessed” with myriad more reasons than usual. First and foremost, we will be […]