Do not, O Lord, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever.
1 Thessalonians 2:2
… though we had already suffered and been shamefully maltreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition.
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Words of Grace For Today
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There are so many stories one can read or watch, engaging, thrilling, and moving.
Some have something good to say about life. Many are not really worth the time spent taking them in. A few inspire one to embrace the goodness of life that God’s graciously blesses us with.
Paul was not received with grace by everyone wherever he went, spreading the Good News of Jesus. Though he was maltreated at Philippi, it was the congregation to which he wrote with the dearest, most loving and heartfelt joy and thanks. His letter to the Thessalonians comes in a close second.
Whatever challenges come our way, God mercifully loves us and keeps us safe. Often through the most challenging of times God most clearly proves God’s promises of mercy, love and faithfulness can be trusted by us.
Not that we seek out or enjoy the challenges, but all in all we trust that God walks with us, and that God’s faithful people live out that presence with us, as we live it out for others.
For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, ‘Peace, peace’, when there is no peace.
Romans 12:9
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
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Words of Grace For Today
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We’ve all heard again that famous, or infamous, Rant, I am Canadian. With quiet music building to swells of patriotic music Joe states his case:
Hey, I’m not a lumberjack or a fur trader
I don’t live in an igloo or eat blubber or own a dogsled.
and I don’t know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada, although I’m certain that their really, really nice.
Uh
I have a prime minister, not a president.
I speak English and French not American
and I pronounce it about, not aboot.
I can proudly sew my country’s flag on my backpack.
I believe in peacekeeping not in policing.
I believe in diversity, not assimilation.
And I believe the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal.
A toque is a hat.
And a chesterfield is a couch.
And it’s pronounced Zed, not Zee, Zed.
Canada is the second largest landmass
The first nation of hockey
and the best part of North America.
My name is Joe
and I am Canadian.
Reality
Given Trump and his threats and actual tariffs that will do great damage to our economy, one can understand the call to be patriotic.
At the core of our problems, though, we do not find economics or politics, but good old fashion love, faith, and hope, expressed as empathy and care for all people, especially the poor.
So ours is not a rant but a chant backed by any number of great pieces of music, for example “Canticle of the Turning” (ELW 723) by Rory Cooney, to the lively Irish folk tune used as a rugby match song:
Hey, I am not a crusading knight, nor a desert ascetic.
I don’t hold exorcisms, live in Corinth or Bethlehem or Nazareth.
I have a pastor and a bishop, not a coach or a guru.
I speak many native languages, but not Latin or Sanskritic.
I proudly were a cross on a fine chain around my neck.
I believe in peace not in war or violence.
I believe in respecting and welcoming diversity, not excluding strangers or foreigners.
I believe the fish is a wonderful symbol of faith, as is the boat.
I’m not concerned with how people pronounce words, but that we share the radical Word of God.
God’s favour is not won by what we do or say or believe, but is God’s free gift given to us.
We can refuse it and we do, sinners that we are. But God keeps saving us over and over again, making us saints able to do miraculous things for others, especially the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the outcasts, refugees, strangers, and especially children.
Christianity may be worldwide and messed up in many places, sometimes even here at home, but it is the gift of life,
the gift of life abundant for all people.
We may be getting fewer in number, but being a follower of Jesus is the best part of life.
My name is not important because God knows it and everything about me and still loves me. I’m not ashamed of my name, yet it’s not what I’m proud of.
I’m proud that I bear Jesus’ cross and Jesus’ name,
So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.
Revelation 22:17
The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.
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Words of Grace For Today
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In today’s world everything has a cost, everyone can be bought, time is money, money speaks … and on it goes… supposedly!
But in God’s world everything has a cost, except, for what is most precious, the cost is covered
by the Creator, All-powerful, All-knowing, Present-in-all-time, righteous Judge, who loves us so much
that Jesus gave his life that we might receive the most precious of all: Life ( our lives with all the details known, good and bad, past, present, future … all our sins forgiven … life restored to us filled with perseverance, empathy, love, joy, hope, and the purpose that makes life so good: to share all that with others.)
Let the barkers cry all they want for us to buy, buy, buy,
I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.
John 15:13
No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
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Words of Grace For Today
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Jesus puts his life on the line. Puts it all in play.
Not just for his friends,
but for everyone, past, present, future.
Thank God,
or we’d be looking for a way, and impossible way, to get in God’s good graces.
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It’s no fun having insults and abuse tossed at one, physical abuse – hitting- and psychological abuse – lies, manipulations, gaslighting, and more lies – tossed at oneself and around the community, destroying one’s reputation…
except
God’s Truth will out.
God’s Truth will out.
The abusers will be outed, and our salvation will be made clear to all, and all that we have laid down to protect others will be recognized, will save others, will be known to be good.
This is love in action for others, for the children, for the lost, outcast, despised, abused.
But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.
Luke 23:34
Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.’ And they cast lots to divide his clothing.
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Words of Grace For Today
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Any old mean son of a … erm, a gun, can hold a grudge and seek revenge.
Pretty much any person can be that mean, no old or son qualities needed.
But
to forgive.
Now that takes courage, strength, and wisdom beyond normal.
Thankfully (mentioning also it is Thanksgiving weekend) God is not a God of grudges and revenge. Else we’d all be doomed.
Thankfully (it’s that weekend, eh?) God is a God of steadfast love and forgiveness.
We have God’s promise that God will forgive us our sins, all of them, every last one of them, even the really, really evil and ‘unforgivable’ ones.
All we have to do to be forgiven is … well, nothing.
We just get to acknowledge that we are forgiven, and get on living as forgiven people, not perfect people, not evil people, but forgiven people. That’s a humble way to move through life.
Of course,
God also forgives our enemies.
You know, the one’s Karma forgot about, that list that we each keep, those names and events that burn a hole in our pockets, or rather in our hearts, minds, and spirits.
And since God forgives us and them, we get to
– see that, it’s not we have to, it’s we get to, we are privileged to, we are honoured by the Holy Spirit giving us the ability to –
we get to forgive our enemies and all the people who would and have done us harm.
Now that
is quite a way to live,
Quite a marvellous, miraculous, life-energizing, peaceful way to live.
Then he said to me, ‘Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.” Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
1 Corinthians 15:42-44
So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body.
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Words of Grace For Today
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Everyone wants to know what happens after we die.
Just think if one could guarantee that one’s information about what happens to us after death were absolutely true! One could control the hearts and minds of many people with that information.
But dying is what we know.
After that it is wild guessing.
Some call that hope, but it really is still a feeble hope built on wild guessing.
Real hope is
to know that God loves us, promises to forgive and renew us in this life (which we need desperately each day, hour, minute, second), and gives us so many gifts we do not deserve, all so that we are equipped to share life abundant with others,
and knowing that
we can
trust that whatever comes our way in this world,
whatever would zap life-energy from our bones
to lay us low and take life from us
God will respond by reviving us
and renewing our spirits:
God will walk with us,
and help us continue
to help others,
and if we die
to bring us
home.
Hope in that, instead of some wild-guess based description of what happens after death,
so that when we lie on our deathbed, we know from so much experience
Our Lives May Seem Too Precious to Place in Such A Small Boat,
on the Treacherous Waters of Life,
But the Master of the Waters Knows and Protects Us.
Climb In?
Joshua 24:14
‘Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.
Galatians 4:8-9
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods. Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits? How can you want to be enslaved to them again?
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Words of Grace For Today
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Confidence in the economy can push a down slump into something more severe.
And
Everything can be linked back to the economy.
Or so Peter Armstrong reported (quoting others) in his weekly CBC Mind You Business newsletter for 7 October 2024.
Challenged by God’s Word in Christ, let us pray for the church, the world, and the whole creation.
and instead
accept the grace of God demonstrated most visibly in the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, as the measure of our confidence in love and hope, and our linking everything to God’s grace,
letting the economy (and our parts in it) recede into the distance
as matters
that can even concern our confidence or non-confidence?
Although our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name’s sake; our apostasies indeed are many, and we have sinned against you.
Matthew 6:14
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;
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Words of Grace For Today
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Sin is a hard thing to live beyond.
It has a way of haunting us,
even when we do not know it,
creeping into our fears, our nightmares, our reactions to stress, our hopes,
eating at us
like locust eat a landscaped dead, one bite at a time
times millions
like the number of our small sins.
How do we find freedom from these living, consuming, deadly haunts in our minds and souls?
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God knew we’d need help,
so God sent Jesus, to free us with his sacrifice, so dramatic, less we miss out what God does for us,
and each day God promises to forgive us,
no strings attached!
God asks (non-binding is the request, but it completes our freedom) to forgive others as well.
Not doing so is another sin,
which eats at us again.
Are there really any circumstances – consequences of another’s sin – that cannot be forgiven?
Very definitely, and yet God forgives us for all of them, and asks us (non-binding is the request, but it completes our freedom) to forgive others these atrocities as well.
Even Our Grandest Views of God’s Beautiful Creation,
Pale Compared to
God’s Love
Made Visible in Us Loving Each Other,
Even Our Enemies.
Isaiah 40:15
Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as dust on the scales; see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.
Romans 3:29
Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
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Words of Grace For Today
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The muck we get ourselves into is most often rooted in our forgetting or rather refusing to remember
that God is Almighty, Omniscient, Onmipresent, and all the other Everythings that God is, Divine, Immortal, All Loving ….
and we think we can get by without God
all on our own.
Thankfully God planned for that
and waits for us to repent, and turn back to God, ask forgiveness (which is already promised and given) and be renewed with the power of the gifts given to us in our baptisms,
even today
no matter what you did yesterday or before.
For God waits
as long as it takes,
for each and every one of us to humbly ask God for forgiveness,
so that we can all be renewed in God’s great, generous, gracious love
