The items on the menu for this week's Bread for Your Journey include 3 stories in chronological order, each followed by some words of prayer. The first takes place in Phoenicia, some 8 centuries before the next story, which happens in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus. The third story is current, as in it took place yesterday, Nov. 5, 2009.
1st Selection: She put it all on the line (I Kings 17:8-16)
Dramatic presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnq0fOQ1A2Q (It gives you a pretty authentic taste of life in ancient times... if you can overlook the Elizabethan English in the middle section!)
Or you can just plain read the story: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=I%20Kings%2017:8--16&version=MSG)
Living God, thank you for your people of ancient times who can be our heroes now… those who inspire us with faith-filled choices, even when their circumstances are desperate. Thank you God, for this woman of faith whose name was not remembered but whose bold actions now fill our souls. She put her whole self in, God, into that cake of bread prepared for a stranger. Teach us now, to put our whole selves into serving you... and all the strangers we encounter… who are not at all strangers to you. In your name we pray… amen.
Second Selection: Jesus points out the hero (Mark 12:38-44)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2012:38-44&version=NCV
Lord Jesus, our counter-cultural teacher, you amaze us again and again with your ability to see what’s important. When everyone else was ooing and ahing at those chicly dressed and those dumping loads of cash into the plate, you saw the real hero in the room: the almost invisible one, the one loaded with trust. As we struggle with our choices, as we wander and wonder, fill us with faith like that! And use our simple gifts, like you used this woman’s coins, to inspire others who are wandering. In your name we pray… amen.
3rd Selection: Unlikely heroes put their whole selves in
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33652287#33652287
Holy Spirit blowing around our world, you are there before the news stories break. You are there whispering and shoving, urging us to do the right thing. And sometimes we listen. Sometimes we feel the shove and we jump in. For those people we just saw jumping into the fray to save the man in trouble, we give you thanks. We pray that you will continue to walk with them throughout their imprisoned days, that they might come to know you ever more fully... and that we might do so, too. In your name we pray… amen.
1st Selection: She put it all on the line (I Kings 17:8-16)
Dramatic presentation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnq0fOQ1A2Q (It gives you a pretty authentic taste of life in ancient times... if you can overlook the Elizabethan English in the middle section!)
Or you can just plain read the story: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=I%20Kings%2017:8--16&version=MSG)
Living God, thank you for your people of ancient times who can be our heroes now… those who inspire us with faith-filled choices, even when their circumstances are desperate. Thank you God, for this woman of faith whose name was not remembered but whose bold actions now fill our souls. She put her whole self in, God, into that cake of bread prepared for a stranger. Teach us now, to put our whole selves into serving you... and all the strangers we encounter… who are not at all strangers to you. In your name we pray… amen.
Second Selection: Jesus points out the hero (Mark 12:38-44)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2012:38-44&version=NCV
Lord Jesus, our counter-cultural teacher, you amaze us again and again with your ability to see what’s important. When everyone else was ooing and ahing at those chicly dressed and those dumping loads of cash into the plate, you saw the real hero in the room: the almost invisible one, the one loaded with trust. As we struggle with our choices, as we wander and wonder, fill us with faith like that! And use our simple gifts, like you used this woman’s coins, to inspire others who are wandering. In your name we pray… amen.
3rd Selection: Unlikely heroes put their whole selves in
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33652287#33652287
Holy Spirit blowing around our world, you are there before the news stories break. You are there whispering and shoving, urging us to do the right thing. And sometimes we listen. Sometimes we feel the shove and we jump in. For those people we just saw jumping into the fray to save the man in trouble, we give you thanks. We pray that you will continue to walk with them throughout their imprisoned days, that they might come to know you ever more fully... and that we might do so, too. In your name we pray… amen.
Wow what a great series of reflections... the first video in particular was a really moving portrayal of that Bible story... it completely puts a face to all of those who are suffering but are still trusting that things will get better during our own troubled times.
ReplyDeleteThe last video really struck me as well, but for a very different reason. It really downplayed how heroic those inmates actually were... the deputy at the end says "somewhere in their hearts there must be some goodness." I think it would have been a lot more appropriate to characterize their previous acts as evil instead of characterizing the inmates themselves as "evil with a little good in them."