Good Morning Washed White As Snow Community of Believers! We ARE! PTL! Cannot have community without the unity. Amen! God is One--Three in One--the perfect community. He models that for us. Help us Lord to invite, unite, take flight as your community gathered and sent to love like You united in You and on mission of love. Thanks! Amen!
I didn't realize was the MLK holidy until night. Martin was all about uniting in love. We are all part of a world-wide community. He called for us to be one as God is One and to unite in love where all are equal. We are, after all, equal in Gid's eyes and all made in His image. May we choose to become one again in Christ. May He bring revival to this nation and unite us in love. May He tear down the walls for separation and hostility and unite us in Christ. May revival come as we unite in Love! Pray for it and work for it. We believers are called to become a House of Prayer for the Nations. That is a goal of our church as well. We need unity to become that kind of loving, accepting community. That starts with loving God with all our being and then loving neighbors as we love ourselves. It's choosing to sacrificially, dying to self, agape love like Jesus--even enemies. That's a command right from our Shepherd's mouth. Let us work at that this year. Be Jesus, love like Him and unite in Love that overflows all around us. Amen!
Spend some time praying and meditating through our devotionals as you still yourself and abide in Love. He loves you and calls you by name to go love like Him and He forgives our failures and helps us to repent and love better as we are created to do in Christ. Help us Lord! We have a dream--a dream of being one in Love and living and loving more like Jesus. HELP! Amen!
ODB
From Every Nation
God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. Acts 10:34-35
London is a cosmopolitan city, with people from many nations living side by side. This coming together of people from around the world can bring richness—including amazing food—but also challenges. For instance, I was saddened that friends from one European country felt they were the least respected in London because their country had been admitted to the European Union more recently. They felt overlooked, blamed for problems, and resented for the jobs they secured.
Since God doesn’t show favoritism, neither should we. He breaks down barriers between people. We see His Spirit at work in Peter’s vision while praying on the rooftop, and how Peter was called to minister to Cornelius, a God-fearing gentile. God helped Peter evaluate the Jewish regulations about not associating with gentiles. The apostle listened and went to Cornelius’ home to share the good news of Jesus. He said, “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right” (Acts 10:34-35).
Those who follow Jesus are called to love and serve all those who are made in the image of Christ. Part of that mission is to not to show favoritism for people from certain nations or with particular skin colors. May we learn to seek justice and to defend the oppressed as God guides us (Isaiah 1:17).
By Amy Boucher Pye
REFLECT & PRAY
Why do you think God breaks down barriers between people of different nations? How could you speak out for the oppressed?
Dear God, please help me make a difference for You in my community.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
In Acts 10, Peter’s response to God’s command contrasts with that of the prophet Jonah. God commanded both the wayward prophet and Peter to take His words to non-Jewish people. Jonah fled by way of Joppa so that he didn’t have to obey (Jonah 1:3), but Peter, while in Joppa, listened and headed straight to Cornelius (Acts 10:23-24). Jonah responded to God’s outpouring of compassion with anger (Jonah 4:1), but Peter allowed his heart and mind to change in light of God’s acceptance of the outsider (Acts 10:34, 44-48). Believers in Jesus are called to love everyone without favoritism, for we’re all made in the image of God.
Jed Ostoich
UR: Belovd Community
In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. - Galatians 3:26 (NRSVUE)
In 1955, when I was 11, my mom and I spent the fall in Louisville, Kentucky, at the home of Dr. Abbie Clement Jackson, my “adoptive” grandmother. Her neighborhood, my Boy Scout troop, my church, and my school were African American. When the Louisville school district wanted to bus me 20 minutes away to a white school, Grandma Abbie and Mom convinced the superintendent that I would be more comfortable remaining at the school where I had friends.
One morning, Grandma Abbie asked me to greet her escort who would be walking her to the African Methodist Episcopal church conference where she was the keynote speaker. Her escort was the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
That afternoon, Dr. King and his parents came back to the house for tea and conversation. At one point, Dr. King asked me, “What is it like being the only white boy in an all Negro school?” I thought for a moment about my community and said, “It’s normal.”
The Beloved Community Dr. King spoke of begins when we feel comfortable in our skin while respecting the person next to us. When we look into one another’s eyes and see a child of God, we find community.
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's Prayer
Gracious God, may your love for us manifest itself in our love for others. Amen.
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