James 5:16 God hears our prayers!

 1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.

What father when his child asks him for food gives him a stone? our Heavenly Father cares for us just like He does with the beautiful natural abundance that He provided for us to live in. God provides rain for both the just and the unjust because He loves the world that He created. He is quick to forgive us our sins when we bring them to Him. He cares for us! Shouldn’t we do the same for others? Carla

James 5:16

Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.  (NKJV)

This confession is not necessarily between the sick person and the elders, though this is not ruled out altogether. Instead, this exhortation is intended for the sick person and any person with whom the sick one needs to be reconciled. 

Effective, fervent prayer … much: This can mean either that (1) prayer is effective when it is used or (2) fervent prayer accomplishes great results. The illustration of Elijah may favor the latter meaning, for he prayed earnestly. The NKJV Study Bible

After offering his thoughts on practicing the virtues of wisdom (3:13–5:6), James turns to instructions about how to endure suffering, develop a reliance on God, and work with another. Faithlife Study Bible

Hebrews 12:13

and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

John 9:31

Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. 

Matthew 3:6

and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

Acts 19:18

And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. 

Today, I am glad for any reminder that “It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.” (Irish Proverb).

Today, in a world where cruelty is unmistakable, I am glad for any reminder of the capacity to be fully human, tender, vulnerable, and kindhearted.

Today, I am glad for any reminder that the human world of helping is larger than our fear, or anxiety, or our ego.

And no, this is not easy to do in a world that does not honor slowing down, or making (honoring) space for healing and restoration.

To do justice. To love mercy. To walk humbly with our God.

To bring peace to the old. To have trust in our friends. To cherish the young. Sometimes, it seems, we ask too much. Sometimes we forget that the small graces are enough.
Our Jewish brothers and sisters use a prayer beginning, Barukh Adonai, Blessing God, or seeing God in all things, in all places. It is a way of slowing down.
So, wherever you are, take a moment. Be still. Breathe in. Breathe out.
Light a candle.
Carry a talisman (a stone or some object from a place) that reminds you of a sacred space.
Say the rosary.
Watch the birds dance at the feeders.
Walk in a park, and enjoy the autumn air.
Spend an afternoon in your special chair.
Or, wander a garden, and smile real big.

“By means of a diversion we can avoid our own company 24 hours a day.” Pascal

Sabbath Moments

Jeremiah 29:11-13 Jesus came with shouts of peace, peace to the people on earth!

 Jeremiah 24:7 Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart

We will probably never understand why good people suffer but we can know that it is not the way of God. He cares for us and He is in control. Ultimately He doesn’t want anyone to be without Him. Just as He told Jonah about the people of Ninevah they mattered to Him. People matter to God and He prolongs the window of His salvation even if there are very few who return the love that He offers.  God gave the world that He created over to mankind and in our  free will we choose to care or not to care for His creation. We choose whom we will serve. We can rest assured that our faith is honored above all and how we treat others is our outward expression of our love for God. We can choose to respect others even those we disagree with. We can choose good and not evil and with the power of Holy Spirit it is attainable. He promises us that if we seek Him with all our heart He will give us a new heart of love and we will find Him. Carla

Jeremiah 29:11-13

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. (NKJV)

Yahweh assures the exiles that His long-term plan is good and that He has not abandoned them. Their national calamity would have precipitated feelings of hopelessness and abandonment. I will restore is a  promise of salvation based on Deuteronomy 30:3 and a common image in the prophetic books. Faithlife Study Bible

I know the thoughts that I think: The Lord here places considerable emphasis on His unchangeable plan to bring peace and not evil. A future … a hope. God had not terminated His relationship with Judah; He remembered His covenant promises of restoration (Deuteronomy 30:1–10).

The promised response of the Lord to the people’s prayers stands in contrast to His refusal to hear in 7:16. The picture here differs greatly from the usual depiction of the heart of the people of Judah as stubborn and wicked (3:10; 4:14; 7:24). God would search the people’s heart and reveal its true character (11:20). The NKJV Study Bible

Deuteronomy 4:29

But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 

Jeremiah 33:3

‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

Daniel 9:3

Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 

Psalm 145:19

He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;

He also will hear their cry and save them.

Children (and the child in all of us) need to see positive confirmation of themselves in the world around them and they need to believe in their capacity to love, a capacity fueled by embracing vulnerability even in pain and suffering and brokenness.

Yes, and amen. Even in cacophony, we are still connected to one another. We still make a difference. A human world of helping. No one of us is on this journey alone.

And maybe, the armor can come down. Sabbath Moments

Psalm 55:20-21 We cannot call evil good nor good evil.

 Psalm  12:2

They speak idly everyone with his neighbor;

With flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

You will know the followers of the way of Jesus by the fruits that are evident in their lives. They will love not only their own families and friends but all of God’s creation. They will love Him above all and their neighbors as themselves. Grapes do not grow on apple trees neither does the Spirit of God abide in evil. We cannot call good evil  nor evil good. Carla

Psalm 55:20-21

He has put forth his hands against those who were at peace with him

He has broken his covenant.

21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,

But war was in his heart;

His words were softer than oil,

Yet they were drawn swords. (NKJV)

David turns to describe his former friend, now his enemy (verses 13, 14). He had been completely taken in by the man’s lies. To anyone who has experienced grief or desolation, the command to cast one’s burden on the Lord is refreshing. The Lord is the one constant in life (verse 19) and the one true friend (27:10). He can always bear the burden. The NKJV Study Bible

The words of the psalmist’s former friend are flattering (Proverbs 5) but destructive (Proverbs  29:5). Faithlife Study Bible

Psalm  7:4

If I have repaid evil to him who was at peace with me,

Or have plundered my enemy without cause,

Psalm  28:3

Do not take me away with the wicked

And with the workers of iniquity,

Who speak peace to their neighbors,

But evil is in their hearts.

What is it that allows us to live from our heart, to contribute, to mend, even in a broken and wounded world?

Speaking words of courage in frightening times with her column “My Day,” Eleanor Roosevelt spilled light. And she admitted that her indefatigable service for us to be our better selves, was an antidote to loneliness, anxiety, and the periods of depression she called “Griselda moods.” (Smiling, knowing that I’ll be borrowing that expression.)

So yes. This does my heart good. Knowing that wholeheartedness flows even from our own wounded and broken places, from places where we may feel fragmented, and vulnerable.

True, my mood often tells me otherwise. My mood tells me to guard my heart.

But I’m learning that the easiest way to take care of your heart, is to give it away…to someone in need. Go figure.

Today I am glad for any reminder that “It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.” (Irish Proverb).

Today, in a world where cruelty is unmistakable, I am glad for any reminder of the capacity to be fully human, tender, vulnerable, and kindhearted.

Today, I am glad for any reminder that the human world of helping is larger than our fear, or anxiety, or our ego.

We offer hope, we extend hands, and hearts, of compassion.

We see our connection with the lives of others around us, especially those broken or grieving or lost.

We see that they need a hand to hold. They need a voice. They need a sanctuary.

Gratefully, whenever we love, we are not alone. So, we wade-in, and stand in places—even places of brokenness and woundedness, places of death and loss—and we find grace there. Amen. Sabbath Moments

Jude 1:22 The blessed assurance of God’s love for this messy world we live in.

 2 Corinthians 2:7 so that, on the contrary, you ought rather to forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow

Without God’s love behind our actions we are just making noise. There is no human righteous but One…Jesus Christ, all God yet all man, who redeemed us by His own blood. It was shed for us in the new and everlasting Covenant with God and mankind. To God alone all glory and honor belong. Carla

Jude 1:22

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. (NKJV)

Jude concludes his letter with exuberant praise for the Lord, who alone could keep the readers from being deceived. Stumbling probably refers to the possibility of being tripped up by the false teachers’ errors. Note that Jude does not use the word falling, but stumbling. Only a person who is already walking or running (frequent biblical images of the Christian life) can stumble (Galatians 5:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:1; Hebrews 12:1; 1 John 2:6). God is able to keep us from stumbling (Psalm 37:23, 24; 121:3; Proverbs 4:11, 12). He guards us in this life, despite all the dangers and pitfalls that deceivers put in our way. Faultless is a Greek word used of sacrificial animals that had no blemish and thus were fit to be offered to God. Only God can save us, cleanse us from our sins, and present us to Himself as faultless, for God is the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). The NKJV Study Bible

False teaching can cause those who are uncertain about what they believe (or those with less discernment) to be misled, even to the point of doubting Jesus’ return (2 Peter 3:4). Rather than decide that they are lost, believers should lovingly convince doubters to return to true faith in Jesus.

Christians should not be passive about rebuking falsehood; firm rebuke is affirmed in Jude 23 and by the overall context of the letter. Jude has also already affirmed the inevitable fate of the false teachers-judgment will surely come because of their lack of repentance, indicating that they are not the subject here. Thus in this verse Jude seems to be referencing those who are uncertain about their beliefs and who are at risk of being misled by false teachings (2 Peter 2:2; 2 Peter 2:18). Jude could also have in view those who claim to know Jesus but lack discernment (Hebrew  6:4).

False teachers are on the path to experiencing God’s wrath (Jude 4). Those being misled by false teachings could suffer the same fate.  Christians are thus to take an active role in drawing doubters away from false teachings and toward truth. With  fear may refer to the need for caution when engaging with those who have succumbed to false teachings, lest the doubters mislead the person attempting to help them. It could also be that the fear of God, who will bring judgment, is in view.

Jude evokes the metaphor of a long garment, worn close to the skin, being tainted by its use. Christians are to loathe how sinfulness, brought on by listening to false teachings, has ruined the lives of those who did not resist. Jude concludes with a doxology expressing praise and blessing to God. Faithlife Study Bible

We are, every single one of us, wounded. That is a gift.
We are, every single one of us, broken. And that is a gift.
We are every single one of us, blessedly human, and no one of us is on this journey alone. That too, is a gift.
Yes, I know. It doesn't always feel that way. I look, but don’t see any gift. Because I see brokenness and woundedness as impediments, or disabilities, to be tidied up, overcome, or prayed away.
What I don’t see, is the invitation to befriend my brokenness, and embrace the beauty and wonder.

I will admit that there is comfort donning my cape, morphing into Mr. Tidy OCD, an emotional life fix-it hero. And I know why. It distracts and protects me, because there’s a part of me that is afraid to pause, reluctant to befriend my scattered and wounded self. Afraid to let myself be loved for being this wonderfully messy, imperfect me. Grace, it turns out, is WD40 for the soul.

We don’t see the gift, because we’ve been marinated in a narrative of scarcity (“I am not enough”). It is no surprise that we ascribe beauty to only the uncluttered, and success to only the strong or powerful.

There was a farmer who grew excellent quality wheat and every season he won the award for the best grown in his county. One year a newspaper reporter interviewed the farmer, and learned that each Spring the man shared his seed with his neighbors, so that they too could plant it in their fields.

“How can you afford to share your best wheat seed with your neighbors when they are entering their crops in the competition with yours?” the reporter asked.

“Why that's very simple,” the farmer explained. “The wind picks up pollen from the developing wheat and carries it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior wheat, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of all the wheat, including mine. If I am to grow good wheat, I must help my neighbors grow good wheat.”

Amen. That’ll preach.

Here’s the deal: By planting and then sharing (spilling), we fight, and we resist contaminated “wheat” (shame, fear, small-mindedness, myopia, defensiveness, and callousness), with life-giving “wheat” (empathy, belonging, generosity, inclusion, reconciliation, and kindness).

From these places—sacred wounds—we speak truth, we do not need to pretend, or excuse.

We offer hope, we extend hands and hearts of compassion.

We see our connection with the lives of others around us, especially those broken or grieving or lost.

We see that they need a hand to hold. They need a voice. They need a sanctuary.

Whenever we love we are not alone. So, we wade-in, and stand in places of death and loss, and we find grace there. And if you see a hand that needs to be held today, please reach out. Sabbath Moments

1 John 4:19 No greater love exists!

 1 John 4:10

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 

God so loved the world that He gave up His life for us. No greater love exists. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, all God but yet all man, we are free to love others the way that God loves us. Carla

1 John 4:19

We love Him because He first loved us. (NKJV)

First John as a whole is clearly founded on the doctrine of the Trinity. From evidence throughout Scripture (Matthew 28:19), it is clear that God is both one and three. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit are one God, but they are also distinct Persons of the Godhead. Throughout his first epistle, John illustrates how each Person of the Godhead works with and through the others to accomplish God’s plan of salvation for us. The NKJV Study Bible

God demonstrates “first loved us” by offering salvation through Jesus. Faithlife Study  Bible

2 Thessalonians 2:13

But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,

My friends, no one of us is on this journey alone. And we need one another not only for care and comfort, but to pick up the pieces, and find ways to create spaces in our world, that will not belittle, or diminish, or demean. After all, we are hearts that touch. Which may sound too sentimental in a real and fractured world; a world where hearts touch and hearts hurt, hearts hope and hearts break, hearts heal and hearts splinter… and; from those splintered places hearts that give again, and again. Sabbath Moments