Luke 6:37–7:10
“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”…
Sometimes in the stillness of the night I think of the works of mankind and become afraid. The apathy and disdain that exists for others, like us who are created in the image of God, I fear will extinguish the light that has come into the world. Sometimes words cannot express the sadness that I feel for the marginalized and oppressed in our society. I am overcome. Then in the stillness I can hear the words of our Father that through His Son the world could be saved. My only prayer is that His Kingdom will come and His mercy and grace will overcome the darkness. In Him, with Him and in the unity of Holy Spirit there is hope. When we love God and abide in His command to love others in the manner that He loves us we are saved from the sin that threatens to destroy us. The love of God covers a multitude of our sins in the sacrifice of Jesus. Carla
Matthew 6:8-15
8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
In this manner, therefore, pray•:
Our Father •in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
•On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As •we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. NKJV
The prayer is composed of six requests. The first three ask for the kingdom to come (verse 9, 10) and the last three are for God to meet the needs of His people until the kingdom arrives (verses 11–13). Hallowed be Your name is not an ascription of praise to the Father. The verb is an imperative and means “May Your name be hallowed.” This recalls Ezekiel’s prophecy in Ezekiel 36:25–32, where the prophet says Israel has profaned God’s name among the nations. One day God will gather His people from the nations, cleanse them, and by this means vindicate the holiness of His great name. The hallowing of the Father’s name means the arrival of God’s kingdom. The NKJV Study Bible
The focus changes here from hypocrites to Gentiles (ethnikoi). In Graeco-Roman religions, repetition was used to pester the gods so they would grant someone’s request. After describing how not to pray, Jesus gives a positive example.
Matthew 6:9–13 and the parallel passage of Luke 11:1–4 provide a model for prayer. The Gospels make no explicit claims regarding Jesus’ intentions for creating this prayer, but the context indicates that He is teaching people how to pray (Luke 11:1–4).
“Your will be done” Jesus prays similar words as He faces arrest and crucifixion (Matthew 26:39, 42).
The people of rural Galilee were poor and oppressed, and resources such as food were scarce. This prayer reflects the real needs of people living in difficult times. The language used here for debt can reflect an Aramaic idiom referring to sin.
The Greek term used here for the evil one may indicate a specific entity such as the devil; (Ephesians 6:16) or evil in its many forms.
Forgiveness results in forgiveness. Since God has forgiven members of His kingdom, they must forgive others. Faithlife Study Bible
Matthew 3:17–6:2
And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil…
Luke 12:2–12
For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops…
Mark 3:21–6:29
But when His own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.”And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”…
Matthew 2:11–3:4
And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way…
It’s normal to feel disheartened, or discouraged, about our world.
You may have heard this expression: “If you’re not concerned, you’re not paying attention.”
Pain is real. And shock is real. And yet. There is something in our DNA that knows we still have the capacity to choose.
This I know: closing our eyes or shutting down, is not the choice.
Staying informed matters.
Bearing witness matters.
And, making sure our heart and soul are replenished, and refreshed, and grounded, matters.
Today, I was guest preacher at the Interfaith Community Sanctuary in Seattle. My topic, “Walking one another home.” And I began with this quote, from Etty Hillesum. “Ultimately, we have just one moral duty. To reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it towards others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.”
Yes. That’s the gift.
The space that enables me to see the sufficiency that is already there.
Maya Angelou’s reminder, “Let nothing dim the light that shines from within.”
There are times—it seems more frequent now—when we are not “rested”. We are tired, fatigued, weighed down, troubled, or just plain worn out.
Sometimes it is for good reason. Sometimes it is not.
Add to the mix the reality that we absorb, or consume, many, many times the amount of information and data—daily, hourly—than we did not that long ago. We are, quite literally, bombarded.
So, it's not just about being tired. There's something else going on. Almost like a paralysis, or a disconnect. Those times when we are not present. Those times when we can't even absorb beauty or wonder. Those times when we go through the motions, as if we have lost touch with some of the good stuff: gladness, longing, focus, zest, compassion, appetite, hope and passion.
Yes… making sure our heart and soul are replenished, and refreshed, and grounded, matters.
So, the questions for every one of us are these...
Where do we go to replenish the well?
Where do we go to nourish the soul?
Where do we go to be bathed in peace?
Here's the deal: Sometimes we don't have to go anywhere. We just need to stop. And pay attention.
“I don't deny that there should be priests to remind men that they will one day die. I only say it is necessary to have another kind of priests, called poets, actually to remind men that they are not dead yet.” GK Chesterton
I’ve recently been drawn to the life and writing of Etty Hillesum. At the age of 29, Etty died at Auschwitz, but the last two years of her life led her into a deepening relationship with God. And into great solidarity with those who suffered.
She wrote, “There is a really deep well inside me. And in it dwells God. Sometimes I am there, too... Dear God, these are anxious times... We must help You to help ourselves. And that is all we can manage these days and also all that really matters: that we safeguard that little piece of You, God, in ourselves.” (An Interrupted Life: The Diaries) SabbathMoments
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