Token Worship


Suggested Bible Reading

Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more; bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation -- I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them. When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land . . . .

-Isaiah 1:10-19 (NRSV)


Today's Scripture

The Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.

-Micah 6:8 (TEV)

Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years; and though she had spent all she had on physicians, no one could cure her. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his clothes, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. Then Jesus asked, "Who touched me?" When all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the crowds surround you and press in on you." But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; for I noticed that power had gone out from me." When the woman saw that she could not remain hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before him, she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace."

-Luke 8:43-48 (NRSV)

Gold to Go


Suggested Bible Reading

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

"No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

-Matthew 6:19-24 (NRSV)

Learning to Pray


Suggested Bible Reading

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff--they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.

-Psalm 23 (NRSV)

Ephesians 4:22 – 5:2 (NRSV)

You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self,
corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of
your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created
according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to
our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not
sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room
for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor
and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to
share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but
only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your
words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy
Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of
redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and
wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has
forgiven you.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in
love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant
offering and sacrifice to God.

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Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and
do not make room for the devil.

LISTEN
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James 1:19-22 (NRSV)

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen,
slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's
righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank
growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word
that has the power to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive
themselves.

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My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the
Lord.
- Isaiah 55:8 (NRSV)
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CHRIST'S BELOVED
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1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NRSV)

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have
love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic
powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have
all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am
nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body
so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or
arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not
irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but
rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as
for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an
end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when
the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a
child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a
child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now
we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I
know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully
known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the
greatest of these is love.

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There is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised,
barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!
- Colossians 3:11 (NRSV)
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Jesus Loves Me
Jesus loves me! This I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to Him belong;
They are weak, but He is strong.
Refrain
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.
Jesus loves me! This I know,
As He loved so long ago,
Taking children on His knee,
Saying, “Let them come to Me.”
Refrain
Jesus loves me still today,
Walking with me on my way,
Wanting as a friend to give
Light and love to all who live.
Refrain
Jesus loves me! He who died
Heaven’s gate to open wide;
He will wash away my sin,
Let His little child come in.
Refrain
Jesus loves me! He will stay
Close beside me all the way;
Thou hast bled and died for me,
I will henceforth live for Thee.
Refrain

Colossians 3:12-17 (NRSV)

As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with
compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one
another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each
other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything
together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your
hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be
thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and
admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts
sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do,
in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God the Father through him.

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Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have
against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
- Colossians 3:13 (NIV)

A HOPE-FILLED PROMISE
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Matthew 1:18-25 (NRSV)

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his
mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived
together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her
husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to
public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had
resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your
wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will
bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people
from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken
by the Lord through the prophet:
"Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall name him Emmanuel,"
which means, "God is with us." When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as
the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had
no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named
him Jesus.

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You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of
Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old.
-- Micah 5:2 (NIV)
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