Pause

Then the father said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'" (Luke 15:31-32)

God’s blessing is ours as a gift of grace. Yet too often we feel too busy or unworthy to enjoy it.

So come whether you feel lost or found, prodigal or faithful today. Pause, abide, and refresh in the way to blessing.

Listen

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:4-5

Think

“Jesus came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘If you, even you, had only recognized today the things that make for peace!’” (Luke 19:41-42a).

Jesus mourned that day. He mourned a paradise lost. He mourned a reality so different than God’s peaceable kingdom.

In our world of school shootings, homelessness, hunger, gangs, ethnic cleansing, bullying, discrimination, catastrophic climate change, and war, this is not the kingdom of God that God imagines for us. Do we care enough to mourn today?

Blessed be, yet, God doesn’t want us to be simply stuck grieving our sins. There’s much wonder in this world too — everyday acts of compassion, community partnerships countering injustices, faith in each other’s goodness, and our giving and receiving of forgiveness. With God and through God’s blessing, the things that make for peace are here! God invites us, as meek as we may feel, to heal that which we mourn.

Molly Logan

Pray

God of mourning and dancing, hear my cries. Hear my confession of sin. Forgive me for my part. I want all to dance in a world of equity, justice, peace, and joy. Bless me to join in your way to healing and peace for our world. Amen.

Go

We’re blessed to be a blessing.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen, and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8-9)