[From Jan. 3, 2007 archive]
Teach us to speak the
truth from our heart—
to walk blamelessly, and
do what is right;
but even when we fail
and do wrong,
to speak the truth from
our heart.
We try to make promises
to you…bargains, really.
If you will be with us,
and keep us in the way we go,
and take care of our
needs, and allow us to enjoy peace
(though we make war), we
promise you will be our God.
But the initiative is
with you, and always has been.
You offer us your love
and care—our role is to accept.
The world is full of
those who steal and kill and destroy;
but you gave us Jesus
that we may have life, and abundantly.
We who walk as strangers
and foreigners on the earth,
we have seen your
promises, seen them and greeted them,
if only from afar. You are not like us; you do what you promise;
you speak truth from
your heart, and from your heart you sent Jesus.
Lectionary Readings
Psalms 15, 107, 111
Genesis 28:10-22
Hebrews 11:13-22
John 10:7-17
Selected Verses
Psalm 15:2
Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right,
and speak the
truth from their heart…
Genesis 28:20-21
Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and
will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing
to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD
shall be my God… ”
Hebrews 11:13
All of these died in faith without having received the
promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and
foreigners on the earth…
John 10:10
"…The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it
abundantly. …" [Jesus, to his detractors in the Temple]
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