To Stand Firm in One Spirit--Sept. 10, 2013

 O Risen Lord, we look for you in the wrong place;

we look where you were, not where you are now;

so we do not find you, and we are distressed. 

Discouraged, we walk in the wrong way,

separating ourselves further from you,

and causing others to do the same.

Help us stand firm in one spirit,

working as one side by side,

of one mind in our faith.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 42; 146; 102; 133

1 Kings 16:23-34

Phil. 1:12-30

Mark 16:1-20

Selected Verses

Ps. 102:2a

 Do not hide your face from me
          in the day of my distress.

1 Kings 16:26

For [King Omri] walked in all the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and in the sins that he caused Israel to commit, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.

Phil. 1:27

Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel…

Mark 16:6

But [the young man in a white robe] said to [the two Mary's and Salome], "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.  He has been raised; he is not here.  Look, there is the place they laid him.  …"