As We Ponder Your Steadfast Love--Jan. 2, 2014

 When we ponder your steadfast love, O God,

we recognize that although we may journey

alone in the wilderness, you do not intend

we should live or die for ourselves alone.

Living with you is community venture.

Jesus was concerned over the hunger of  

the crowd who came to hear his word;

we must help to feed and promote the

growth of the whole body of Christ,

building under your steadfast love.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 48; 147:12-20; 9; 29

1 Kings 19:1-8

Eph. 4:1-16

John 6:1-14

Selected Verses

Ps. 48:9

We ponder your steadfast love, O God,
          in the midst of your temple.

1 Kings 19:4

But [Elijah] himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree.  He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors."

Eph. 4:15-16

But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.

John 6:5

When [Jesus] looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?"