Devotional Pts Week of Sept 7

Sunday-Ps.149 is part of series of praises. This one includes praise with music.Praise does not come easily to some of us.Many of us may need the aid music to build a sense of praise.Some like And some dislike current praise songs.What songs build praise  within you?  

Monday-The rhythm of our lives is always in need of balance: tending to our own soul while tending others; attention to our being while going into the world to serve and work. How can you be still while in motion?

Tuesday-Surprise us, Lord, for surprises keep us hopeful. They stir behind the musty folds of our weariness then rush out, shouting in glorious unpredictability. They spin us ‘round till our eyes are full of dizzying stars--a galaxy of miracle. Go on...surprise us, Lord. (Jim Hughes)

Wednesday-“When one community’s redemption means the suffering of another, it cannot be redemption for either.” Marc Ellis

Thursday-Giver of this day Gift of every moment.May we be bearers of comfort. May we be strong in our soul to cry at the wrongs of nations to weep with the bleeding earth to mourn with those who mourn  in the loss of life and lands  in the loss of dreams and hope. May we be strong in our soul. -from Praying with the Earth: A Prayerbook for Peace

Thursday-"Wherever people love each other and are true to each other and take risks for each other, God is with them and for them and they are doing God’s will."- from Secrets in the Dark“

Friday-What can we say beyond Wow, in the presence of glorious art, in music so magnificent that it can't have originated solely on this side of things? Wonder takes our breath away, and makes room for new breath. That's why they call it breathtaking. We're individuals in time and space who are often gravely lost, and then miraculously, in art, found.In art, we feel the breath of the invisible, of the eternal—Anne Lamott..

Saturday-I Will Turn 60 later this month.I have been told that I will be officially harmless.In our theology,no one is harmless.All of us sin. Do you  make it a habit to examine the harms you caused regularly? Have they changed over time? Looking back, where have you improved or fallen short?