Step 1: Speak to God
Creator, Redeemer, Inspirer, our all too human Church has exhibited its humanness through the ages through its own sin, hubris and power mongering. It has become a barrier for our young people and a turnoff to those who have been hurt or scandalized by the behavior of both clergy and laity. It is especially tragic right now with the need for accountability in what we call the sexual abuse crisis but also when politically divisive clergy and laity attempt to undermine the See of Peter.
Guide us, we pray, to have the wisdom and self-control to address these issues with candor, humility and repentance so that we can honesty invite our young people to celebrate belief in the Resurrection of Jesus and our baptism into eternal life.
May clergy and laity live so as to be living invitations to join our all too human Church but find that in spite of sin, when two or three are gathered in Your Name, there You are in the midst of them.
Step 2: Listen to God in Scripture
| Hebrew Scripture | New Testament |
| Deuteronomy 6:4
The Great Commandment. 4 Hear, O Israel!* The LORD is our God, the LORD alone! 5Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength. 6f Take to heart these words which I command you today. 7Keep repeating them to your children. Recite them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. 8Bind them on your arm as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. 9Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.
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Luke 10:1-12,17-24
The Mission of the Seventy-two.* 1After this the Lord appointed seventy[-two]* others whom he sent ahead of him in pairs to every town and place he intended to visit. 2He said to them, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest. 3Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves. 4* Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals; and greet no one along the way. 5Into whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’* 6If a peaceful person* lives there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. 7Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you, for the laborer deserves his payment. Do not move about from one house to another. 8Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, 9cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’ 10Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, 11‘The dust of your town that clings to our feet, even that we shake off against you.’ Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand. 12I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town.
Return of the Seventy-two. 17The seventy[-two] returned rejoicing, and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.” 18Jesus said, “I have observed Satan fall like lightning* from the sky. 19Behold, I have given you the power ‘to tread upon serpents’ and scorpions and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. 20Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” Praise of the Father. 21At that very moment he rejoiced [in] the holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.* Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.t 22All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.” The Privileges of Discipleship. 23Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 24For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”
Timothy 12-17 Sinful but effective; be humble messenger Gratitude for God’s Mercy. 12I am grateful to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry. 13I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief. 14Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. 16But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life. 17To the king of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
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Put together what you told God and what God told you. Converse with God.