Prayer Request
Friday, September 11, 2009
1 Timothy1:1-2, 12-14; Psalm 16; Luke 6:39-42
A day to remember, and readings to remind us that even Paul was “a persecutor and a man of violence,” who received mercy because “the grace of our Lord [Jesus] overflowed for me.” Jesus, who just yesterday warned us not to judge but to love our enemies and forgive if we are to be forgiven, re-teaches the message with a parable. How can we with beams in our eyes dare to take out specks in others’ eyes? Or, as in John 8, who dares to cast a stone?
Ask the Spirit to show you your personal history of violence. If you think you are and have always been non-violent, ask the Spirit to let you not deny the truth. Then sit with what bubbles up and ask Jesus to look with you at your history and your current desires. Repeat the exercise with your personal history of judging others, as persons, as groups, as nations.
Forgive us, God of mercy, for twisting religion into one of condemnation and hatred. Do not let us make an idol of our religion of forgiveness, using it as a battering ram.
God has given to us.