Justice and Worship

“The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it.” - John 1: 6 

 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” - John 14: 27

Prince of Peace,

This Christmas we cannot pretend that all is well on planet earth. This Christmas we dare not. And yet this is the time and the place where you meet us all - in the dark with a flicker of flame that defies every force of death. 

Blessings to you as you reflect on hope during advent.  "But the needy will not be ignored forever; the hopes of the poor will not always be crushed." - Psalm 9:18 NLT 

Let us dare to test God's resources.  Let us ask him to kindle in us, and to keep aflame that passion for the impossible, that God might make us delight in it with him, because God doesn't find anything impossible. Nor should we.  And we delight in it with him until the day we shall see it by his grace transformed into fact.  - Lilias Trotter

The only way to survive the waves is to keep the beat of your heart in rhythm with the One who walks on water.  - Ann Voskamp 

Perspective is everything.  It changes what we see.  You can't see what you're not looking for, and the vantage point from which you see something can determine your perspective.  When it comes to our experience of God, the eyes of faith are capable of seeing an entirely different world than the same et of eyes looking at the same thing.  - Syd Hielema and Aaron Baart

Updates from Israel-Gaza

"O Great Father of the sky above and the earth below, of the great waters and all that is in them," they prayed.  "Hear our cry!  - Acts 4:24 (FNV) 

My we help the helpless, comfort the mourner, sympathize with the widow and fatherless, and may we always be ready to put up with wrong, to be long-suffering, to be very patient, full of forgiveness, counting it a small thing that we should forgive our fellow-men since we have been forgiven by God.  - Charles Spurgeon