This week our lesson come from five widows in the accounts of Ruth, Naomi, Orpha, Zarephath of Sidon with Elijah, and the anonymous widow in Jesus' lesson of the widow's mite.
Look at the circumstances and status of each widow, and the role each plays in the accounts. What does God teach us through these widows, from all who are "widowed?" See Nancy Rockwell's "The Widow's Mite."
After the election (thank God it is over), eminent Old Testament scholar, author, professor and minister, Walter Bruggemann offers us the following prayer:
"Post-Election Day."
You creator God
who has ordered us
in families and communities,
in clans and tribes,
in states and nations.
who has ordered us
in families and communities,
in clans and tribes,
in states and nations.
You creator God
who enacts your governance
in ways overt and
in ways hidden.
You exercise your will for
peace and for justice and for freedom.
who enacts your governance
in ways overt and
in ways hidden.
You exercise your will for
peace and for justice and for freedom.
We give you thanks for the peaceable order
of
our nation and for the chance of choosing—
all the manipulative money notwithstanding.
our nation and for the chance of choosing—
all the manipulative money notwithstanding.
We pray now for new governance
that your will and purpose may prevail,
that our leaders may have a sense
of justice and goodness,
that we as citizens may care about the
public face of your purpose.
that your will and purpose may prevail,
that our leaders may have a sense
of justice and goodness,
that we as citizens may care about the
public face of your purpose.
We pray in the name of Jesus who was
executed
by the authorities.
by the authorities.
Bruggemann asks us "So what is the "public
face of God's purpose" to which God calls us?" See Dan Clendenin's "The American Presidential Election and ' the Public Face of God's Purpose."
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