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New every morning is your love, great God of light, and all day long you are working for good in the world. Stir up in us desire to serve you, to live peacefully with our neighbors and all your creation, and to devote each day to your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

"A Liturgy for Morning Prayer," Upper Room Worshipbook

Used by permission from the Book of Common Worship, © 2018 Westminster John Knox Press. All rights reserved. This prayer appears in “A Liturgy for Morning Prayer” in Upper Room Worshipbook.

 

Today’s Reflection

When we gather at the Table, we are invited to partake of God’s grace in a way that allows us to glimpse a community grounded in God, shaped by Christ, and empowered by the Spirit. What Dr. [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] proclaimed is that any attempt at creating such a community is possible only as we fully grasp—and are grasped by—the love of God made visible in Jesus and made victorious through the Cross. It is a community because we are made one with Christ and one with each other. It is beloved because we are loved and graced by God. It is a vision of a beloved community that is filled with images of peace and harmony, of truth and justice, of reconciliation and transformation, and of hope and trust.

—Larry M. Goodpaster, Conflict and Communion: Reconciliation and Restorative Justice at Christ’s Table (Upper Room Books, 2006)

Today’s Question

When have you seen a vision of beloved community? Join the conversation.

Today’s Scripture

But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
—1 Corinthians 12:24-27 (NRSV)

Prayer for the Week

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.
(From the Peace Prayer of Saint Francis)
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.

Something More

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Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.

2 Comments

  • Ally Posted August 6, 2023 9:56 am

    My beloved home church where I grew up and the community I experienced at church camp were both examples of beloved community. There have been others, but those were the formative ones.

  • robert moeller Posted August 6, 2023 1:08 pm

    I think we as humans have a very hard time approaching this. While I have been in many churches, it is rare to see the heart, much easier to see the skin and approximations of the heart.
    I am delighted that Ally’s experience has been better. That’s a blessing. I will also say that even the disciples had conflict. The best news is that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Grace makes up for our shortcomings. That’s an amazing blessing.

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