The Love Flows
Today's Reflection
If we don’t experience spontaneous contact with our loved one who has died, we need not feel anxious or inadequate. It definitely does not mean that he or she has abandoned us or ceased to love us. . . . The love still flows between us even though we cannot feel it.
Whether or not we experience special contact, it helps to remind ourselves that the ones who have died have not broken off connection with us. We can inwardly speak to them in a natural way, share amusing events with them, occasionally read aloud the poetry or sing the songs they love, tell them they are forever part of our ongoing life even as we are part of their ongoing life.
—Flora Slosson Wuellner, Beyond Death: What Jesus Revealed about Eternal Life (Upper Room Books, 2014)
Today's Question
What might you share with a loved one who has died? How might you find connection?
Join the conversation.
Today's Scripture
Jesus said to [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.”
—John 11:25-26 (NRSVUE)
Prayer for the Week
God, you are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Be with me now and forever. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.
Something More
Help breathe new life into our church leaders by supporting The Upper Room’s newest program, The Center for Healing & Resilience. Learn more here.
Lectionary Readings
- 1 Samuel 1:4-20 and 1 Samuel 2:1-10
- Psalm 16
- Hebrews 10:11-14, (15-18), 19-25
- Mark 13:1-8
Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.
Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.
3 Comments | Join the Conversation.What We Are Taught
Today's Reflection
It matters what we are taught and believe about eternal life. It matters in our daily lives. When a loved one dies, it matters whether he or she is gone forever, whether the lovability, the special thoughts and gifts, the precious unique individuality are wiped out for all eternity.
—Flora Slosson Wuellner, Beyond Death: What Jesus Revealed about Eternal Life (Upper Room Books, 2014)
Today's Question
What have you been taught about eternal life? What do you believe happens after death? Join the conversation.
Today's Scripture
Your sun shall no more go down or your moon withdraw itself,
for the Lord will be your everlasting light.
—Isaiah 60:20 (NRSVUE)
Prayer for the Week
God, you are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Be with me now and forever. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.
Something More
Help breathe new life into our church leaders by supporting The Upper Room's newest program, The Center for Healing & Resilience. Learn more here.
Lectionary Readings
- 1 Samuel 1:4-20 and 1 Samuel 2:1-10
- Psalm 16
- Hebrews 10:11-14, (15-18), 19-25
- Mark 13:1-8
Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.
Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.
2 Comments | Join the Conversation.Held Forever
Today's Reflection
Everything that is, including we ourselves, is held forever in God’s love, in God’s grace and mystery. Mama is in it, as am I. Grief is real and also held in God’s mystery. Yet love is the greatest mystery in our amazing universe. It is given to us as a way to participate in life. It is the root and cause and completion of all things in God.
—Roberta C. Bondi, Wild Things: Poems of Grief and Love, Loss and Gratitude (Upper Room Books, 2014)
Today's Question
How can you embrace the mystery of God’s love today? Join the conversation.
Today's Scripture
Without question, the mystery of godliness is great: he was revealed as a human, declared righteous by the Spirit, seen by angels, preached throughout the nations, believed in around the world, and taken up in glory.
—1 Timothy 3:16 (CEB)
Prayer for the Week
Creator God, as you draw us closer to you, draw us closer to each other. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.
Something More
Advent is just around the corner. In Season’s Greetings, twelve vividly imagined letters from long-ago Bible characters who were there for the birth of Jesus speak to the many meanings of Christmas.
Learn more here.
Lectionary Readings
- Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
- Psalm 127
- Hebrews 9:24-28
- Mark 12:38-44
Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.
Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.
2 Comments | Join the Conversation.Universe of God’s Grace
Today's Reflection
And God is the greatest and best mystery of all, for all of reality springs from God, was created by God, is held safe in God, and will be completed in God. Julian of Norwich affirms that all things are in God and God is in all things. There is no place not filled with God, nor any person either, and we have done nothing to make this happen. We live in a universe of God’s grace whether we know it or not and whether we want it or not.
—Roberta C. Bondi, Wild Things: Poems of Grief and Love, Loss and Gratitude (Upper Room Books, 2014)
Today's Question
What spiritual practice helps you recognize God in all things? Join the conversation.
Today's Scripture
And one called to another and said,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
—Isaiah 6:3 (NRSVUE)
Prayer for the Week
Creator God, as you draw us closer to you, draw us closer to each other. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.
Something More
Advent is just around the corner. In Season’s Greetings, twelve vividly imagined letters from long-ago Bible characters who were there for the birth of Jesus speak to the many meanings of Christmas.
Learn more here.
Lectionary Readings
- Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
- Psalm 127
- Hebrews 9:24-28
- Mark 12:38-44
Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.
Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.
3 Comments | Join the Conversation.Everyday Comfort
Today's Reflection
I am comforted by the everyday things around me, all things wild and beautiful and beyond understanding. I affirm that they are very good, which does not surprise me. After all, everything that is, from the smallest particle to the largest galaxy, reflects God to us if we pay attention.
—Roberta C. Bondi, Wild Things: Poems of Grief and Love, Loss and Gratitude (Upper Room Books, 2014)
Today's Question
Where do you see God’s reflection in the everyday things around you?
Join the conversation.
Today's Scripture
God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.
—Genesis 1:31 (NRSVUE)
Prayer for the Week
Creator God, as you draw us closer to you, draw us closer to each other. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.
Something More
Advent is just around the corner. In Season’s Greetings, twelve vividly imagined letters from long-ago Bible characters who were there for the birth of Jesus speak to the many meanings of Christmas.
Learn more here.
Lectionary Readings
- Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
- Psalm 127
- Hebrews 9:24-28
- Mark 12:38-44
Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.
Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.
5 Comments | Join the Conversation.Message of Hope
Today's Reflection
I see more now when I pay attention, which I often do not, and I am more overwhelmed by beauty that I now realize has nothing to do with me at all — except as it brings me half-understood messages of God’s goodness and love. Two sights from my adult past I remember now. The first is a huge oak tree outside my floor-to-ceiling window before my daughter was born. It was covered with dark red leaves of such an intensity that their red color and shapes reflected off the white walls of the apartment where I lived. It was truly astonishing and it hardly seemed possible, but there it was. Through that tree I received an obscure message of hope and beauty at a place in my life that seemed so hopeless I was not sure I could survive it.
—Roberta C. Bondi, Wild Things: Poems of Grief and Love, Loss and Gratitude (Upper Room Books, 2014)
Today's Question
What might God want you to notice today as a message of hope? Join the conversation.
Today's Scripture
Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
—Psalm 33:22 (NRSVUE)
Prayer for the Week
Creator God, as you draw us closer to you, draw us closer to each other. Amen.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room.
Something More
Advent is just around the corner. In Season’s Greetings, twelve vividly imagined letters from long-ago Bible characters who were there for the birth of Jesus speak to the many meanings of Christmas.
Learn more here.
Lectionary Readings
- Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17
- Psalm 127
- Hebrews 9:24-28
- Mark 12:38-44
Read the lectionary texts courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library here.
Looking for lectionary-based resources? Learn more about The Upper Room Disciplines.
2 Comments | Join the Conversation.