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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

AS WE WIND our way to the infant of Bethlehem, whose heart beats with the intensity of God’s compassion for us, may our hearts grow strong in love for all that God has made. As this happens, we will know in our own experience the fulfillment of a prayer written by a hermit of ancient Syria: “Grant me, Lord, at this time a mind filled with the love of you, and one that bears a knowledge of you, an intellect filled with insight into you, and a pure heart in which the light of the vision of you shines out.”

—John S. Mogabgab, The Wondrous Mystery: An Advent Reader (Upper Room Books, 2019)

Today's Question

What does it mean to open our eyes and look for the presence of God?  

Today's Scripture

“Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things.”
—Psalm 119:18 (NRSV)

Prayer for the Week

Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on me. 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.

Sponsored by The Upper Room. Copyright © 2019 | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

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Today's Reflection

Genuinely compassionate action for enemies, even those who harm us, grows as we imagine ourselves sharing in Jesus’s experience of offering compassion even as he suffered. We experience what Jesus experiences. The Christian spiritual traditions describe this as becoming the image of Christ or entering into union with God. Although many people have thought of “union with God” as disengaging from life in the world, Christian compassion practices show the opposite: The deeper the union with God, the more deeply we engage life in the world, offering compassion even to those we experience as enemies. Through that compassion, enemies become reconciled, “in peace” with one another.

—Andrew Dreitcer, Living Compassion: Loving Like Jesus (Upper Room Books, 2017)

Today's Question

When has God’s compassion enabled you to be reconciled with someone?  

Today's Scripture

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us."
—2 Corinthians 5:18-19 (NRSV)

Prayer for the Week

Lord, make me an instrument of your compassion.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room or share it in the comment section.

Something More

Reverend Junius B. Dotson was preaching at a funeral when suddenly he realized he wasn’t going to make it through the service. The next thing he knew, he was in an ambulance on the way to the ER, where he was diagnosed with extreme exhaustion. Read more about his Soul Reset.

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

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

Sponsored by The Upper Room. Copyright © 2019 | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

3 Comments | Join the Conversation.

Today's Reflection

The Christian tradition teaches that the route to compassion begins with God. Resting in Divine Compassion, we turn to offer compassion to ourselves. Once we find healing and wholeness there, the compassionate impulse invites us out into the world as agents of God, bearers of compassion—first for those dear to us and then for those we find difficult.

—Andrew Dreitcer, Living Compassion: Loving Like Jesus (Upper Room Books, 2017)

Today's Question

What can you do to rest in Divine Compassion today?  

Today's Scripture

"God heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds."
—Psalm 147:3 (CEB)

Prayer for the Week

Lord, make me an instrument of your compassion.
Submit your prayer to The Upper Room or share it in the comment section.

Something More

Reverend Junius B. Dotson was preaching at a funeral when suddenly he realized he wasn’t going to make it through the service. The next thing he knew, he was in an ambulance on the way to the ER, where he was diagnosed with extreme exhaustion. Read more about his Soul Reset.

Lectionary Readings

(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)

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

Sponsored by The Upper Room. Copyright © 2019 | PO Box 340004 | Nashville, TN 37203-0004 | USA

4 Comments | Join the Conversation.