“Part of the goodness of creation is we were made to be dependent on God, on our neighbor, and on the earth. That is not a result of sin. Dependence isn’t a result of sin. Sin just distorts those dependencies.”
—Kelly Kapic
The Work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:4-15)
“Come O Spirit comfort true,
Help us by Your pleading.
Come and every heart renew
Breath of God proceeding
You alone to God can win us
Spirit now work good within us
Come our conscience to relieve
From the sin remembered.
Come our Savior’s blood to plead,
Naked we surrender.
Sin hath left a wound revealing,
Spirit help us with Your healing
All our riches all our crowns
Cast we now before Thee
Scales removeth chains unbounded
Boldly we implore Thee
As You knit us once together
Fasten us to You forever.”
—Isaac Wardell
The World Will Hate You (John 15:18-16:4a
“An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous,
but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked.”
— Proverbs 29:27
Love One Another: Lay Down Your Life (John 15:12-17)
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
—Leviticus 19:18
The Link Between Joy and Obedience (John 15:1-11)
“The faith that… is able to warm itself at the fire of God’s love, instead of having to steal love and self-acceptance from other sources, is actually the root of holiness.”
—Richard Lovelace
Jesus is Coming Soon (Revelation 22:6-21)
Living Within Bethlehem (Genesis 35:16-29)
“What kings and leaders of nations, philosophers and artists, founders of religions and teachers of morals have tried in vain to do—that now happens through a newborn child. Putting to shame the most powerful human efforts and accomplishments, a child is placed here at the midpoint of world history—a child born of human beings, a son given by God (Isa. 9:6). That is the mystery of the redemption of the world; everything past and everything future is encompassed here. The infinite mercy of the almighty God comes to us, descends to us in the form of a child, his Son. That this child is born for us, this son is given to us, that this human child and Son of God belongs to me, that I know him, have him, love him, that I am his and he is mine—on this alone my life now depends. A child has our life in his hands….”
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Jacob's Return and Renaming (Genesis 35:1-15)
“Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship… is that pretty much anything else you worship will eat you alive.”
—David Foster Wallace, “This is Water”
An Outrageous Act (Genesis 34)
“And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly…. God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in. He chooses people as his instruments and performs his wonders where one would least expect them. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.”
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Face to Face (Genesis 33)
“We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us.”
—Dietrich Bonhoeffer