If You Don't Know Me By Now b-sides | 17 APril 2016
the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." Jesus answered, "I have told you, and you do not believe."
LISTEN
REFLECT
1. When you take a minute to think about it, what do you spend a lot of your time and thought-space doing and thinking about? What are the dominant narratives of your life?
2. How do those narratives or tape loops compare to God's narrative, God's story and truth, about who you are? Take a look at Psalm 139 for a refresher on how God views you.
3. What is one thing you could do, one habit you could change or enact, this week, to align more closely with God's story of who you are rather than other competing narratives that try to steal your identity?
"Everything changes once we identify with being the witness to the story, instead of the actor in it."
God, the Good Shepherd, jealous in love for your creation, gather together your flocks from all nations, your people from all continents, bring us into one body, one family, through your Son, Jesus Christ.
You leave the 99 sheep to go and search for the one who is lost. Thank you for looking for lost sheep, for loving and caring for the downtrodden, the forgotten, the lost, and the abandoned.
For precious bodies in prisons of illness and loneliness, and for those in literal prisons this morning, may the voice of the Good Shepherd be heard by their hearts and may your voice lift their spirits, lightening the cross they carry.
For those who have died and for those who are left behind by death, gather your lambs in your arms and gently carry them close to your heart.
God, you have made of one blood all the people of the earth, and you have sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near; grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your spirit upon all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom.
