Great is Your Faithfulness, O God!

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

~ Lamentations 3:21-24

The Lord promises that his mercies are “NEW EVERY MORNING!” Let’s look for them together!

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift!

~ Ephesians 4

There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us.

~ Richard Sibbes

To truly follow Christ is to set forth on a journey of ever-expanding benevolence, from the narrow limits of familiar territory into the dark and unfamiliar world of the oppressed and suffering — and to people often unlike ourselves.

~ Dr. Diane Langberg

Racism is not just America’s problem; it’s humanity’s problem. We serve a holy God who is near to the broken-hearted and who calls his people “to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke” (Is. 58:6). We follow a Savior who came not to be served but to serve and who did not fight for his own life but willingly laid it down for ours (Mark 10:45). Too long has this call and its price been predominantly borne by the black church in America. It is time for God’s people to walk the path of the suffering servant Jesus in solidarity with one another. As the first evangelical, the first proclaimer of good news—the evangel—Jesus declared, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19).

~ Walter Kim

People are too poorly suited to life in the world for this to be the definitive human condition.

~ Marilynne Robinson

Church is where Christ’s people, his bride, can delight in the Lord together. Church is where we can develop our desire together as he is preparing our souls for love. Church is where we can practice heaven, as Curt Thompson calls it. It is where we find sacred siblings and advocates. It’s where we hear, speak, and read God’s word in community. It’s where we read the Bible with an eschatological imagination—being courted and transformed by God’s word. Church is to be a safe place to ask the hard questions about life, offering security in Christ as we express our doubts. It’s to be a place of protection from the harm of others. It is where we are to provoke one another to love and holiness as we gaze at Christ together. Church is where we are to have communion without shame. Repentance comes easy in loving cultures.

~ Aimee Byrd

The number of hours we have together is actually not so large. Please linger near the door uncomfortably instead of just leaving. Please forget your scarf in my life and come back later for it.

~ Mikko Harvey

The Church is the Church only when it exists for others. . . not dominating, but helping and serving.

It must tell those of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others.

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

~ George Eliot

How does the thief on the cross fit into your theology? No baptism, no communion, no confirmation . . . and no church clothes. He couldn’t even bend his knees to pray. He didn’t say the sinner’s prayer and among other things, he was a thief. Jesus didn’t take away his pain, heal his body, or smite the scoffers. Yet it was a thief who walked into heaven the same hour as Jesus simply by believing. He had nothing more to offer other than his belief that Jesus was who he said he was. No spin from brilliant theologians. No ego or arrogance. . . . Just a naked dying man on a cross unable to even fold his hands to pray.

~ Andrew Snow

Isn’t it funny how often we read something on social media, we take it as truth, and start spreading it around like a wildfire? But let someone tell you about the true gospel and what Christ has done in their life and we’re reluctant to tell anyone. Salvation isn’t something you buy, or trade, or even beg for. With your last breath . . . all you have to do is believe.

~ Nancy Stroppe

Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.

~ Isaiah 33