Hello friends! Today is another opportunity for us to read together live. The Zoom information is below, but we will meet at 6pm. It's a SUPER special day to read the Bible together. I'll share more of that below though :) If you're unable to join us I hope that today's blog helps you grow in God's love for you. I wish I could say that we are moving on to a happier book, but that is not the case. Today we begin the book of Lamentations, a collection of poetry from the exiles in Babylon literally "lamenting" to God about their situation. While the wisdom literature tried to ask and answer questions of ethics, morality, and causality the book of Lamentations simply exists as a diary, a journal into the hearts and minds of these scared and troubled people. Some of the language ahead will trouble you, especially those who are mothers, but it helps paint a picture of how bleak things were for the people and how unfairly they were treated. With that said, let's jump into it!
UMC of CF Office is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Reading the Bible LIVE
Time: Mar 15, 2021 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 839 0109 9236
Passcode: 123456
By the way, below you'll have the opportunity to watch one of Bible Project's overview videos' to help give you an idea of the purpose and directive of this book.
PS - YOU ARE OFFICIALLY HALF WAY THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR! YOU ARE AMAZING!!!
Scripture to Read
Audio Bible
Questions to Consider
What this teach me about God? (How does God's questions and silence impact your feelings towards this reading?)
What does this teach me about humanity - specifically how we process trauma and the things we cannot explain?
Instead of my thoughts for today I want to share with you the overview video from the Bible Project. As always they do a fantastic job at helping paint the picture of the whole story you'll read but also how it connects to the larger canon. Enjoy!
Prayer
The prayer for today is inspired by hymn (prayer) 183 in our United Methodist Hymnal - Jesu, Thy Boundless Love to Me
Fun facts about this prayer/hymn: This is an extract from one of John Wesley's (founder of Methodism) translations from Paul Gerhardt, prepared in Savannah, Georgia, and published in 1739 in Hymns and Sacred Poems, under the title "Living by Christ." He later quoted stanza 2 at the end of his sermon "A Plain Account of Christian Perfection" as "the cry of my heart" upon leaving Georgia, rejected and disillusioned.
1 Jesu, thy boundless love to me
no thought can reach, no tongue declare;
O knit my thankful heart to thee
and reign without a rival there.
Thine wholly, thine alone, I am;
be thou alone my constant flame.
O grant that nothing in my soul
may dwell, but thy pure love alone!
O may thy love possess me whole,
my joy, my treasure, and my crown.
Strange flames far from my soul remove,
my every act, word, thought, be love.
O Love, how cheering is thy ray!
All pain before thy presence flies!
Care, anguish, sorrow, melt away
where'er thy healing beams arise.
O Jesu, nothing may I see,
nothing hear, feel, or think, but thee!
In suffering be thy love my peace, in weakness be thy love my power; and when the storms of life shall cease, Jesu, in that important hour, in death as life be thou my guide, and save me, who for me hast died.