Deus Misereatur

  Some of you have asked for this passage I quoted last Sunday in the sermon. John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards added their own “Amen” to Augustine’s statement in their day. And it really is a special statement. I have been pondering it since last week. Augustine wrote a letter (Letter No. 118) to Dioscorus, a young Greek scholar. In that dispatch Augustine upholds humility as the condition and foundation for Christian living. He wrote: “To [Christ) ... I wish you to submit with complete devotion, and to construct no other way for yourself of grasping and holding the truth than the way constructed by Him who, as God, saw how faltering were our steps. This way is first humility, second humility, third humility, and however often you should ask me I would say the same, not because there are no other precepts to be explained, but if humility does not precede and accompany and follow every good work we do, and if it is not set before us to look upon, and beside us to lean upon, and ...

  O God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, who executes lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for it is in these you delight (Jeremiah 9:24). Glory to you, O Lord! We pray for your Church throughout the nations, this congregation, and New Bethel Church of God in Christ, Rainbow, Trinity, and Victory Temple. Fill your dearly loved people with courage and divine determination as we aim at seeking first your kingdom and your righteousness. Fill up all our lack; grant good health; guide our every step in godly ways, strengthening our desire to be faithful disciples of Christ. And grant us to treat our enemies and detractors with the same gracious kindness you treated us when we were your enemies. We call out to you those we know who need to repent of their sins and believe in Christ, as well as those who have strayed away and need to be restored, and those whose faith has been traumatized (…). Turn them from the father of lies and bring them to embrace ...