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Dear Leaders,
Lamentations 1:1-6 - Post-exilic. How lonely sits the empty city, once full of people! She who once was great among the nations is now a vassal. Her greatness is gone.
OR
Lamentations 3:19-26 - The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! My 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.
OR
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4 - How long, O Lord, will I cry to you for help and you will not listen? How long will we cry, "Violence?" and you will not save?
Psalm 137 - By the rivers of Babylon- there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our harps.
OR
Psalm 37:1-9 - Don't worry too much about the wicked. In due time they will fade like grass. Trust in the Lord and do good.
2 Timothy 1:1-14 - To Timothy, my beloved child: I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
Luke 17:5-10 - Parable of the mustard seeds. Undeserving slaves.
Francis, Tyndale, and Mustard Seed Faith
This Sunday's gospel is Luke 17:5-10 about having the faith of a mustard seed. But there are some other opportunities.
St.Francis of Assisi died in 1226, on October 3, but his saint day is October 4. Francis was born in Assisi as Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, but nicknamed Francesco ("Frenchie") by his father. By faith, Francis, who said he had "been all things unholy," renounced his wealth and family, vowed poverty and chastity, and founded an order based on serving the poor. Preaching on Francis is tempting, because, at his election in March of 2013, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio chose that name, becoming the very first Pope Francis ever. Interesting especially because St. Francis was so critical of the wealth and corruption of the papacy.
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