Reading: Luke 21:1-19, Hebrews 2:1-9, Proverbs 19:15-29, Isaiah 6-8

Recall:
for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on. Luke 21:14
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” Isaiah 6:8
Reflect:
Who will go for us? Here I am send me. Each of us has to answer that many times. Even when we question whether or not we can. We're used to giving out of our abundance. We figure out whether or not we have some extra time to participate in something. We make sure that we and "our own" are taken care of first, then we can start to worry about others. But the widow gave out of her poverty. She scraped up all that she had and gave it. It mattered.
Respond:
Here am I; send me.

Reading: Luke 20:41-47, Hebrews 1:10-14, Proverbs 19:1-14, Isaiah 3-5

Recall:
The LORD enters into judgment
with the elders and princes of his people:
It is you who have devoured the vineyard;
the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
What do you mean by crushing my people,
by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord GOD of hosts.
Isaiah 3:14-15
Reflect:
It is so easy to not think about the poor, to be solely concerned with my own day-to-day necessities. I say I wouldn't exploit the poor, but how many of my daily practices do just that?
Respond:
I will examine how my actions--my purchases, my daily activities, etc. "ripple out" to other members of society.

Reading: Luke 20:27-40, Hebrews 1:1-9, Proverbs 18, Isaiah 1-2

Recall:
And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Luke 20:37-38

Loners who care only for themselves
spit on the common good. Proverbs 1:18

Some friends play at friendship
but a true friend sticks closer than one’s nearest kin.
Proverbs 1:24

He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more. Isaiah 2:4

Reflect:
Pretty interesting, brilliant actually, midrash by Jesus in this passage from Luke. He took a statement from Moses and turned in into proof that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were still living.
Good passages from Proverbs on relationship. I have to think that if the advice of Proverbs (and from Jesus in the Gospels and Paul in the epistles) on interpersonal relationships was heeded then we might actually get to Isaiah's vision in Isaiah 2.

Respond:
I will continue to work on my own relationships with others. It's a learning process.