Welcome to Brothers and Sisters, the weekly meetup for prayer* and community at Daily Kos. We put an asterisk on pray* to acknowledge that not everyone uses conventional religious language, but may want to share joys and concerns, or simply take solace in a meditative atmosphere. Anyone who comes in the spirit of mutual respect, warmth and healing is welcome.
St. Paul's Letter to the Galatians, Chapter 4, v.28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one.
Tikkun Olam
Err on the Side of Grace
The Bible can be interpreted a lot of ways. With any given issue, people of faith can go to the same Bible, pray to the same God, seek out the same Holy Spirit, and come up with very different answers. Take any issue: homosexuality, immigration, the treatment of the poor, abortion, gender roles, warfare, capital punishment, gun rights, euthanasia, the environment, education, etc. and people of faith will come to very difficult conclusions.
Some try to group these things into neat little packages like liberal and conservative. I’m not a fan of those labels, or of any labels really. I think most people are more complicated than our labels. I know that the world is.
That said, I think my seminary professor was right. He taught a lot about grace and the Hebrew word hessed, which he translated as “God’s steadfast love.” When asked once about God’s judgment he said (more or less), “For most issues, people lean either on God’s grace or on God’s judgment. When I think about those two sides, I choose to err on the side of grace.”
Tonight's Offering Plate:
American Red Cross for Tornado Relief
Tonight's Hymn: Song for the Morning Star
Because, despair may reign in the night, but joy comes in the morning.
Tonight's recipe: Sweet Rolls & Bread A whole loaf baked in 35 minutes for me.
Grace - Peace - Hope