Several years ago, at a Dial Hope Event, we had astronaut and artist Nicole Stott come to speak. She was absolutely inspiring! In addition to flying on the Space Shuttle, Nicole spent 3 months onboard the International Space Station. She told us that looking back at the view of our planet from outer space was breathtaking. This view also made it clear that in so many ways, our life as human beings is shared… We are tied together in more ways than we can ever begin to imagine. And before we are any other label, truly we are all earthlings.  

I love that. Earthlings. Whatever else divides us, we share this one beautiful, fragile home.

All of this reminds me of that beloved passage of scripture from John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…” Notice John did not write, “For God so loved the Presbyterians…” Nor did he write, “For God so loved the liberals.” Or, for God so loved the conservatives.” No. John writes, for God so loved… the world…. 

As those who follow Jesus, may we find ways to love the world as he loved it.  

Let us pray: We thank you, Loving God, for creating this beautiful planet on which we live and make our way through life together. We thank you for science and the ability to glimpse our world from your perspective. Above all, we thank you for your love for each and every one of us. Help us to accept that love and share it. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

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The Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians: "Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 5:19-20)

There is a Swedish proverb: those who wish to sing always find a song.

I have known people like that. My friend Kenny White was one of them — always a song on his lips, schooled in old gospel music, with a voice to match. A senior pastor I served with had a beautiful bass voice that could often be heard rolling down the hallway of the church office. And I've known others who couldn't carry a tune to save their lives but would add their voices joyfully anyway, because the music in them simply had to come out.

Those who wish to sing always find a song.

But here is what strikes me: we could say the same thing about gratitude. Those who wish to give thanks always find a way. Paul wrote many of his letters from prison — and yet gratitude seeps out of every line. And even today, most of us know people who face real adversity with remarkable resilience. Almost without exception, they are people who keep giving, keep serving, keep showing up for others even in the midst of their own suffering. Their lives seem to sing — in spite of everything.

Gratitude, it turns out, is less about circumstances and more about intention. It is a choice made quietly, every day, to look for the song.

May you find it today — whether you sing out loud or only in your heart.

Prayer: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty — heaven and earth are full of your glory. We praise you, loving God, for the eternal song of love that ever surrounds us. Give us ears to hear its melody and open hearts to join the chorus. And in whatever we are facing today, help us to live lives that make music — quietly, gratefully, always giving you thanks and praise. Through Jesus Christ. Amen.

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A story is told that Neil Marten, a member of the British Parliament, was once giving a group of constituents a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament. During the visit, the group happened to encounter Lord Hailsham, then serving as Lord Chancellor, wearing the full regalia of his office. Spotting Marten among the crowd, Hailsham called out across the hall: "Neil!"

Not daring to question what sounded like a command, the entire group of visitors promptly dropped to their knees.

I love that story. I've never been in a situation that required me to kneel before another person. But there is something about that instinctive response — that immediate, unquestioning humility — that resonates deeply when I think about coming into the presence of God.

Throughout scripture, people pray in remarkably different postures. Standing, sitting, kneeling, bowing, lying face down on the ground. Each posture carries its own meaning — reverence, surrender, desperation, gratitude. I've been known to pray flat on my back, staring up at the ceiling. There's something about that position that reminds me just how small I am, and how held.

Our bodies have a way of telling our hearts what to believe. When we kneel, something in us softens. When we open our hands, something in us releases. Posture is not just physical — it is a kind of prayer before the prayer begins.

Today, I'd like to invite you to try something different. Before you pray, shift your position — kneel, stand, open your palms, or simply bow your head more slowly than usual. However it looks, the most important thing is this: bow the heart in humility and wonder before the Creator and Lord of all that is.

Prayer: You are the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. You are worthy to receive glory, honor, and power. And so we come before you — on the very knees of our hearts — praising you with our entire being. Today, we thank you for the gift of life and the wonder of living. We thank you for a path to walk, for companions along life's journey, and for your guiding, redeeming love. Fill us again with your grace and joy — that these gifts would be ours to share. Amen.

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A friend of mine, in his mid-thirties, had a large tumor removed from his right arm. You can imagine the fear of that season — the waiting, the surgery, the not knowing. Fifteen years later he told me that every time he looks at the scar where the tumor was removed, he feels gratitude. Gratitude for the use of the arm. Gratitude that the tumor was benign. Gratitude for the gift of life itself.

The scar became a daily reminder of grace.

I think about the woman I knew in seminary who had scars on both arms from a painful season in her adolescence. She carried herself with a poise and a wisdom that seemed beyond her years. I watched her work with the homeless with a gentleness and an understanding that stopped me. And I knew — she would minister to people's pain in ways I never could, precisely because she had lived inside her own.

Carlyle Marney, one of the great Baptist preachers of the twentieth century, once said: "God often uses people who are deeply wounded. On the last day, Jesus will look us over not for medals, diplomas, or honors — but for scars."

Our scars are part of our story. They are the marks of experience — evidence of wounds that were real, of pain that was genuine, of losses that cost us something. They are not signs of weakness. They are signs that we have lived, that we have endured, that we are still here.

And in the hands of a redeeming God, they become something more. They become the very places through which we connect with others. The very places where compassion is born. The very places where grace enters in.

Whatever you have been through — whatever marks it has left — may you come to trust that God is not finished with that part of your story. The scars are not the end. They are where the resurrection work often begins.

Prayer: Redeeming God, we thank you that nothing in our story is wasted — not the wounds, not the losses, not the scars we carry quietly from seasons long past. Take what has been broken in us and make it useful. Take what has been painful and make it a source of compassion for others. May our scars become not reminders of our weakness, but of your resurrection power and grace. Through Jesus Christ. Amen.

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Thomas gets a bad reputation. We call him "Doubting Thomas" as if his skepticism were a character flaw to be corrected. But I've come to think he was pointing to something important.

When Thomas heard that his friends had seen the risen Christ, he said: "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe." (John 20:25)

That sounds like stubbornness. But listen more carefully. What Thomas was really saying was this: the Jesus I know has wounds. The Jesus I followed suffered. The Jesus I love has scars. Show me those — and then I will believe.

Early in Christian history there was a heresy called Docetism. The Docetists claimed that Christ only appeared to be human — that he didn't really suffer, didn't really live and die as we must. The church said no. Emphatically. Jesus was fully God and fully human. The risen Christ still bore the marks of the cross. Without the wounds, it isn't the gospel.

Because only a wounded God can save.

A woman named Linda once showed up at the home of a stranger named Lonni, whose baby was dying of cancer. Linda stayed for forty-eight hours — through the dying and beyond. At one point she stood looking out into the night and said in a shaky voice: "I don't understand why God allows children to suffer like this. But I know this: you can trust a God who suffers. When you can't trust anything else, you can trust a God who has suffered."

That is the gospel. Not a God who observes our pain from a safe distance, but one who entered it. Who bears the scars of it still.

When you find yourself in the middle of something that is hard to bear — you are not alone in unfamiliar territory. You are in the presence of one who knows the way through from the inside.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we thank you that you did not come to us untouched by suffering. You entered our pain. You bore our wounds. And you rose still carrying the marks of it. When we are hurting today, remind us that we are not alone — that we bring our wounds to one who understands them completely. Be near to those who are suffering. And may the knowledge of your presence be enough. Amen.

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