Every day, voices around us tell us what deserves our fear… our focus… our devotion.
We live in a world filled with noise—
constantly demanding our attention and telling us where to look every hour of the day.
Look at what you lack.
Look at who is winning.
Look at who is failing.
Look at who to fear.
Look at who to blame.
But what we keep looking at… has the power to shape us.
If we spend our lives staring only at anger… we become angry.
If we stare only at fear… fear begins to rule us.
If we stare only at what is broken… despair slowly settles into the bones.
But we have the power to look up—
to see the heavens opened—
and Jesus standing before us…
claiming us…
strengthening us…
so that fear and violence don’t get the last word.
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“A decree goes out. Not a conversation. Not a question. Not a community forum. A decree. A registry. A journey demanded. A law passed in an office far away from those it would affect.
No one asked if Mary was tired.
No one asked if Joseph was worried.
No one asked where they’d sleep… or what they’d eat… or who would be there when the baby came.
Empire never asks those questions.”
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“When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, he didn’t give them a formula for getting what they wanted. He gave them a prayer that begins by saying, ‘God, you are God — and I am not.’ It’s a prayer of surrender.
Think of Florence Nightingale on the battlefields of the Crimean War. Every night she prayed, ‘Use me for your work, Lord, not mine.’ Or think of Desmond Doss, praying, ‘Lord, help me get one more,’ as he carried wounded soldiers to safety.
The Lord’s Prayer calls us to let go — to open our empty hands for daily bread, to release our grudges, to trust God with the trials ahead. Because prayer isn’t just about changing our circumstances. It’s about being changed — about letting God’s grace rise up in us like a song.”
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Weekly sermons delivered by The Rev. Dr. Alix D. Pridgen at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Prairie Village, KS
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