A Prayer From Sister Helen

God of Compassion

You let your rain fall on the just and the unjust.

Expand and deepen our hearts

so that we may love as You love,

even those among us

who have caused the greatest pain by taking life.

For there is in our land a great cry for vengeance

as we fill up death row and kill the killers

in the name of justice, in the name of peace.

Jesus, our brother,

you suffered execution at the hands of the state

but you did not let hatred overcome you

Help us to reach out to victims of violence

so that our enduring love may help them heal.

Holy Spirit of God,

You strengthen us in the struggle for justice,

Help us to work tirelessly

for the abolition of state-sanctioned death

and to renew our society in its very heart

so that violence will be no more.

Amen.

The Power of Inner Peace

Bishop Walter S. Thomas

You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

There is no substitute for inner peace. The human quest for things and possessions cannot compete with the joy of a quieted spirit and stable mind. In this age of chaos and confusion, the hope of the saints is for inner peace.

When I was a child, our home was filled with happiness and excitement. It was just the four of us, Daddy, Momma, my brother and myself, yet the house resonated with excitement about the day and the things we would do or get into. Each evening we would press our khaki pants and starch the collars of our shirt and then go outside and spend the evening with neighborhood friends. After momma blinked the lights we would come into the house and the family would watch the one television we had.

We would pop Jiffy Pop Popcorn and drink soda as we start together in the living room watching the television. Life was so simple and we were sop happy. We did not have a television in every room. We did not have air conditioning. We only had one car. Momma cooked every night, my father drove the family to church each week, as he and my mother were officers. We prayed before meals, before bed, and before we started each day. We read scripture at mealtime. We talked about our day and our hopes and dreams.

We loved God, each other, God’s world, and ourselves. In our little home, we grew up with the assurance that God would be with us and that God would always be there for us. I know no other truth that has been so embedded in my spirit.

Isaiah’s world is intended to give us the stability and the security. He gives us a promise that God will keep us in the peace we need and the peace we have enjoyed as long as our minds are stayed on him. When our hearts are once again turned to simple fellowship and intimate communion, we will know God’s peace and it will pass all understanding. AS a child I remember the joy and the peace of feeling that we were safe and secure.

As an adult, whose earthly father is now deceased and whose mother is almost 90 years old, I have found the peace that the Father promises. I have found that meditating on God’s love and grace has given me the inner security that translates into inner peace. This is God’s gracious gift to each and every one of us. We can sit in our world and know that all is well. God will take care of us.

We Have An Inheritance

Brenda Gittens
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Divide the land among the tribes in proportion to their populations, as indicated by the census." (Numbers 26:52-53).

Every ten years the census conducted is to count the population of the United States and they need information from us to describe our families, households, and communities. I thought about the census that was taken in the book of Numbers, the results of it, and what the descendants from the twelve tribes of Israel were granted by God. They received an inheritance back then, and we as His people today have received one, because we're counted in "God's Census."

God required that every man in Israel be counted, because each family was entitled to an inheritance. And when they died, it would only go to their sons. Take notice, a female receiving it was unheard of until these five. Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah, were the daughters of a man who died in the wilderness named Zelophehad who was a son, grandson, and three-time great-grandson, but he had no sons of his own.

These sisters called a meeting with Moses, Elezar the priest, the tribal leaders, and the entire community to say that they should receive their father's inheritance. "Why should the name of our father disappear just because he had no sons? Give us property along with the rest of our relatives." (Numbers 27:4). So Moses took the sisters case before the Lord and it was granted for them!

This was a decision of the Lord, and what a breakthrough for women also! And the LORD replied to Moses, "The daughters of Zelophehad are right. You must give them an inheritance of land along with their father's relatives. Assign them the property that would have been given to their father." (Numbers 27:6-7).

The Lord's granting of the allotments of land as an inheritance, showed His goodness and justice to His people. Today, He still demonstrates His goodness to believers, by granting us eternal life. And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (1 John 5:11). And Paul lets us know that God has qualified us for our share.

"May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God's holy people, who live in the light." (Colossians 1:11-12). This right here ought to be enough for all of us to rejoice in, no matter what the economy looks like, or who backs the stimulus package!

WE HAVE AN INHERITANCE!

PRAYER: Lord God, You are a wise and kind God. You extend Your goodness to Your people both now and in time past. We thank You for counting us among Your people, Hallelujah, and we praise You Lord for granting us an inheritance, the gift of eternal life through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen!

Memorial Day

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. Martin Luther King, Jr.,

Love

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching
spiritual death.

Martin Luther King, Jr.