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About the Teacher Lesson
In the News.
Each teacher lesson includes two Bible study lessons that discuss a current news event that is making headlines. We provide a quick summary of the news item, as you can see below, in the In the News section of the lesson.
Applying the News Story
This section takes the news story that was just discussed and applies it to our lives in the Christian faith, by making Scriptural connections where appropriate.
The Big Questions
Each lesson provides 3-6 critical questions (The Big Questions) sparked by the topic that can be used as a framework for your class discussion.
Confronting the News with Scripture & Hope
Scripture verses that help your adult Sunday school students see how the news item fits into a biblical context.
Discussion Questions
Use Discussion Questions to generate in-depth discussions to really explore together how the Scripture can be applied to our everyday lives.
Closing Prayer
Each lesson provides a short suggestion for what could be included or used as a closing prayer in your classroom.
View Sample Lesson
About the Student Lesson
Edit Lesson or Leave as Is
Your subscription will provide you with a student version of the weekly lesson, which you can freely edit prior to sending it out to your class members. Each lesson contains a greeting to your class that you can use as is or edit to help inform your class about meeting locations, Zoom meeting information, or anything else to help communicate to your class about the next time you will meet.
Email Lesson to Class
After you have decided on which of the 2 lessons you want to use, you can send the lesson to your class members. The student lesson can be emailed from our website using our class management tool each week using our Email Class List feature.
Prepare for Class
The student lesson includes the same questions (The Big Questions) and Scripture verses for additional background and provides your students the opportunity to prepare for the discussion prior to the class.
View a Sample Lesson
Marooned Astronaut is in Constant Contact with Church
The Wired Word for the Week of September 22, 2024
In the News
NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams expected to have an eight-day journey into space, on board the Boeing Starliner. But after experiencing helium leaks and thruster malfunctions, NASA decided to keep the astronauts safe on the International Space Station (ISS) and bring the Starliner home without astronauts in the capsule. The Starliner landed safely in the New Mexico desert earlier this month. (The Wired Word first told their story on July 7, 2024, in the lesson "Astronauts Waiting on Space Station for Spacecraft Repair.")
Wilmore and Williams have been told they will have to stay in space until February 2025, when they ride home on the SpaceX Crew-9 Dragon capsule. The capsule is scheduled to dock at the ISS with a two-person crew this week, on September 26.
Now, reports are emerging about the lives of these astronauts in orbit and how they are dealing with separation from their families on holidays, the lack of regular hot showers, and the mental and physical toll of an extended space mission. According to Baylor's Center for Space Medicine, long durations in space carry the risk of losses in bone density and muscle mass; changes to the brain, eyes and heart; and 100 times the amount of radiation exposure received on earth.
NASA tries to think of everything, but "delays can happen," said former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino on the "Today" show. He said that Williams and Wilmore were likely missing hot showers and facing stress from the extension. "Running water in space is a problem because it floats and also it's kind of a commodity, so you do the best you can with kind of a sponge bath," he said. "You do the best you can but you certainly miss it."
The astronauts told ABC News that they appreciate all the prayers and well wishes from strangers back home. They said that this support has helped them to cope with everything they are missing. For a while, Williams fretted over the loss of precious face-to-face time with her mother. Wilmore felt badly that he would not be on earth for his youngest daughter's final year of high school. But both have remained committed to carrying out their civic duties. Wilmore made a point of requesting an absentee ballot so that he could vote in the November election from orbit.
Fascinating details have emerged about the connection that Wilmore has maintained with his church while he has been in space. Back home in Texas, he is an active member and an elder at Providence Baptist Church in the Houston area. He has known the pastor, Tommy Dahn, for about 17 years.
They first met outside of a nursery when Wilmore's daughters -- now in college and high school -- were young. "I asked him what he did, and he said that he worked at NASA. That was it," Dahn told The Sun. "He doesn't use who he is as his identification. He didn't tell me 'well I'm an astronaut, and I've been a Navy pilot that flew off of aircraft carriers. ...' He is just an employee at NASA and his identity is who he is as a Christian. That's first and foremost for him."
From space, Wilmore has been in nearly "constant communication" with the church, Dahn said. The congregation often prays for him and Wilmore ministers to fellow members from space. He has used pictures and video footage from space to make a biblical presentation of the earth's creation. His trip "just confirmed what he believed before he went to space," Dahn said. Wilmore came to church "convinced of God as the Creator and all of this universe is God's handiwork."
Wilmore has also done personal outreach to church members. "He's called a couple of our older shut-ins from the space station, which is a thrill, of course, for anybody," Dahn said. One of his calls was to the pastor's mother-in-law, who is blind and 93 years old. Dahn said, "She still talks about it."
"As astronauts, they live with contingencies," said Dahn, "His only care ... is that his daughter is a senior in high school this year, and he's going to miss a big part of that senior year." Wilmore will also miss out on Christmas, Thanksgiving and his church's fall festival, but his family is used to being separated, since Wilmore had long deployments in the Navy and three previous trips to space. "So in one sense," added Dahn, "the family is independent because they've had to be with the lifestyle, and yet this was not expected."
More on this story can be found at these links:
Stuck-In-Space Astronauts Reflect on Being Left Behind and Adjusting to Life in Orbit. ABC News
Marooned Astronaut, While Stuck in Space, Is in 'Constant Contact' With Church, The Sun
Applying the News Story
Imagine yourself in outer space, challenged to maintain a connection with your church. Discuss your Christian identity, how you would be challenged to remain faithful in an extreme situation, and what your relationship with the Christian community might look like.
The Big Questions
1. Astronaut Barry Wilmore's "identity is who he is as a Christian," according to his pastor. How do you identify yourself? Although you may also be a child, a parent, a spouse, a volunteer, an employer or an employee, where could you find value in putting Christian identity first?
2. While being marooned in space is an enormous challenge, there are other stressful situations in life. When and where have you been tested in your faith? What spiritual resources helped you? What else would have nourished your faith?
3. Wilmore has remained in "constant communication" with his church. Where do you see value in this? How is it helpful to him and his congregation? What could you do to improve your communication with your Christian community?
4. Both marooned astronauts are missing important holidays and special times with family and friends. When have you faced such separations? What helped you? How could you reach out to others experiencing such situations?
5. Pastor Tommy Dahn said, "As astronauts, they live with contingencies" -- with uncertainties and unexpected possibilities. How does your Christian faith help you to face the uncertainties of life and "live with contingencies"?
Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:
Psalm 19:1
The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. (For context, read Psalm 19:1-6.)
The writer of Psalm 19 was a poet who looked up at the sky and saw the handiwork of God in the sun and moon, the stars and the planets. He did not understand outer space as we do today, but thought that the sky was a "firmament," a solid dome that held back the waters which fell as rain. This firmament was a structure that supported the sun, moon, stars and planets. We may not talk about a firmament in science classes today, but we want our children to look at the planets and the stars and see the handiwork of their Creator, the result of billions of years of work.
The psalm-writer says that creation speaks to us, but in a strange way -- it does not use words. "Day to day pours forth speech," says the psalm, "and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world" (vv. 2-4). So, how does creation speak to us, if it does not use words? Perhaps through physics and chemistry and the science of life itself. Creation is telling us that God is good, and that God wants to provide for us -- our earth is a lush, green island of life in the middle of the cold, lifeless expanse of space.
Questions: Where do you see the glory of God in creation? What message would you want to send your congregation from the International Space Station?
John 15:16
You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. (For context, read John 15:12-17.)
On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus says that our identity as his followers comes from the fact that he has chosen us and appointed us to go and bear "fruit that will last." This verse comes soon after his command to his disciples to "love one another as I have loved you" (v. 12), an order that makes a connection between his love for us and our love for one another. Apart from Jesus and his loving example, we can do very little good in this world. He then illustrates the distinctive kind of love that he is calling us to practice by saying, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends" (v. 13). He will go on to illustrate this sacrificial love with the gift of his own life on the cross.
The Greek word for love in this section is agapē, a love that always seeks the welfare of the other person. Each of us has the ability to show this kind of love, following the commandment of Jesus to "love one another as I have loved you" (v. 12). The challenge of loving each other in this way might seem impossible to some. Too much of a challenge. But the truth is that we can succeed in loving because we have been chosen by Jesus to love one another and "go and bear fruit, fruit that will last." Jesus concludes the section by saying that he has given "these commands so that you may love one another" (v. 17).
Questions: How is your identity grounded in being chosen by Jesus, if at all? How does this differ from making a personal choice about your identity? When and where do you feel an obligation, as a follower of Christ, to love your neighbor and bear "fruit that will last"?
Romans 12:4-5
For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. (For context, read Romans 12:3-8.)
Paul's letter to the Romans was written to a community he had hopes of visiting. It is a very theological letter that begins with a compelling definition of the gospel: "it is God's saving power for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith, as it is written, 'The one who is righteous will live by faith'" (1:16-17). He speaks of righteousness through faith, the example of Abraham, dying and rising with Christ, life in the Spirit, and finally God's election of Israel.
Beginning in the 12th chapter, Paul turns to the practical matters of what it means to live in a Chrsitian community. He tells them that the community is "one body" with "many members," and that "individually we are members of one another." He stresses the strong connections that bind us to one another, and speaks of how we have "gifts that differ according to the grace given to us" (v. 6). These gifts are all different, from the teachers of the first century to the astronauts of today, but they are equally valuable because they are all given by God.
Questions: When do you feel most connected to the Christian community? When do you feel disconnected, and what helps you to restore the relationship? What gifts do you have to offer, and how can they be offered in creative ways? Biblical presentations from outer space are not the only way to exercise God-given gifts.
2 Corinthians 4:8-10
We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. (For context, read 2 Corinthians 4:7-15.)
Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians was written after he became estranged from this community and feared that another visit would be painful (2:1). Although he wanted to visit Corinth, he felt that his leadership there was being questioned, and his ministry was being disrupted by people who were false apostles (11:13). If he came to the city, he feared that there would be "quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder" (12:20).
Given this background, it is not surprising that Paul would spend much of the fourth chapter talking about the stress of ministry, and how God has sustained him in challenging situations. He describes himself and his colleague Timothy as being "afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed." What sustains him in his difficulties is his discovery that they are "always carrying around in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may [also] be made visible in our bodies." His identity as a follower of Christ is defined by dying and rising with Christ, and this identity enables him to face difficulty with grace.
Questions: How do you feel Jesus to be present with you in challenging situations? When, if ever, have you been able to show grace to others in a time of stress? What is the value of ministry in times of pressure, as opposed to times of ease?
For Further Discussion
1. One of the James Webb Space Telescope's most intriguing discoveries is "Little Red Dots": hundreds of galaxies lying in one of the most ancient regions of the universe. According to The Byte, "the Little Red Dots were only visible for a period of around one billion years, about 600 to 800 million years after the Big Bang. Now, they're nowhere to be found, and determining exactly what they are will be crucial to figuring out where they fit into the evolution of our universe." How and why do such discoveries strengthen (or weaken) your faith in God as Creator?
2. The phrase "There's always a rainbow after the storm" is designed to inspire hope and resilience. It suggests that after difficult times (the storm), there can be moments of beauty and positivity (the rainbow). In fact, from a scientific standpoint, rainbows require a storm (or, at the very least, water droplets floating in the air). When, in your life of faith, have you experienced a rainbow after a storm? What did you learn from the experience?
3. The pandemic caused many Christians to disengage from church. What is your congregation doing to reconnect members to the body of Christ? What more could be done?
4. The book of Acts tells us that the first followers of Jesus were scattered through persecutions, and then some of them gathered in Antioch and were taught by Barnabas and Saul. Acts 11:26 reports that "it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called 'Christians.'" What connection, if any, do you make between persecution and Christian identity? When have you grown stronger in your faith as a result of a struggle?
Responding to the News
Reflect on your Christian identity, and make a commitment to take action this week to connect with fellow followers of Jesus in a new way.
Prayer
Lord God, we thank you for all who find their identity in your Son Jesus, and who practice their faith in challenging circumstances. Help us to do the same, as members of the worldwide body of Christ. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Other News This Week
Chicago Cubs Achieve First Combined No-hitter at Wrigley Field Since 1972
The Wired Word for the Week of September 22, 2024
In the News
Earlier this month, Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Shota Imanaga and relievers Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge threw a combined no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the first at Wrigley Field since Milt Pappas pitched a no-hitter there almost 42 years to the day against the Padres. The Cubs have only thrown two combined no-hitters in the club's 150-year history, both since 2021.
In the September 4 no-hitter, Imanaga held the Pirates hitless for seven innings, before manager Craig Counsell replaced him with Pearson, who pitched a hitless 8th. Hodge stepped in to finish the job in the 9th inning. The rookie right-hander retired three Pirates batters with three consecutive ground balls to shortstop Dansby Swanson, who tossed them to first baseman Michael Busch. Chicago won the game 12-0 over Pittsburgh.
Later Counsell defended his decision to pull Shota: "Look, it's always hard to do in that situation. But you're taking care of Shota. It's not fun to do, but you're prioritizing the player's health."
Major League Baseball (MLB) defines a no-hitter (aka a no-no for "no hits no runs") as a game of at least nine complete innings in which a pitcher or pitching staff allow no hits by the opposing team. A no-hitter thrown by a combination of the starting and relief pitchers is called a combined no-hitter.
In a no-hitter, a batter could still reach base without a hit (by a walk, an error, or being hit by a pitch). If the opposing team manages to score in such a case, a pitcher who threw a no-hitter could still lose the game.
A no-hitter is one of the rarest and hardest pitching accomplishments. Most no-hitters are thrown by a single pitcher who faces at least 27 batters. Only 326 have been thrown in MLB history since 1876, an average of about two per year, 24 of which were perfect games (games in which the pitcher allowed no hits, no walks, no batters hit by a pitch and no errors).
Imanaga had no ill feelings about the matter. "I have a lot of respect for everyone," he said. “Porter, Nate, Miggy [the catcher], all the defense. ... I'm just thankful for everybody today."
More on this story can be found at these links:
Shota's 7 Frames Start Cubs' First No-no at Wrigley Since 1972. Major League Baseball
The No-No: A Beauty of Baseball. Bleacher Report
No-hitter. Baseball.fandom
No-hitter. Wikipedia
What is a Perfect Game in Baseball? Baseball360
Applying the News Story
The news provides us with the opportunity to discuss the importance of trusting God's wisdom and working as partners with God and other believers to accomplish the purposes God has for us.
The Big Questions
1. Which experience do you find more fulfilling: achieving a personal goal as an individual, or accomplishing an objective with others as a team? What makes either satisfying to you?
2. When have you discovered that you really needed the support and assistance of others to achieve your goals as an individual? When have you found reaching a team objective personally fulfilling?
3. What does it mean to be a partner with God?
4. What strengths and gifts do you bring to the work of the church?
5. Where do you see strengths and gifts that you lack to be evident in other believers who enhance the work of the church in areas that are not your strong suit? How can you affirm and encourage those believers to exercise their gifts?
Confronting the News with Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:
Exodus 7:1-2, 6
The LORD said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land." ... Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the LORD commanded them. (For context, read Exodus 7:1-7.)
When God called Moses to deliver his people from slavery in Egypt, Moses begged to be excused. From his point of view, his reluctance was perfectly logical. He didn't have the skills needed for the job; he was a fugitive from the law; he wouldn't win any popularity contests in Egypt since he had killed an Egyptian; he had deficits and disabilities -- he wasn't a young man anymore, and besides that, he stuttered badly. So he helpfully suggested his eloquent older brother Aaron to fill the spot.
God was none too pleased with Moses' hesitation, especially after God assured him that he was willing and able to supply whatever Moses lacked in order to accomplish the task at hand. But God accepted the idea that Aaron become part of Moses' support network. They could encourage each other to trust God when things got tough and become partners in the work of liberation.
Moses was right about one thing: He couldn't do this work alone. But God wanted him to know that he was All in all -- God was everything Moses would ever need in any and all challenges he might face. And in God's mercy, he allowed the addition of his brother Aaron to the team, to boost Moses' morale.
Questions: What has God provided to encourage you when you felt inadequate to do what God was calling you to do? How do you balance trust in God as the All-Sufficient One with your need for human companions on your spiritual journey? Name people who are part of your support network, and give thanks to God for making you part of that team.
Nehemiah 3:28-31
Above the Horse Gate the priests made repairs, each one opposite his own house. After them Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his own house. After him Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, made repairs. After him Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After him Meshullam son of Berechiah made repairs opposite his living quarters. After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, opposite the Muster Gate, and to the upper room of the corner. (For context, read Nehemiah 3:1-32.)
"How do you eat an elephant?" asked a jokester.
"One bite at a time," answered the sage.
Nehemiah led the Israelites returning from exile in the difficult task of rebuilding Jerusalem's city wall, to restore security and some sense of normalcy. The task must have seemed overwhelming at first, so Nehemiah broke it down into "bite-sized" pieces. He gave each group and family a particular assignment.
In this chapter, the phrase "next to him" or "next to them" occurs 15 times, while the phrase "after him" appears 16 times. No one person or group had to rebuild the entire wall, but as each worked on their own section, rubble was cleared away and reconstruction was completed in an astonishing 52 days! The city wall, which had lain in ruins for nearly 140 years, was finally repaired.
The pitching staff of the Chicago Cubs accomplished their Wrigley Field no-hitter after a 42-year drought, in part because they utilized their individual skills while relying on each other as well. It wasn't a one-man show; it was a joint effort. As in the story of Nehemiah, the Cubs' effort reminds us that when we unite with others towards a common goal, we can achieve extraordinary things.
Questions: What difference, if any, do you think it made in the level of investment and motivation of the returning exiles that they were often assigned sections of the wall to repair that were near their own homes? Using the story of Nehemiah as a metaphor for shoring up a broken society, how would you describe the "section of the wall" to which you have been assigned, and how are you working to rebuild it? Who are your neighbors working to your right and to your left?
Mark 6:39-43
Then [Jesus] ordered them to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and he divided the two fish among them all. And all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. (For context, read Mark 6:34-44.)
Jesus and his disciples faced a crowd of 5,000 hungry men (with perhaps double or triple or more, including women and children) with only five rolls and two fish. An incomprehensible quandary, the disciples thought. While they focused on limitations and problems (they were in a deserted place, the hour was very late, the crowd was too big, their resources too small, vv. 35-37), Jesus looked for assets and possibilities (v. 38).
Jesus had a deep faith in God's providence. He knew God was quite capable of feeding everyone with plenty to spare. Had God not provided manna, meat and water to his people in the wilderness? Could God not do the same for a much smaller crowd who stood before him that day?
Jesus' disciples had little faith of their own, but Jesus more than made up for what they lacked, and let them "borrow" his faith, as he invited them to participate in the miracle by distributing food to the hungry. Through teamwork, he showed that we can make the most of what we have, no matter how little it may seem. By combining resources and working together toward a common goal, following Jesus' direction, they achieved what they had never thought possible.
Even so, our coordinated efforts, combined with obedience and faith, can lead to extraordinary results.
Questions: What does it take to shift our focus from limitations and problems to assets and possibilities? What could explain the fact that the disciples ended up with more food than they started with, even after feeding all those people?
1 Corinthians 3:8-11
The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and each will receive wages according to their own labor. For we are God's coworkers, working together; you are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Let each builder choose with care how to build on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. (For context, read 1 Corinthians 3:1-11.)
Here Paul addressed the problem of divisiveness in the Corinthian church. The tendency to emphasize our differences rather than our commonalities is not just a problem in society at large; the church has the same challenge. The Corinthians were favoring one leader over another, and looked down on other believers who were trained under a different teacher (v. 4).
But Paul asserts that each leader only fulfilled the role God had assigned to each one (Paul planted the seed, which Apollos watered); they were merely servants of God through whom the Corinthians came to believe in Jesus. And God caused the seed of faith to grow (vv. 5-7), so the focus of praise rightfully belongs to God, not to those who work under God's supervision.
Questions: How does this passage speak to each believer's individual contribution to the work of God? How does it address the partnership of believers with God and with each other? What is our shared "one purpose" as "God's coworkers, working together"?
How can we be sure that we are building on the same foundation of Jesus Christ? Since God employs different workers, some to plant and some to water, and builders who each contribute something different to "God's building," what should be our attitude toward other people who are working in God's field or building?
For Further Discussion
1. Comment on this, from The Wired Word team member Frank Ramirez: "When I was a kid no one would have dreamed of taking someone out if they were pitching a no-hitter. Far from seeing it as cooperating, I look on it as not having faith in the people around us in church, trying to undercut their efforts when they're doing God’s work."
2. React to this: One of The Wired Word team members, a retired pastor, recalls the pain years ago of hearing one of her supervisors tell her that her "services were no longer required." She says it felt like she was being placed on the shelf, or worse, taken out with the trash. Much later, she came to view the experience as an opportunity to trust that God cared for her well-being and knew how to place her where she could flourish and grow in her relationship with God, and make the most effective use of her spiritual gifts. She also recognized that God had other servants who could step into ministry roles she had occupied previously; she was not indispensable to the work of God, and she could trust God to care for the work and the people she had to leave behind.
3. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus calls those who are weary to come to him and take up his yoke and learn from him, for he is meek and lowly of heart. How does this metaphor express what it means to partner with Jesus?
4. Discuss this: In a game against the Milwaukee Braves on May 26, 1959, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Harvey Haddix gave up no hits for 12 perfect innings, but in the 13th inning, his teammate, third baseman Don Hoak, made an error that allowed Braves' player Félix Mantilla to reach first base.
The Braves pitcher Lew Burdette had given up eight hits through nine innings, but the Pirates failed to score. In the end, the Braves won the game 1-0.
The Wired Word team member Bill Tammeus was a high school freshman then and remembers grieving for Haddix. "Of course, I grew up a Cubs' fan, so I knew how to lose," Tammeus reflected.
When MLB redefined a no-hitter in 1991 as "a game in which a pitcher or pitchers complete a game of nine innings or more without allowing a hit," Haddix's remarkable accomplishment was struck from the record books. But Haddix was philosophical about it. "It's O.K. I know what I did," he said.
Haddix's 12 2⁄3-inning perfect game is considered by many to be the best pitching performance in big league history, even though he lost the no-hitter designation and his team lost the game. In his song, "Harvey Haddix" (with lyrics here), Steve Wynn suggests that Haddix, "who picked off more batters in a row than anybody else in baseball history, deserves recognition for a feat 33 percent more superhuman than those who've pitched perfect games."
Responding to the News
Reflect on the people who have been partners in ministry with you over the years. How have they enriched your life? Give thanks to God for them, and when possible, find ways to express your appreciation to those partners for what they have added to your joy and effectiveness.
Prayer suggested by Philippians 1:3-7; 1 Corinthians 1:4-17
We thank you, O God, for calling us into partnership with your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, in your work of grace in the world! Thank you also for giving us human partners in the gospel of your grace with whom we can labor, and for the assurance you provide that you will complete the work you have begun in us. By your Spirit, knit us together in the same mind, the mind of Christ, and for the same purpose of doing your will on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
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