PrayerBits for Sunday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Sunday

Scripture lesson: John 20:1-18 Happy Easter

Time to Reflect and Moving through the day: Read the passage and give God thanks and glory.

 Scripture:

The Empty Tomb

 1Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"

 3So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9(They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

 10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

 13They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"

   "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

 15"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
      Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."

 16Jesus said to her, "Mary."
      She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).

 17Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "

 18Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.

PrayerBits for Saturday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Saturday

Scripture lesson: 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 The divine minus sign

Time to reflect: I believe it was the theologian Karl Barth that came up with this analogy: Human sin is an enormous “minus sign” hanging over humanity. The Death of Jesus, an amazingly bad thing, is another minus sign. The two minus signs cancel. We are free from sin.

Moving through the day: This is the ultimate “good can come from evil” – thank God for canceling our sin.

19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

 20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

PrayerBits for Friday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Friday

Scripture Lesson: Psalm 118:1-2,14-24 How God showed “steadfast love”

Time to reflect: The NRSV “steadfast love” is translating a Hebrew word for which there is no English equivalent. It is loyalty and commitment to a partner that is beyond normal beyond compromise. It is faithfulness no matter what. This isn't an emotion it is an attitude. As Christians we believe that the best expression of this is in the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Moving Throughout the day:

On this “Good Friday” focus on why the horrible event can be called “good.”

Psalm 118

 1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
       his love endures forever.

 2 Let Israel say:
       "His love endures forever."

Psalm 118:14-24

Listen to this passage

 14 The LORD is my strength and my song;
       he has become my salvation.

 15 Shouts of joy and victory
       resound in the tents of the righteous:
       "The LORD's right hand has done mighty things!

 16 The LORD's right hand is lifted high;
       the LORD's right hand has done mighty things!"

 17 I will not die but live,
       and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

 18 The LORD has chastened me severely,
       but he has not given me over to death.

 19 Open for me the gates of righteousness;
       I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.

 20 This is the gate of the LORD
       through which the righteous may enter.

 21 I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
       you have become my salvation.

 22 The stone the builders rejected
       has become the capstone;

 23 the LORD has done this,
       and it is marvelous in our eyes.

 24 This is the day the LORD has made;
       let us rejoice and be glad in it.

PrayerBits for Wednesday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Wednesday: Luke 24:1-12 “The Women are crazy”

Scripture lesson: The Apostles simply weren't prepared for something so outside their experience. They simply couldn't believe what the women told them. Peter, at least, was willing to check it out.

Time to reflect: Resurrection is pretty much outside our experience also. Can we take the woman's word for it?

 1On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. 2They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. 5In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? 6He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 7'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " 8Then they remembered his words.

 9When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. 10It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. 11But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. 12Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

PrayerBits for Tuesday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Tuesday

Scripture lesson: Isaiah 66:1-2 Which is more important to God: things or people

Time to reflect: It is not a big deal to God if we build wonderful and expensive temples, but a humble and contrite heart is all important.

Moving through the day: What do you try to offer God? Things? Or yourself?

 1 This is what the LORD says:
       "Heaven is my throne,
       and the earth is my footstool.
       Where is the house you will build for me?
       Where will my resting place be?

 2 Has not my hand made all these things,
       and so they came into being?"
       declares the LORD.
       "This is the one I esteem:
       he who is humble and contrite in spirit,
       and trembles at my word.

PrayerBits for Monday

PrayerBits

A bite sized devotional program
produced by the West Side Presbyterian Church

Monday

Scripture lesson: Song of Solomon 8:6-7 Godly love

Scripture lesson: The Song of Solomon was originally a collection of (bawdy) love songs. However, they were allegorically interpreted, first as an expression of love between God and Israel and then between God and the Church.

Time to reflect: First read these verses as an description of romantic love. Then read them as a description of how the modern Christian Church, and your congregation, should feel about God. Do we have this kind of passion?

 6 Place me like a seal over your heart,
       like a seal on your arm;
       for love is as strong as death,
       its jealousy [a] unyielding as the grave. [b]
       It burns like blazing fire,
       like a mighty flame. [c]

 7 Many waters cannot quench love;
       rivers cannot wash it away.
       If one were to give
       all the wealth of his house for love,
       it [d] would be utterly scorned.