Living in a Bitter Day

Lord of all wisdom and patience, what would it mean if we asked you to dedicate not only the gifts we give to the church, but all the rest that we keep, that we hold back. What if we lived as those whose every dollar, every talent, every hour was dedicated to making kindness, mercy, and justice the norm and not the exception? What would it mean if we really saw the places where indifference causes pain, hardship, and harm to souls, bodies, and creation itself? Help us to make this more than a hypothetical, but the reality of an offering of our whole being. We pray in the name of the One who gave his whole self for our redemption. Amen. (Amos 8:1-12)