Daily Prayer for September 25
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more…And he who sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Revelation 21:1, 5, RSV Lord our God, our Father, we look deep into your mighty Word and see the glory of the new world you will create according to your justice and truth. We thank you for giving us this joy on earth in the midst of all our toil and striving. We look deep into your Word. You make all things new. To this hope our lives are directed, to this hope you have called us, and we want to be faithful forever. Praise to your name, for you have already done great things for us! Keep us in your Word. Let many find the light, for in this light they may look to you in simple faith and constancy until the end, when throughout the world we may see your glory and your grace. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Caught in the Crossfire Tommy Greenan These excerpts from a priest’s diary vividly recount his encounters with villagers during the war in El Salvador. Read now The Stay-at-Home Intellectual Mom Beatrice Scudeler Can a stay-at-home parent still pursue the intellectual life? Read now The Bible’s Story of Freedom Heinrich Arnold Scripture tells an unfinished history of liberation. Read now Form and Freedom Hannah Rose Thomas, C. M. Howell and Malcolm Guite A visual artist, an architect, and a poet celebrate the freedom of coloring within the lines. Read now A Lion in Phnom Penh J. Daniel Sims An insider reckons with complicity and compromise in Cambodia’s aid industry. Read now
Daily Prayer for September 23
Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” Ephesians 4:8, RSV Our dear Father in heaven, we thank you that you have given us the Lord Jesus on high and that we are allowed to be with him and find joy even while still surrounded by all that must fade and perish. For in Jesus Christ you hold us by the hand through anxiety, need, and death. Grant that he may be with us as we continue our pilgrimage. Grant us your Spirit, for we are poor in spirit and in soul. Give us your Holy Spirit from on high. Just in our weakness we come to know what strength and victory you bring through the Lord Jesus, our Savior. The Lord Jesus is our Savior for body, soul, and spirit for ever and ever. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Caught in the Crossfire Tommy Greenan These excerpts from a priest’s diary vividly recount his encounters with villagers during the war in El Salvador. Read now The Stay-at-Home-Intellectual Mom Beatrice Scudeler Can stay-at-home parents still pursue the intellectual life? Read now The Bible’s Story of Freedom Heinrich Arnold Scripture tells an unfinished history of liberation. Read now Form and Freedom Hannah Rose Thomas, C. M. Howell and Malcolm Guite A visual artist, an architect, and a poet celebrate the freedom of coloring within the lines. Read now A Lion in Phnom Penh J. Daniel Sims An insider reckons with complicity and compromise in Cambodia’s aid industry. Read now
Daily Prayer for September 22
He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:10–12, NIV Lord our God, we lift our hearts to you, for you have given great promises to those who fear you. Let your Word strengthen us in faith, patience, and hope. Be with all those who call upon you, pleading for help in our time. For these times must work for our good, and in spite of sin, death, and all evil we can find joy in what you are doing. We call to you, O Lord our God. Let your hand be revealed, that something may be seen besides human striving and the efforts of human hands. Let the work of your hand be visible to many, to all peoples on this earth. May your name be honored, O Lord our God, your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as in heaven. Amen. Recent articles on Plough The Stay-at-Home-Intellectual Mom Beatrice Scudeler Can stay-at-home parents still pursue the intellectual life? Read now The Bible’s Story of Freedom Heinrich Arnold Scripture tells an unfinished history of liberation. Read now Form and Freedom Hannah Rose Thomas, C. M. Howell and Malcolm Guite A visual artist, an architect, and a poet celebrate the freedom of coloring within the lines. Read now A Lion in Phnom Penh J. Daniel Sims An insider reckons with complicity and compromise in Cambodia’s aid industry. Read now The Workers and the Church Sohrab Ahmari What happened to the Christian tradition of supporting workers’ rights? Read now
Daily Prayer for September 21
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” John 7:37–38, NIV Dear Father in heaven, we thank you for sending down powers from on high into our earthly life. We thank you for sending us a higher nature in which we can live for others because we are living by what we receive from you. May we be simple, childlike, and trusting. When anyone despairs of himself, show him the way to the Savior so that he can find trust. Show to us the way of trust, trust for ourselves and for all people, because it is your will for all to receive help. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Form and Freedom Hannah Rose Thomas, C. M. Howell and Malcolm Guite A visual artist, an architect, and a poet celebrate the freedom of coloring within the lines. Read now A Lion in Phnom Penh J. Daniel Sims An insider reckons with complicity and compromise in Cambodia’s aid industry. Read now The Workers and the Church Sohrab Ahmari What happened to the Christian tradition of supporting workers’ rights? Read now The Body She Had Rosemarie Garland-Thomson If only her parents had been spared the terrible freedom of having to choose whether to have a child with a disability. Read now Recovering from Heroin and Fiction Jordan Castro I sought freedom in drugs and novels. They couldn’t save me. Read now
Daily Prayer for September 19
You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19:4–6 Lord our God and our Father, we thank you for all the light you let shine on earth to gladden our hearts. Your light shows us how to live in your creation with open eyes and open hearts, accepting in a childlike way all the good gifts from your hand. How much good you send to many sorrowful hearts, and how much strengthening to those in weakness, poverty, and sickness! Grant that we may recognize what comes from you, that we are not cast down in spirit but mount up again and again on wings like eagles. May we learn to say at all times, “Through how much need has not our merciful God spread out his wings to protect us!” Amen. Recent articles on Plough A Lion in Phnom Penh J. Daniel Sims An insider reckons with complicity and compromise in Cambodia’s aid industry. Read now The Workers and the Church Sohrab Ahmari What happened to the Christian tradition of supporting workers’ rights? Read now The Body She Had Rosemarie Garland-Thomson If only her parents had been spared the terrible freedom of having to choose whether to have a child with a disability. Read now Recovering from Heroin and Fiction Jordan Castro I sought freedom in drugs and novels. They couldn’t save me. Read now In Defiance of All Powers Peter Mommsen What’s the point of freedom? Which kinds of freedom might be worth dying for? Read now
Daily Prayer for September 18
The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. Revelation 21:21–23, NIV Lord our God, we thank you that you have given us your glorious future as the basis for our lives. We thank you that on this foundation we can forget our present troubles and believe that the power of good can move us today to oppose sin, death, and everything evil. Free our hearts from all burdens, and grant that we may have courage to wait patiently for the great help which is to come. Grant that what is happening in the world today may somehow help toward the solution of all the problems. We praise your name, our Father in the heavens. We praise you for the good you do for us each day and for the light you will shed one day on everything on earth, to the glory of your name. Amen. Recent articles on Plough The Workers and the Church Sohrab Ahmari What happened to the Christian tradition of supporting workers’ rights? Read now The Body She Had Rosemarie Garland-Thomson If only her parents had been spared the terrible freedom of having to choose whether to have a child with a disability. Read now Recovering from Heroin and Fiction Jordan Castro I sought freedom in drugs and novels. They couldn’t save me. Read now In Defiance of All Powers Peter Mommsen What’s the point of freedom? Which kinds of freedom might be worth dying for? Read now Heap Burning Coals on Your Enemy’s Head Saint John Chrysostom A Church Father takes a closer look at what this unlikely bit of biblical advice might mean, both for the heaper and the heaped. Read now
Daily Prayer for September 17
People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Mark 7:37, NIV Lord our God, you fill heaven and earth with your Spirit and allow us to share in your gifts. We thank you for all you have given us, for all you are giving and will give. We are poor and needy; all people are poor and needy in spite of their striving, longing, and seeking. Only you, through your Spirit, can awaken something in us to help us go toward your goal. Keep us from being caught up in what men do. The greatest help for our hearts is what you do, and each of us can tell something about it. Each of us has received help beyond anything we had hoped or thought of. How much you have done for us! How much you are doing for the nations! Yes, we thank you for this present time. Although our lives often seem hopeless and full of sorrow, your powers are still living among men, working for their good and awaking them to new life. The time will surely come when our hearts will be released from their hunger and we can be filled with the life from above, which you give us in Jesus Christ. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Recovering from Heroin and Fiction Jordan Castro I sought freedom in drugs and novels. They couldn’t save me. Read now In Defiance of All Powers Peter Mommsen What’s the point of freedom? Which kinds of freedom might be worth dying for? Read now Heap Burning Coals on Your Enemy’s Head Saint John Chrysostom A Church Father takes a closer look at what this unlikely bit of biblical advice might mean, both for the heaper and the heaped. Read now Covering the Cover: Freedom Rosalind Stevenson Birds, boats, broken chains . . . freedom brings to mind many visual metaphors. Read now The Open Road Christina Cannon I went on a roadtrip down Route 66 looking for freedom. Read now
Daily Prayer for September 16
When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. John 15:26–27, NIV Great God and Savior, you want to lead us by the hand so that in communion with you we learn how to live a true life. We thank you for everything we have already received. Guide us still, we pray. Through your Spirit lead us in all areas of our life. Grant us the Spirit, who can illumine our hearts to help us find new courage and new strength and new recognition of the truth. All our praise belongs to you, for you alone can quicken us. You alone free us from the pain of death and from all burdens, so that in spite of toil and struggle we may always be lifted up to you, our God on high, to the glory of your name on earth. Amen. Recent articles on Plough In Defiance of All Powers Peter Mommsen What’s the point of freedom? Read now Heap Burning Coals on Your Enemy’s Head Saint John Chrysostom A Church Father takes a closer look at what this unlikely bit of biblical advice might mean, both for the heaper and the heaped. Read now Covering the Cover: Freedom Rosalind Stevenson Birds, boats, broken chains . . . freedom brings to mind many visual metaphors. Read now The Open Road Christina Cannon I went on a roadtrip down Route 66 looking for freedom. Read now Children at Play Friedrich Froebel The inventor of kindergarten explains the importance of free play for a child’s development. Read now
Daily Prayer for September 14
This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31:33–34, NIV Lord our God, we hope in you. One thing never leaves our hearts, your promise that you will be our God, our God in Jesus Christ. This stands firm, and we want to hold to it in trust and confidence. For your Word remains sure, and all your works lead toward a great and wonderful time when you will be glorified, when our hearts can at last become free because we know you. We can become free from all our own works, free from all trembling and hesitation, free from all suffering and distress, because we know that you, O God, are our Father. Amen. Recent articles on Plough Heap Burning Coals on Your Enemy’s Head Saint John Chrysostom A Church Father takes a closer look at what this unlikely bit of biblical advice might mean, both for the heaper and the heaped. Read now Covering the Cover: Freedom Rosalind Stevenson Birds, boats, broken chains . . . freedom brings to mind many visual metaphors. Read now The Open Road Christina Cannon I went on a roadtrip down Route 66 looking for freedom. Read now Children at Play Friedrich Froebel The inventor of kindergarten explains the importance of free play for a child’s development. Read now American Freedom and Christian Freedom Benjamin Crosby Freedom is central to American ideals and to the Christian faith, but there is danger in confusing the two. Read now
Daily Prayer for September 13
For it is by his grace you are saved, through trusting him; it is not your own doing. It is God’s gift, not a reward for work done. There is nothing for anyone to boast of. Ephesians 2:8–9, NEB Lord our God, we know that we are your children, and in this certainty we gather in your presence as a community. Grant us your Spirit, the Spirit who works in us and frees us from the many evils that still torment us. Be with us and let the power of your great grace and mercy be in our hearts so that we may gain the victory and lead joyful lives on earth in spite of our many shortcomings, blunders, and sins. For your grace is great, much greater than all our failings. You are our God and Father, and we want to keep our consciences clear today and always through your grace. Amen. Recent articles on Plough The Open Road Christina Cannon I went on a roadtrip down Route 66 looking for freedom. Read now Children at Play Friedrich Froebel The inventor of kindergarten explains the importance of free play for a child’s development. Read now American Freedom and Christian Freedom Benjamin Crosby Freedom is central to American ideals and to the Christian faith, but there is danger in confusing the two. Read now In Praise of Excess Alan Koppschall In All Things Are Too Small, Becca Rothfeld makes the case for a more infinite view of the world and rejects the smallness and minimalism of the current age. Read now Bad Faith or Perfect Freedom King-Ho Leung Sartre and Augustine reflect on what it takes to be free. Read now