Verse of the day
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.
– Isaiah 25:6
Voice of the day
See, stay alive / in the meantime, laugh / a little harder. Go on / and gnaw that bone clean.
– Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, “The Gospel of Barbecue” (2000)
Prayer of the day
God of the Table, may we honor the abundance of your feast and work to make sure everyone has food to enjoy each day.
“In order for me to write poetry that isn’t political,
I must listen to the birds
and in order to hear the birds
the warplanes must be silent”
—Marwan Makhoul
“There were times when it would have been easy to fall apart or to go in the opposite direction, but somehow I felt that if I took one more step, someone would come along to join me.”—Rosa Parks
Verse of the day
Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.
– Psalm 34:14
Voice of the day
But peace, like a poem, / is not there ahead of itself, / can’t be imagined before it is made, / can’t be known except / in the words of its making, / grammar of justice, / syntax of mutual aid.
– Denise Levertov, “Making Peace” (1987)
Prayer of the day
Great Peacemaker, give us the courage to pursue the peace we can’t yet see, to make the world we can’t yet imagine.
Verse of the day
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are humans that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
– Psalm 8:3-4
Voice of the day
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.
– Rachel Carson, “Silent Spring” (1962)
Prayer of the day
Creator, your glory is revealed in the earth around us. Help us to listen to the rhythms of nature and honor them as we seek to honor you.
“Love doesn’t make our struggles vanish. It doesn’t mean carrying perpetual optimism into our days or even having to believe that everything will be okay. It does mean that I believe Love is the foundation of everything and holds us in our sorrow as well as our delight. “
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD,Love Holds You: Poems and Devotions for Times of Uncertainty
How does Love sustain you in times of struggle?
“The spareness of the trees reminds us of our own essence when it is stripped bare. Awareness of death has a way of reminding us of what is most important.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD,Sacred Seasons: A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year – A Self-Study Online Retreat
What is winter’s invitation to you this season?
Verse of the day
So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.
– Galatians 6:9
Voice of the day
Now let us begin. Now let us re-dedicate ourselves to the long and bitter – but beautiful – struggle for a new world.
– Martin Luther King Jr.
Prayer of the day
Jesus, you are the one who upset tables. Remind us that while direct service and personal moments of reflection have their place, to truly struggle for a new world we must have courage to organize, preach, vote, write, and agitate in a way that places anti-capitalism at the center of the beloved community.
– Adapted from Andrew Wilkes, “MLK Rooted His Anti-Capitalism in His Christian Ministry”
“We will win the rights for gays, or blacks, or Hispanics, or women within the context of whether we are fighting for all…You have to all combine and fight a head-on battle—in the name of justice and equality—and even that’s going to be difficult.”—Bayard Rustin
