One of the blogs we follow (it’s RevGalBlogPals over in our sidebar) posted a request for favourite scriptures the other day. At first I thought I didn’t really have any, or at least not five of them I could quote off the top of my head. I used to think I just could not remember chapter and verse at all! But that has changed.
One of the first I recall thinking “I can remember that!” was Jeremiah 31:31. Paraphrasing a couple of verses that begin there: God said, I will make a new covenant... I will put my law into their hearts and I will be their God and they will be my people.
And I recall the old question used to divide the congregation. “Are you a Great Commission Christian or a Lukan Manifesto person?” In other words, do you prefer Go into all the world and make disciples (Matt 28) or would you rather bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind and let the oppressed go free (Luke 4)? I know, I know. It needn't be either/or and can be both/and.
Of course I was delighted to find Mark 12:28 And Jesus had spent all day arguing with the Sadducees. That felt like a verse made just for me, after all, how bad can it be if Jesus spent the whole day arguing? And another I often think of, especially if the dampness has got into my joints: Strengthen the weak hands; make firm the feeble knees (Isaiah 35:3).
Many have grabbed hold of some of the later passages from the Doctrine and Covenants, and there is some wonderful poetry there as well as memorable scripture, but I still like Section 119:8b a whole lot: all are called according to the gifts of God unto them…let them labour together for the work intrusted to all.
Why I even had a passage from the book of Moroni read at my ordination: whatsoever thing is good is just and true; nothing that is good denies the Christ but acknowledges that he is. (Moroni 10: 6) I like the rest of that chapter pretty much too. And I expect several of you to be thinking of King Benjamin’s words.
Several of those who commented on the Gals’ blog quoted Micah. And it’s true. You really can’t beat it: He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
So there you have some of MY favourites. Care to share some of yours? And do you remember chapter and verse?
Posted by Marion
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For starters, I will submit Romans 14:8. (Yes, I have memorized the reference.) "If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord, so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living." The philosophy behind the comfort found in this verse is one of the reasons I am passionate about this church.
ReplyDeleteIndeed interesting that the first two favourites to come in are both from Romans!
ReplyDeleteThanks folks.
Psalm 100, verse 4. "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise." For years now I have believed that this is an "energetic success formula". If I want to truly approach and be one with the spirit, I must first cultivate and practice the spiritual disciplines of giving thanks and of giving praise.
ReplyDeleteAlso Proverbs 3:5-6. "Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths. ... In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." This one always helps to remind me that it's not what appears to be logical to me that is the right path.