Reading is from James 5:13-18

The primary use of prayer, … is not for expressing ourselves but in becoming ourselves, and we cannot do that alone. In praying the Psalms with others, then, we learn to become more and more ourselves in the company of the faithful.
~ W. David O. Taylor, 1972- , Professor of Theology, The Open and Unafraid

There are only two kinds of people: the righteous who think they are sinners and the sinners who think they are righteous. ~ Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662, Pensées


Faith, if you like, can be defined like this: It is a man insisting upon thinking when everything seems determined to bludgeon and knock him down in an intellectual sense. The trouble with the person of little faith is that, instead of controlling his own thought, his thought is being controlled by something else [circumstances, for example], and, as we put it, he goes round and round in circles. That is the essence of worry. . . . That is not thought; that is the absence of thought, a failure to think. ~ D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 1899-1981, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount

Christian hope rests upon the fact not that evil can be ignored, or that it will simply fade away, but that it has been judged at the cross.
~ David F. Wells, 1939- , (Zimbabwe) theologian, professor and author

As a pastor, I’ve had people come to me and confess that they struggle with almost every kind of sin. Almost. I cannot recall anyone ever coming to me and saying, “I spend too much money on myself. I think my greedy lust for money is harming my family, my soul, and people around me.
~ Timothy Keller, ‘We Can’t See Our Own Greed’, Preaching Today

Every day God patiently bears with us, and every day we are tempted to become impatient with our friends, neighbors, and loved ones. And our faults and failures before God are so much more serious than the petty actions of others that tend to irritate us! God calls us to graciously bear with the weaknesses of others, tolerating them and forgiving them even as He has forgiven us.
~ Jerry Bridges, 1929-2016, The Practice of Godliness (NavPress, 1996).

Program for June 2nd

Reflect, Resonate, Reevaluate, Respond

Hope fills the afflicted soul with such inward joy and consolation, that it can laugh while tears are in the eye, sigh and sing all in a breath; it is called “the rejoicing of hope”
~ William Gurnall, 1616-1679, English pastor and author

I like to complain and do nothing to make things better.
~ Kurt Cobain

God, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in you.
~ Augustine of Hippo

James 5:7-11

God takes everyone he loves through a desert. It is his cure for our wandering hearts, restlessly searching for a new Eden… The best gift of the desert is God’s presence… The protective love of the Shepherd gives me courage to face the interior journey.
~ Paul E. Miller, A Praying Life: Connecting With God In A Distracting World

I can stick artificial flowers on this tree that will not flower; or I can create the conditions in which the tree is likely to flower naturally. I may have to wait longer for my real flowers; but they are the only true ones.
~ John Fowles, 1926-2005, English Novelist

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. . . . A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest or merciful only on conditions. Pilate was merciful till it became risky.
~ C.S. Lewis, Author, Professor

Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them – every day begin the task anew.
~ Francis de Sales, 1567-1622, Catholic Bishop