Emphasis Preaching Journal

Finding delight in the law of the Lord is the calling of all Christians, as we navigate the world with God’s laws to guide our actions. The two sets of laws hold a particular tension for people like Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the President’s nominee for the Supreme Court. As the country meets Judge Barrett, and as she faces questions from the Senate, one thread of inquiry has been about her religious faith. Judge Barrett is a woman of faith, and people have struggled to understand how her faith shapes her life, her legal views and how she might rule on key issues before the Supreme Court.

In the 2010 dystopian movie entitled Book of Eli (starring Denzel Washington), the main character “Eli” is a drifter in a post-apocalyptic American desolate, violent wasteland. He finds comfort and solace in a unique book which he guards very closely. While scavenging food and other supplies, Eli reaches a village ruled by a mobster named “Carnegie.” A girl named “Solara” sees the precious book, which Eli carries that bears a Christian cross on the cover. Carnegie finds out about it, and desperately seeks to possess it.

Contents
“Rules” by C. David McKirachan
“Accepting Reality” by C. David McKirachan
“Not Guilty” by Frank Ramirez


Rules
by C. David McKirachan
Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18 and Psalm 1

Children are highly overrated. Sometimes I wonder why my parents didn’t send me to boarding school. One such moment was when I asked why we had rules. If they invariably led to trouble, what good were they?

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? (vv. 34-36)

Hi everyone! Today’s story is another one about Jesus and the Pharisees. Do you remember the Pharisees? (Let them answer) They were the people who tried to trick Jesus about paying taxes because they wanted to make him look bad. Well, they are trying to do it again!

Theme of the Day
It's what God does, not what we do, that counts!

Collect of the Day
Addressing God the holy lawgiver and the salvation of His people, petitions are raised by the faithful to be renewed in His covenant of love and trained to care tenderly for all neighbors. Justification and Sanctification are emphasized.

Psalm of the Day
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
• A prayer for deliverance from national adversity, in the genre of a group lament.

Dominic Owl lived in a big, old oak tree, right in the middle of the wood. He hadn't lived there very long, because he was only a baby owl. He loved that big old oak tree, and best all he loved to perch on its broadest branch and watch his mother as she skimmed silently over the tree tops searching the ground for Dominic's next meal.