NextSteps from NextSunday
Take the Next Step in Your Spiritual Growth and Bible Study Preparation
Formations: May 10
Prayer
You wake up, heart pounding. Maybe you’re sweating or maybe you’re shivering. As your eyes adjust to the darkness, you try to regain your hold on reality. Your body reacts like there’s something to fear. Was it a nightmare? A strange noise coming from downstairs? The cry of a child? A pet in pain? An approaching storm?
Connections: May 10
The Apostle Proclaims
Last weekend we went to a St. Louis Cardinals ballgame and the row in front of us was filled by teenaged boys wearing matching t-shirts. I’m not sure if they were from a religious school or a church youth group, but the backs of their shirts said something to the effect of “ask me how to get to heaven” followed by a list of Bible verses.
Intersection: May 10
The Dishwasher Won't Unload Itself
Every youth worker knows the scene. You ask a teenager to help set up chairs, and they look at you like you've suggested something truly unreasonable. The resistance to contributing is almost universal at this stage of life, and according to this week's lesson, it's also entirely predictable.
FaithSteps Family Devotions
Be
It is difficult for me to slow down, relax, and just spend time with God. In fact, I usually measure the success of my days based on how productive I was, on the amount of work I got done. Sitting and just “being” doesn’t seem to be all that successful.
And yet, God calls us to do just that.
Reflections Devotional
Who Are You a Rainbow For?
The poet Maya Angelou came to our local college one cold winter night when rain poured down in sheets. The standing-room-only crowd hushed as Dr. Angelou walked onstage, bowed gracefully to us, then sang unaccompanied in a rich contralto voice, “When it looks like the sun won’t shine anymore, God puts a rainbow in the clouds.”
Bringing Our Pain to God
by Stephen P. McCutchan
Think about the people you know who are in terrible pain right now. Violence, death, loss, trauma, or physical or mental illness has touched them, even destroyed them. (Perhaps this person is you.) If they should come to worship, is there an appropriate context for them to acknowledge their pain before God and to experience the corporate church supporting them in prayer?
NextSunday Studies
A Month of Lessons. A Lifetime of Impact.
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