Day 364
Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Scripture

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.  — Luke 4:18–19

Wisdom

Religion is going through a down time. But cultural winds change all the time. You would never have guessed from the Tiger Woods and Michael Jordans of the 1990s, people who downplayed their racial identity, that in the 2010s people would be up-playing their racial identity. The same could happen with religion. We need to be who we are. We need to do the work of helping people and telling hopeful stories and lifting folks up and building communities. We can model a better way of living. I think living in a way that’s humble and hopeful and being something that other people look at and say, I want that in my life. I wanna be the kind of person who is cared for and is giving care to the people right around me. —Eboo Patel, interview with Teri McDowell Ott in Presbyterian Outlook, September 2023

Prayer

Give me the spirit of truth, the comfort of community, the authenticity to be who I am on this day, in this place. Strengthen me in the work of care. Rouse me from indifference and set me on the path of tenderheartedness. Give me hope. Give me humility. Give me life. Amen. —The Reverend Dr. Katie Snipes Lancaster