Connect Card

Talk Notes PDF

Talk Notes - You Version

Closing song: "Speak to the Mountains" by Chris McClarney

BLESSING

For those who hunger and thirst for righteousness this morning,

Who feel trapped, silenced, traumatized and powerless:

May you experience the blessing of God’s assurance that

Your hunger for righteousness will be satisfied and your thirst for justice will be quenched.

May you like Tamar discern the right moment, the right path and take action even at great personal risk.

May you find those faithful friends to stand beside you and take action with you.

And to those who have allowed fear and self-interest to take root in your leadership, may you find the courage to repent and restore what you have taken.

To those unwilling to repent, who are intoxicated with power and greed, who continue to fight regulations and laws meant to protect the vulnerable, elevate the poor and vindicate the oppressed:

May God bless you with a Tamar!

A courageous survivor of your injustices,

A brave soul, filled with the spirit of Jesus to lay a trap that will end your oppression, not to bring you to a place of ruin but to a place of repentance.

Finally, for all the in-between ones, the ones in between oppressor and oppressed, righteous and unrighteous, just and unjust

To the ones humbly struggling to live the peacemaking way of Jesus:

May the story of Judah and Tamar inspire you to humbly repent when repentance is needed and to courageously take action when action is needed.

Amen