[Membersandfriends] Sunday, December 05, 2004

Sat Dec 4 22:01:34 PST 2004

The Upper Room Daily Devotional -- E-mail Edition
Brought to You by Upper Room Ministries
Sunday, December 05, 2004

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Nurture a Child

Nurture the spiritual life of a child -- send them a subscription to POCKETS, a devotional magazine for children, ages 6-12.  http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/desc.asp?item_id=12897&ep_id=246
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THE HEARTBEAT OF JESUS
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1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 15:9-12 (NRSV)

[Paul wrote,] "For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

[Jesus said,] "As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete."

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

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Jesus said, "I am the vine, ye are the branches."
-- John 15:5 (KJV)
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OVERHEAD lights reflected through the tiny glass cup into the Communion grape juice.  I was visiting a church where we waited until all were served to drink the juice together.  Thinking about Jesus, I prayed silently and held the little glass.  Then I noticed there were ripples from my pulse rolling through the Communion juice; my heartbeats were pulsing in the symbolic blood of Jesus.  Then I thought, By what other way than his own people would Jesus' presence be pulsed into this world?  This Life pulses through his servants to feed, heal, witness, care for, teach, and bring others Christ's living love.

Since that experience, at every Communion I hold the tiny cup an extra moment to watch the grape juice ripple with the pulse from my hand, a reminder that Jesus once had such a heartbeat here on earth and that his life continues to pulse through you and through me.

Prayer:   Our Father in heaven, thank you for sharing Jesus with us.  Help us to serve him by being living branches of witness and love for others.  Amen.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Because I am connected to Christ, Christ can touch others through me.

-- Charley Elise Bland (Georgia, U.S.A.)

PRAYER FOCUS: Communion servers

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RELATED READING ...

This third resource in the COMPANIONS IN CHRIST series, THE WAY OF BLESSEDNESS invites small group members to discover and live in the kingdom of God as described in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. This is a 9-week study of the spiritual practices that help us turn away from pride and fill us with God's abundant love.
http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/desc.asp?ep_id=30&item_id=119572

PLEASE SHARE THIS MINISTRY with a friend. Invite them to sign up for the free E-Mail Devotional by visiting: http://www.upperroom.org/devotional/email/.

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The scripture quotation is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright (c) 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.