This Weeks Scripture:

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“The Eleven made their wat to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had summoned them. At the sight of the risen Christ they fell down in homage, though some doubted what they were seeing. Jesus came forward and addressed them in these words:

“All authority has been given to me

both in heaven and on earth:

go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations.

Baptize them in the name

of Abba God,

and of the Only Begotten,

and of the Holy Spirit.

Teach them to carry out

everything I have commanded you.

And know that I am with you always,

even until the end of the world.”

Matthew 28:16-20 (Inclusive Bible)

“Therefore, never be spiteful, deceitful, hypocritical, envious or critical of each other.

Like newborn babies, be hungry for nothing but milk - the pure milk of the world that will make you grow into salvation, now that you have “tasted that our God is good.”

Come to Christ - a living stone, rejected by mortals but approved nonetheless, chosen and precious in God’s eyes. And you are living stones as well: you are being built as an edifice of spirit, to become a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. For scripture has it,

“See, I am laying a cornerstone in Zion;

an approved stone, and precious.

Those who put their faith in it

will not be shaken.”

“You, however, are a “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart” to sing the praises of the One who called you out of the darkness into the wonderful, divine light. Once you were “not a people,” but now you are the people of God; once there was “no mercy for you,” but now you have found mercy.

1 Peter 2:1-6, 9-10 (Inclusive Bible)

“If our life in Christ means anything to you - if love, or the Spirit that we have in common, or any tenderness or sympathy can persuade you at all - then be united in your convictions and united in your love, with  a common purpose and a common mind. That is the one thing that would make me completely happy. There must be no competition among you, no conceit, but everybody is to be humble: value others over yourselves, each of you is thinking of the interests of others before your own. Your attitude must be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Christ, though in the image of God,

didn’t deem equality with God

something to be clung to -

but instead became completely empty

and took  on the image of oppressed humankind:

born into the human condition,

found in the likeness of a human being.

Jesus was this humbled -

obediently accepting death, even on a cross!

Because of this, God highly exalted Christ

and gave to Jesus the name above every other name,

so that at the name of Jesus every knee must bend

in the heavens, on the earth and under the earth,

and every tongue proclaim to the glory of God:

Jesus Christ reigns supreme!

Therefore, my dear friends, you who are always obedient to my urging, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, not only when I happen to be with you, but all the more now that I’m absent. It is God at work in you that creates the desire to do God’s will.”

Phil 2:1-13 (Inclusive Bible)