Date: July 7, 2024

Bible Text: Psalm 51:1-12, Romans 7:21-8:2 |

Series:

It's week 6 of our series on Christian spiritual practices, our "road trip" for this summer. So far we've stopped to "see" lectio divina, prayer, our worship together, and fasting, after acknowledging our spiritual hunger that makes these practices attractive in the first place. As we make the bend in our journey, we're getting pretty close to our own souls this week. In fact, we're doing self-examination and confession this week. Now, that might sound very uncomfortable to some folks, but I assure you this is a message of grace and mercy. These two related practices help us identify the ways in which we stray from God's intention for us and acknowledge the twofold truth that we are offtrack and we need help getting back. As always, we will borrow from Marjorie Thompson's book *Soul Feast*, and of course, we will turn to the scriptures, with the Psalms and the Apostle Paul offering us good ways of thinking about getting unstuck from our sin.

This is a perfect lesson for this Sunday, as we will also celebrate the sacrament of Communion, since self-examination and confession have historically been used by disciples preparing to come to the Lord's Table. Those who want to participate in the sacrament virtually will need some bread and wine or juice of the vine (or as close as you have on hand).

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