Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, ‘Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.’ So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said…
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When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. They sing a new song:‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals,for you were slaughtered and by…
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Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. And the…
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‘Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.’ Apocalypse 3: 1-6, 14-22, NRSV In today’s reading from the Book of Revelation, there are strongly worded messages of reprimand for the churches of Sardis and Laodicea. In the case of Sardis, the criticism is that they now appear…
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‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that…
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See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing…
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Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers to you; they have testified to your love before the church. 3 John 5-8, NRSV Although the individual “churches” were small at this time, there seems to have been a lot of visiting between them – sharing teaching – bringing…
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But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk…
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Perhaps this is the reason Onesimus was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back for ever, no longer as a slave but as more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. Philemon 7-20, NRSV…
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The river enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh. Wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish, once these waters reach there. It will become fresh; and everything will live where the river goes. On the banks, on both…
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