Introduction
Is there a word pair that you have a really hard time differentiating or pronouncing? Something that maybe, say, you still question yourself about even though you’re all grown up and talking is part of your job? No? Just me? Well, my demon word pair is conscious (/ˈkänSHəs/) and conscience (/ˈkänSHən(t)s/). I’m overly conscious of using these words correctly and pronouncing them correctly, so much that it weighs on my conscience. It keeps a person humble. I just recently became aware of another pair of words, though not difficult to pronounce, that I realized I may have been using incorrectly. Humbled again. The word pair is peacekeeper and peacemaker. As I’ve started to differentiate between the two, it turns out there’s a big difference. Jesus only used the word peacemaker (εἰρηνοποιοί (ay-ray-no-POY-os)) once, but powerfully. Paul seems to take this to heart and puts it into practice.
Let’s dig in this week and see what we can find.
Grace and peace, y’all,
John Ray and the teaching team
Text:
Lord’s Prayer
Christ, who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who’ve sinned against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory forever. Amen.
