Sunday Thought – 14 September 2025

This Week’s Readings

• • Jeremiah 18:1–11 – God compares Israel to clay in a potter’s hands, reminding the people that their actions can be reshaped through repentance.
  • Psalm 139:1–6, 13–18 – The psalmist marvels at God’s intimate knowledge and care, recognizing that we are wonderfully made and fully known.
  • Philemon 1–21 – Paul appeals for Onesimus, a runaway slave, to be welcomed back not as a servant but as a beloved brother in Christ.
  • Luke 14:25–33 – Jesus calls his followers to count the cost of discipleship, emphasizing that loyalty to him must take priority over all else

  
  

Jeremiah laments a people who have forgotten how to do good, and the psalmist echoes that “all have gone astray.” Yet the New Testament offers a word of grace: Paul, once a persecutor, now marvels at God’s mercy, declaring, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost.”

In Luke’s parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, Jesus reveals the heart of God—tireless, searching, rejoicing when what was lost is found. Heaven celebrates every life reclaimed by grace.

This week, may we believe that we too are sought and loved, and may we reflect that mercy by seeking out the forgotten.

Prayer: Merciful God, find us, forgive us, and help us to rejoice with you. Amen.

Hymn Reflection – Singing the Faith 409

“Let hope and joy and peace be mine,
Lord Jesus Christ;
hope that endures, and peace divine,
Lord Jesus Christ.”