Hello my friend Dr. Brad Miller here with the Daily Bible Refresh.

This is your daily reading of the Bible from a progressive point of view.

In a bit I will read the New Testament lessons selected from the Revised Common Lectionary for this very day.

The reading is understandable.

I use the Message version Relatable.

Please listen to the points to ponder and applicable with action steps you can take.

We pray and are done in less than 10 minutes.

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Here's today's reading.

Have our reading from the Gospel of Luke 19:41 44 from the Message when the city came into view, he wept over it.

If you'd only recognize this day and everything that was good for you.

But now it's too late.

In the days ahead, your enemies are going to bring up their heavy artillery and surround you, pressing in from every side.

They'll smash you and your babies on the pavement.

Not one stone would be left intact.

All this because you didn't recognize and welcome God's personal visit.

That ends the that ends the reading.

My friend and I just want to thank you for making some space in your life for me today.

Our reading is from Luke 19:41 44 and Jesus is looking over the city that he loves Jerusalem.

And he weeps.

And he he really weeps because he really wants the city to recognize everything that is good for it and recognize the things that are meant for peace, that make for peace.

And he really It's a warning here about rejecting God's visit and knowing that there will be consequences of this siege, destruction, grief.

It's a hard passage, to be sure, but it's not a threatening one.

It It's a love soaked lament about a suffering heart and Jesus is weeping over it.

So let's take a look at some points to ponder from a progressive perspective.

The first is that tears are truth, not weakness.

Jesus cries in public.

Progressive faith takes lament seriously, naming harm without numbing it or spiritualizing it away.

Healthy communities make room for grief over violence, inequity, racism and all the avoidable pains.

Things like hospital bills that crush families, kids hungry at school, neighbors priced out of fair housing.

If our faith can't hold tears it can't hold people.

Here's another point to ponder.

Peace is a policy, not just a feeling.

The things that make for peace are concrete things like justice, honesty, shared power, de escalation, neighborly care and systems that reduce harm.

A progressive perspective on this means resisting fatalism.

We choose non violence in our speeches and in our budgets, investing in things like mental health access, fair wages, housing and community based responses to crisis and practices that center on those most impacted.

A third point to ponder, God's visit often comes from the margins.

Jerusalem didn't recognize and welcome God's personal visit, embodied in a Galilean rabbi riding on a humble colt today.

God's invitations often arrive through those we overlook.

Youth, immigrants, the poor, the sick, LGBTQ folks and folks long excluded from power.

Progressive discipleship trains us to recognize wisdom from the edges and change our life together accordingly.

Let's think about an action step for this week.

Do the peacemaking thing that you can measure that is, for instance, listen.

Take a short walk, 10, 15, 20 minutes, a lament walk with someone who's going under strain in their life, someone dealing with cancer or someone dealing with a divorce or someone dealing with some parenting issues or someone dealing with financial crises, and just allow them to lament and lament with them.

That means sharing a tear and ask what would make this week more peaceful for them and listen to them, not trying to fix them, but just be a good listener.

Another thing you can do is de escalate.

Decide if there's a boundary that you can approach that just has some tension to it and to try to de escalate it.

I want to, you know, take the approach of I want this to end well for both of us.

Can we pause and try again?

Try that.

Another thing we can do is be an advocate.

That might mean emailing some local official or your Congress congressperson about tangible peacemaking, mental health access, protection for tenants, safer school routes or living wages.

Another thing we can do is support, give time or money to a local organization about reducing harm.

Food pantry, food security, domestic violence support, community mediation.

There's a number of things that you can do.

We're going to come back and have a prayer here in just a second.

We do want you to know that we have a resource just for you.

It's called the ABC123 by Bible study Method and we'd love for you to go over to our website, voiceofgoddaily.com and pick that up.

Let's pray.

Jesus who weeps over cities teaches how to love where we live.

Let our tears tell the truth and let that truth move our hands and feet toward peace.

Save us from numbness and from noise.

Show us the things that make for peace, policies and practices, habits and budgets that lower the temperature and and lift the burden.

Bless patients and caregivers, night shift workers, new parents, neighbors priced out, and kids who are hungry.

Be with us in hospital hallways and wooded trails and our families and with our children and grandchildren.

Help us recognize and welcome your visit, especially when you come to us from the margins so our neighborhoods become kinder, safer and more just.

Amen.

My friend.

I am delighted you chose to join me for today's reading.

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Thanks much.

My name is Dr. Brad Miller and I'll be right here tomorrow with your Daily Bible Refresh.

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Remember, God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up, it's created new every morning.