Foreign hello good people.

Welcome to Daily Bible refresh with Dr.

Brad Miller.

Pleased be with you here by the courtesy of our website, voiceofgod daily.com the home of the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible Study Guide.

This is the podcast where we offer a daily look at a reading of the Bible.

We use the Revised Common Lectionary.

We're in Year C, the epiphany season, and we like to make the daily reading of the Bible understandable as much as we read a passage from the New Testament only from the message version of the Bible.

Relatable in that we offer a few points to ponder and applicable in as much as we give you an action step, we have a prayer and we do all of that in less than 10 minutes.

Our reading for the day is from Luke 19:41 44 reading 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.

No stone will be left intact.

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

A short but powerful reading for this day, really, one where there's tears for the city because of a call for justice Urban Justice Jesus makes a profound lament over Jerusalem and we just want to take a look at this here today about in terms of our own current challenges we have in our world as we face issues of social justice.

Here's three points to ponder.

One is divine urban solidarity that is, Jesus weeping over Jerusalem shows us that God is deeply invested in urban spaces and in their inhabitants.

Jerusalem in this day and age was one of the largest cities in the world.

This isn't some distant God concerned only with individual souls, but one who grieves over systematic injustice and collective suffering and our time in our day and age.

Right now.

This calls us to engage with issues of social justice in our urban issues, including issues like gentrification and housing inequality and community displacement, homelessness.

Jesus's tears remind us that God is present in our city's struggles and calls for urban justice work.

There's also a point about a prophetic warning as love.

This passage has traditionally been read as a judgment, but through a progressive lens we might see as a passionate warning born of love.

Jesus isn't threatening destruction, he's grieving its inevitability.

Given the current system of oppression and inequality.

So today we might hear similar warnings about climate change, economic inequality, social division, injustices in our world.

These aren't divine punishments, but natural consequences of failing to create just and sustainable communities.

One more point, a recognition of sacred moments.

The phrase if you had only recognized this day speaks to our collective failure to recognize transformative moments and movements.

How often do we miss opportunities for positive change because they just don't match our expectations?

In our time, we are missing godlike divine opportunities for a presence in movements for social justice, environmental protection, economic equality.

Because sometimes they just don't look religious enough.

Here's your action step.

Practice urban contemplation.

That is, think about your city.

If you don't live in a city, that's okay.

Think about a city near you and maybe go to a public space in that city or the town that you live in.

A park, a plaza, a corner, the town square.

Observe life around you with Jesus compassionate gaze.

What brings tears to your eyes and what brings joy to your heart?

What systems or structures need transformation?

Identify one local organization that is really working for justice in your community and support them in some form or another.

Volunteering, donation, advocacy in some way.

We'll pray in just a moment, but I do want you to let you know we do have a resource for you.

It's called the ABC 123 Bible Study Guide.

You can find it@voiceofgoddaily.com that's our website.

It's just a religious Bible study gift that we give to you that makes Bible study as easy as ABC and 1, 2, 3.

And you can find it@voiceofgoddaily.com along with the back catalog of almost 800 episodes of Voice of God daily.

Let's pray.

Oh God, of the city and urban dreams and every place, urban or rural alike but God.

We just pray for our cities and our hearts.

Join with yours in weeping over our communities just as Jesus wept over Jerusalem.

We see the pain of displacement, of homelessness, the struggle for affordable housing, the weight of economic inequality which presses down on people we care about.

Our neighbors help us to recognize the sacred moments of possibility in our midst.

The opportunities to create change, to build justice, to transform our common life and give us the courage to move beyond tears to action and beyond lament to love, love in practice and open our eyes to see your presence in unexpected places.

And people guide us in building communities where every stone speaks of justice, every street echoes with hope, every neighbor finds welcome.

May we not miss the moment of divine visitation in our midst, especially when they come wearing the clothes of social change and community transformation.

We are on solidarity and hope with you, Jesus.

Amen.

Well, it's always a joy and a pleasure to be with you here on the Daily Bible Refresh.

My name is Dr.

Brad Miller.

We come to you every day.

Every day.

We usually drop our episodes before 6am Eastern Time.

Love for you to join us and invite your friends to join us as well as we study the Bible together in a actionable, relatable and personal way.

My name is Dr.

Brad Miller.

I'll be with you again tomorrow.

Until then, remember that God's loyal love doesn't run out.

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