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 lesson 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 and the reading today comes from Hebrews 11:13 22 from the Message each one of these people of faith died, not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing.

How did they do it?

They saw it way off in the distance and waved their greetings and accepted the fact that they were transients in this world.

People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home.

If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back anytime they wanted.

But they were after a far better country that was Heaven country.

You could see why God was so proud of them and has a city waiting for them.

By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God and acting in faith, he was ready to return his promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him.

And this altar had already been told, your descendants shall come from Isaac was the quote.

Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead.

In a sense, that's what happened when he received Isaac back alive from the altar.

By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he blessed Jacob and Esau.

And by an act of faith, Jacob, on his deathbed, blessed each of Joseph's son in turn, blessing them with God's blessing, not his own, as he bowed worshipfully upon his staff.

By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the exodus of Jerusalem of Israel and made arrangements for his own burial.

That concludes the reading.

In this reading From a Hebrews 11:13 through 22 there's a stretch where faith this is a stretch here.

We're talking about faith that moves beyond the horizon to the future and beyond the ancestors who died still believing Abraham and Isaac's testing story.

Blessings pass from Isaac to Jacob to Esau and Jacob to Joseph's sons and Joseph's planning Exodus, an exodus he wouldn't live to see.

It's kind of like a photo album or a video, the highlights of people who held onto hope they couldn't touch and lived in ways that shaped the future.

Let's let's talk about three points to ponder Holy first is holy.

Homesickness is about justice, not escape.

The text says that they were transients.

That means they're immigrants looking into a far better country, looking for a better way of life.

And progressive faith hears that is a call to seek God's just community here and now, not a retreat from the world.

It's homesickness that turns into hospitality.

Make room for migrants, refugees, immigrants, anyone between addresses of the heart.

My wife and I like to hike in the woods and trail.

Etiquette is all about making space and not harming the environment and to be aware of other people in other situations as a picture of a better country as it were, a better way of living where ordinary kindness and justice and systems help people move toward wholeness.

Another point to ponder is to read hard stories.

Ethically, faith never sanctifies harm.

Abraham's testing with Isaac is famously difficult text, and from a progressive framework we refuse interpretations that normalize religious violence or paternal harm.

The story ultimately delivers Isaac back alive and the ark is toward life.

Faith trusts God's presence without sacrificing the vulnerability.

I work with people impacted by cancer and I've met people who felt spiritual pressure to be positive or prove faith by minimizing pain.

And that's not realistic either.

We honor bodies, feelings and consent, and God's heart is life, not spectacle, love, not harm.

Another point to ponder is faith blesses forward and intergenerational hope is our practice.

Isaac and Jacob Joseph bless those who come next and plan for a liberation they won't personally witness.

And progressive faith invest in future flourishing climate care, healthcare access, racial equity, communities where all genders and families thrive.

I'm a grandfather to two giggling girls and they kind of tolerate me and my dumb jokes.

Sometimes I think about what kind of a world that I, myself and my generation is handing off to them.

Faith kind of writes us letters.

It plants trees, it shows up at city council meetings and cheers on the people in our lives.

Not just for wins, but for the ways they can build community.

Let's take let's talk about an action step for this week.

We might call it Bless Forward.

In this process, write a short paragraph or two to someone younger than you, perhaps your grandchildren, or maybe someone you mentor, a student, or somebody in your life, or maybe to our future self five years from now.

Name and focus on dignity and courage and joy and just what you would share with that person.

Then take one concrete step towards a better country.

Sign up to bring a meal to a family in need, or email your representative about justice issues or about the environment, or donate to refugee organizations or join a park cleanup.

Keep it small but real.

A Visible Love from an Unseen Hope we're going to come back and pray here in just a minute, but I want you to know we've got a resource for you.

It's called the ABC123 Bible Study Method and I'd love for you to go to our website, voiceofgoddaily.com and pick it up right there.

Let's pray.

Oh God of the better of the better country.

Meet us in our radical holy homesickness and turn it into hospitality when stories are hard.

Protect the vulnerable and teach us to read with compassion.

Bless our bodies, our names, our families, and the communities we're building.

Give us courage to bless forward toward justice, care and joy we may never fully see.

Be close to those navigating illness for treatments and for long nights.

And let hope arrive in the form of meals or encouraging word in general humor.

And when laughter bubbles up, let us remind us that our future is already breaking in.

Amen.

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

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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.