Plus, praying for our small business owners, Matthew 6, Psalm 42, breaking  cycles of worry, and this week's recommendations.

The Osterholm Update - Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota (Dr. Michael Osterholm)

November: Lincoln's Elegy at Gettysburg by Kent Gramm

Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza card game 

Matthew 6

Psalm 42

Examples of blessings and benedictions from Scripture.

The New York Times Magazine's Decameron Project.

The Last Dance - Michael Jordan documentary

Jemar Tisby's The Color of Compromise 

The prophet Amos and the call to Abraham might still have something to say. 

What month is it again? Pastor Courtney on loving our neighbors, lifting up our performers and encouraging our families. We introduce our first Q&A segment with a wonderful, thoughtful question on Matthew 1, Luke 3, and why Jesus' family lineage was so important (and so radically different in these two Gospels!).

A reading from Matthew 1, Alfred Lansing's great book "Endurance," a new podcast Q and A section (send me your questions!), an invitation to a Bible study, and staying connected across the miles.

Praying for those who are on the other end of the isolation or overwhelm spectrum. Setting ourselves up for Scriptural study success. Pastor Jackson's sermon text (Matthew 1:1-17). And a story about Pastor Courtney's 20-month-old daughter, who has decided she is invincible.

Jesus tells a story about a kid who asks for his inheritance then splits. You may have heard it before. 

Books on Prayer

Prayer: Living with God by Simon Tugwell

Emotionally Healthy Spirituality by Peter Scazzero

Podcasts

Rev. John Ortberg - Menlo Church Sermons

Rev. Tim Keller – Gospel in Life Sermons

Woven Podcast

The Leader’s Journey Podcast

Fiction Recommendations

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Kruger

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward

This Week's Sermon Scriptures

Galatians 3:26-29

1 Corinthians 11:17-26

Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry

These Nameless Things by Shawn Smucker

Andy Crouch's March article on ministering in the long haul

Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

51 Questions to start conversations around race and justice by Alicia Akins

John 19

1 Corinthians 6

Pastor Jackson shares the story behind his love of reading (it involves dishes and Little House on the Prairie!) and how narratives can help us through rocky seasons. Plus, he and Pastor Courtney each share five recommended reads from their favorites lists. And we wrap it all up with Psalm 91 and praying for our pastors and those in leadership in this stretching season.

Psalm 91

Pastor Jackson's list:

Under the Unpredictable Plant by Eugene Peterson

The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

Crime and Punishment by Fedor Doestoevsky 

The Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren

Father Elijah by Michael D. O'Brien

Pastor Courtney's list:

Silence by Shusako Endo

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger