November 9th

“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.” Luke 14:13

lest the holidays
leave no room for grace,
let us pull up chairs
for those whose lives
have been pushed aside;
for the broken
who still dare to hope,
for the lost
who have forgotten the way home,
for the hungry
who have never known enough,
for the vulnerable
whose names the powerful never speak;
for families torn apart
by injustice and fear,
and for those strangers who long
to be called friends.
because God’s feast
has never been intended
only for those with name cards
at certain places on the table,
but for every person longing
to be made welcome.
so,
may not only our tables
but our hearts as well
look just a little more
like God's Beloved Community.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

November 8th

"saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.'” Matthew 20:12

like politics, we think God
should stay out of economics,
especially if God’s belief is that
the last are not forgotten,
the least are not discounted,
and the latecomers
are not handed yesterday's leftovers.
for if paychecks are not based
on hours put in,
if blessings do not depend
on the amount of sweat produced,
if grace simply opens its hands
then what is the purpose?
if there are no seats for privilege
in the boardrooms,
if there are no stock options
or golden parachutes,
if there is no basis for the argument
that those who struggle should have
simply taken a second job,
then those who have always
had more may discover
that God’s accounting system
never matches that of the world—
for God’s economy is based on
the abundance of God’s heart
not on what we deserve.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

November 7th

“I will deal with all your oppressors
     at that time.
And I will save the lame
     and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
     and renown in all the earth.” Zephaniah 3:19

we preach, sing, write ad nauseum
about the promises of God:
of that city where there will be
no more night, just light forever;
of those tears which will be dried
and set out as seasoning at the table;
of those places roughened by
folks slogging through tough moments
being made smooth as glass;
of those mountains of cruelty
which towered over the oppressed
being leveled by that thundering,
roaring river of justice;
of all scattered by hate and injustice
will be gathered into God’s embrace—
yet,
in all those words and songs
and sermons and prayers,
we conveniently continue to forget
that
while God is the maker
of all these hoped-for promises,
God is counting on us to be
the ones who make each
and every promise come true.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

November 6th

“For I will leave in the midst of you
     a people humble and lowly.
They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord-”
   Zephaniah 3:12

as the Old Book says:
it is not those wrapped in flags
or who call their power holy;
it is not the ones who holler
God’s name the loudest
all while turning their backs
on the most vulnerable among us
that God relies on in our times.
no, God’s people
are the humble, the ignored,
those who open their hearts
to the stranger,
who speak truth when lying might
earn them more money as influencers,
who offer compassion while the powerful
applaud cruelty and hate.
yet they are the rich soil
where God plants the future,
the quiet who don’t need
to ask what Jesus would do—
the remnant God is still
using in our midst.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

November 5th

“And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God?’” Luke 13:20

your Beloved Community
is like the poll workers
who volunteer their time
for long hours and low pay
because they believe in
democracy.
your Beloved Community
is like the students marching
40 minutes to cast their ballots
when the powerful denied
an early voting site on their campus.
your Beloved Community
is like the folks standing in line
and always insisting that
an older person, or someone
with disabilities go ahead
of them to the voting booth,
without wondering, asking,
or caring about politics.
your Beloved Community
is like those who care enough
about their communities
and nations to be good citizens
without relinquishing their
primary allegiance to you,
O God.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

November 4th

“And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.” Luke 13:11

some have been looking
at the ground for longer than they remember,
some are afraid to glance up
into the faces of cruelty,
some are just bowed down
under the weight of hate,
crushed by divisive words,
bruised by the powerful who so easily
ignore, if not outright forget,
the least among us,
and we, who are among the privileged,
though we pretend otherwise,
have become skilled at looking away,
stepping over the suffering of others
on our way to comfortable lives,
labeling brokenness as ‘their’ problem.
but not you, Friend of the forgotten—
you see
you call
you touch.
so, perhaps the healing we need
is simply to be graced with your eyes,
to refute the voices which demean,
to stand with those the world
keeps weighing down with hopelessness.
for the Beloved Community
is not built on the backs of the vulnerable,
but by enabling every child of God
to stand tall in grace, dignity, and hope—
and when such miracles take place,
our nation will begin to heal.

(c) 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

November 3rd

"These things I remember,
     as I pour out my soul:" Psalm 42:4a

here is what i will cling to
this day, and i pray, in all
those days to come,
that
when the hurlers of hate
are the loudest, love's whispers
will be heard in our hearts.
that
when the demagogues of despair
think they have convinced the crowds,
hope will be marked on more ballots.
that 

when cruelty targets outsiders,
trying to sell us locks for our doors,
more folk will put out welcome mats.
that 

when gangs of grudges lurk
like frighteners in the shadows,
we will hold tight to one another
as grace walks us home.

(c) Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman

November 2nd

 "On that day, says the Lord, 

    a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate,
a wail from the Second Quarter,
   a loud crash from the hills." Zephaniah 1:10

on this day, 

may we turn off the ads

we have heard so many times

we could make the pitch,

so we can hear the cries

of those who have no one

approving their message of

longing for compassion and hope,

so we hear the weeping from

all the parents in rubble strewn

communities aka battlefields,

so we might listen to those

whose dreams for justice

have collided with the ever

increasing desires of the privileged

who, miraculously, always seem

not to be at fault and can walk away

with no responsibility at all, and then

tomorrow, when we can make a difference

we might hear those echoes 

deep in our hearts.

(c) Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @Thom-Shuman