In the parable of the sheep and goats, Jesus comes to us in the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the homeless, the sick, and the incarcerated. But we regularly fail to notice that we don’t bring Jesus to the poor and disadvantaged, we welcome Jesus in them. This perspective is foundational to peacemaking across socioeconomic boundaries.

Our world summons us to hear anew one of our Lord’s prayers: “that they all may be one” (John 17:21). Jesus’s vision lands powerfully in the American situation. In both his prayer and his new commandment (John 13), Jesus declares the world will change if his disciples love one another.

People of faith don’t always connect justice and peace, yet throughout Scripture, we see that God intensely loves the people whom society puts on the margins, and is consumed with correcting injustices against them. A former refugee from Myanmar convinced Jessica the slogan is true: if we want peace, we must begin with justice.

The divides among people groups continue to oppose the tenets of Christianity, yet the current atmosphere is ripe for old dreams of unity to materialize in visionary ways. Christians can supply the agency that is necessary to turn old dreams into new visions of unity within the body of Christ and beyond.

Who better to fill our hearts and minds with the “enthronement Psalms” than Steven Moore? Just as early God-fearers used enthronement Psalms to celebrate God as King, today we make a joyful noise unto the Lord because he reigns. Joy instinctively pours out in worship to him.

Life isn’t lived under Eden’s tree of life or beneath the healing leaves of the tree in the new Jerusalem. It is lived between them. Life is often hard. In spite of this reality, Shane Wood challenges us to embrace hope, love, and the beauty of reconciliation provided freely by God. There is indeed hope for the sorrowful.

Luke Roberts recites the Sermon on the Mount while Randy Harris offers contemporary application and insight.

Mo Isom delivers her keynote address, “Wreck My Life: Journeying from Broken to Bold.” Brokenness is the place God meets us most often, where we acknowledge that each of us walks with a limp. The real heartbeat of ministry is courageously communicating our brokenness to God and authentically and compassionately sharing life, grace, and hope with others.

Since the untimely death of her daughter and because of her own recent battle with a serious illness, hope has become the intentional concentration of Beverly Ross’s life and professional counseling ministry. Reflecting on Psalm 71, Beverly challenges us to come boldly before God, expressing the depths of our pain and our hope with full confidence that he not only hears our despair and prayers, but acts on our behalf.

Mo Isom speaks at a special Sunday evening session for students, drawing on her book, Sex, Jesus, and the Conversations the Church Forgot. Young people today have heard the purity talks, heard that porn is bad, heard they should just wait for the right person to come along. They’ve heard all of the prescriptions. It’s time to cut the clichés and the purity rings, and give them the truth. Isom has been there, and she’s here to have real conversations about it.

Mike Cope reflects on his (and our) relationship with the Psalms. The Psalms provide us with the hymnbook of the Bible and assist Christians today when in the peaks and valleys of everyday life, with expressions of deep emotions such as sorrow, hope, and joy. Like the psalmists, we can become encouraged and empowered to express all the emotions life brings our way.