For the complete text of these scriptures, please click here. For a more lengthy interpretation of these verses, please check out the General Board of Discipleship's weekly worship page.
Genesis 32:22-31: Jacob wrestles with a "man" at the Jabbok and is renamed Israel because he has "striven with God and with humans, and has prevailed."
Psalm 17:1-7, 15 (UMH 749): Consider as an alternative sung response Charles Wesley's great narrative hymn, "Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown" (United Methodist Hymnal, 386). Note the last two lines of stanza one: "With thee all night I mean to stay, and wrestle till the break of day." Note also the last two lines of stanza four: "To me, to all, thy mercies move; thy nature and thy name is Love." See "Psalms for Singing" for another alternative.
Romans 9:1-5: Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, declares his great concern and anguish for his people, the Israelites.
Matthew 14:13-21: Upon hearing of the death of John the Baptist, Jesus and the disciples withdraw to a quiet place, but the crowd follows; and more than 5000 people are fed.
