This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Ps. 118:24) I honestly can’t tell if this is good news today or not. How do we rejoice when social distancing is taking its toll? How do we make sense of God making… Continue reading
The circumference of the city shall be eighteen thousand cubits. and the name of the city from that time on shall be The Lord is There. (Ezekiel 48:33) The verses and chapters preceding this verse are full of all sorts of specific measurements and requirements for the life of the… Continue reading
1st Sunday of Advent: Isaiah 2:1-5 Many people shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion… Continue reading
Some verses from Psalm 115 Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them. (v. 3, 4, 8) The heavens are the Lord’s… Continue reading
23rd Sunday after Pentecost Luke 21:5-19, Malachi 4:1-2a, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 What is it about end-of-the-world stories that is so captivating to us? Whether it is the children’s story, Chicken Little, where a chicken runs through the kingdom yelling “the sky is falling, the sky is falling!” or the more… Continue reading
Ephesians 1:17-19 (as part of the Epistle Reading for 11/3/2019) 17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, 18 so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know… Continue reading
For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us… In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are… Continue reading
Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Year C (Oct. 20, 2019) 2 Timothy 3:14-15 — But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation… Continue reading
Then turning toward the woman, [Jesus] said to Simon, “Do you see this woman?” (Luke 7:44a) Jesus sees the woman. He sees her desperation. He sees her tears. He sees her effort and heart. He sees her. When he speaks TO Simon, he TURNS to the woman. He sees her… Continue reading
Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, so that they do not die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst. (Lev. 15:31) Six chapters of rules about what to do with different kinds of uncleanness. Six chapters. Of rules. That’s… Continue reading