on Pentecost...not a tame lion
In addition to the traditional Pentecost text from Acts, our pastor called a bit of an audible yesterday and added John 3.6-8:
Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again.The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its . . .
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Mary's focus and Martha's distraction... in a smartphone world
lection reflection for 7 June 2019 / reading the bible daily with the church
Today's Gospel reading is the familiar account of Mary and Martha from the Gospel according to Luke. We have all read and heard this many times, and yet as with all of Scripture, each reading is God speaking to us if we will only listen.
While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed . . .
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on God's loving discipline
lection reflection for 5 June 2019 / reading the bible daily with the church
Today's Old Testament lesson is Ezekiel 11.14-25. As we read it, we doubtless focus on the most well-known verses in the passage, verses 19-20:
Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,that they may walk in My . . .
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"Unless we had this hope we should long ago have been sunk..."
lection reflection for 4 June 2019 / reading the bible daily with the church
Today's New Testament reading is from Hebrews 6, where we are taught / reminded of the certain hope of God's promises in Christ Jesus:
God wouldn’t change his plan. He wanted to make this perfectly clear to those who would receive his promise, so he took an oath. God did this so that we would be encouraged. God cannot . . .
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"I'll follow you, but..."
lection reflection for 3 June 2019 / reading the bible daily with the church
Today's gospel reading (Luke 9.51-62) tells of three would-be disciples who all state their eagerness to follow Jesus but whom all also couch that willingness with apparently more pressing needs. Over and over and over, we read their responses to Jesus' call on them. "I'll follow you, but..." And over and over and over, . . .
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on anxiety and faith
lection reflection for 29 May 2019 / reading the bible daily with the church
Then he said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat; or about the body, what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothing.Consider the ravens: They don’t sow or reap; they don’t have a storeroom or a barn; yet God feeds them. Aren’t you worth much more than the . . .
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trusting in ourselves when things go well
lection reflection for 28 May 2019 / reading the bible daily with the church
Before crossing into the Promised Land, Moses prophetically warned the children of Israel (again!) not to think too highly of themselves or to trust in their own abilities and strength when things ended up going smoothly after decades wandering the desert. For then, as now, when times are tough, it is easy to turn to God in hope and trust, . . .
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