Tuesday, May 8, 2018 | Reflections
At 8 am on Sunday morning, my toddler was ready for church. She was dressed, fed, and determined to go to church. We go every week. She knows Sundays are for church. Church which means Sunday school, music, friends, being known, sharing the peace, running...
Monday, May 7, 2018 | Reflections
As someone who sits through many meetings, I am especially conscious of who is sitting at the head of the table. This position asserts power and authority. Odds are you and I are both interested to see who needs these kinds of strokes and recognition. Paul has...
Monday, May 7, 2018 | Reflections
Hear my law, O my people; incline your ears unto the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will declare hard sentences of old (Ps 78:1-2) Today’s Daily Office Gospel reading for today Matthew’s Parable of the Sower (Mt 13:1-16). So familiar as to be...
Monday, May 7, 2018 | Reflections
The post Receive the Word appeared first on d365 Daily Devotionals. This post appeared here first: Receive the Word [D365 Daily Devotions]
Sunday, May 6, 2018 | Reflections
The chains of the Roman Empire clank and clatter throughout this passage. We hear of an enslaved woman, her greedy owners’ money-making scheme, of Paul’s imprisonment, and of how the prison guard readies himself to commit suicide upon discovering the prison doors...
Sunday, May 6, 2018 | Reflections
John 15:9-17 Acts 10:44;48 Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you… This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”...
Saturday, May 5, 2018 | Reflections
Did you notice the shift in tone and voice in how Luke is telling us the story of the early church? The majority of Acts is written in third person: We hear of Paul and his actions, the apostles and their debates. But in a few places—including this passage—“we” join...
Saturday, May 5, 2018 | Reflections
Tom Clancy, the great novelist, once said, “Life is about learning; when you stop learning, you die.” Our early lives focus around family, church, friends, and school. School equals a child’s work hours; they’re working to learn, and that learning will...
Friday, May 4, 2018 | Reflections
I once knew someone who responded to anyone who had annoyed him with an email saying “Unsubscribe.” While meant as a joke, this method of dismissal describes the tendency to delete, unsubscribe from, or hide people whose stories we no longer see as worth following....
Thursday, May 3, 2018 | Reflections
This verse from Acts is just one line, but it speaks volumes about authority in the early church. In this new movement, those who have risked their lives for the gospel are left to define what is essential to the faith—and which burdensome aspects may be set aside....
Thursday, May 3, 2018 | Reflections
In some ways Jesus’ teachings seem very naive. Do not worry? Is he kidding? Look at the birds of the air, he says. And I think about diminishing habitat, about pesticides and drought. As migratory routes are compromised and water is polluted, birds...
Wednesday, May 2, 2018 | Reflections
For many months while I was in seminary, I went every week to visit a parishioner who was homebound. I would bring her communion right after worship, and we would sit and talk about her life, her husband, her love of sports cars, art, her collection of classical...
Wednesday, May 2, 2018 | Reflections
I recently heard a professor describe seminary as a place where students are fond of “dressing up.” But bearing Christ into the world isn’t as easy as putting on an alb or collar, a cassock or chausible, or even wearing a cross around one’s neck. Bearing Christ into...
Tuesday, May 1, 2018 | Reflections
As anyone who has lived near the southern border of the United States can tell you, the stronger the security along the border, the riskier the journey becomes for the people seeking to cross it. And the coyotes who help these border-crossers charge higher rates...
Tuesday, May 1, 2018 | Reflections
In the midst of traveling, late nights, different routines, and middle-of-the-night-wake-up calls from the baby, I forgot about my daughter’s baptismal anniversary. It wasn’t until we arrived at her godmothers’ home and they presented her with a gift that I...
