Thursday, November 26, 2020 | Reflections
From the Archives: February 24, 1956The thought this week has been to develop the idea that true prayer starts with, and is always, the sense of being in God’s presence. First, we think about God. We think only of the Being of God. We quie….(View this reading...
Wednesday, November 25, 2020 | Reflections
Before I ever knew what a sycamore tree looked like, I could tell you that a wee little man climbed one and ended up having dinner with Jesus. You may have learned the story in the same song I did. And now, perhaps the song is stuck in your head as well!...
Tuesday, November 24, 2020 | Reflections
You are God’s temple. Read the words again—allow them to wash over you and soak into every fiber of your being. What do you feel? Relief? Disbelief? Pride? Other feelings—maybe several? Take a long, good look at yourself. Admire God’s Holy Spirit dw….(View this...
Monday, November 23, 2020 | Reflections
When the psalmist puts Israel’s sin in such explicit terms, it seems pretty silly that people would exchange their relationship with God to worship a baby bull. Usually when we find ourselves worshiping false idols, exchanging our own glory isn’t so obvious....
Sunday, November 22, 2020 | Reflections
When it comes down to it, none of us can be reduced to being either a sheep or a goat, though it sure is tempting to try. I believe that Jesus searches out every last sheep in each of our lives and communities, searching for us like lost coins, lighting...
Saturday, November 21, 2020 | Reflections
We’ve likely all heard awful sermons on this parable—and some of them were preached by me. These sermons share a complete failure to show any charity toward the Pharisee and an extreme lifting up of humility, almost to the point of idolatry. Humility is….(View...
Friday, November 20, 2020 | Reflections
Everything I know about metallurgy was taught to me during Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood or some similar children’s show. The image that is clear in my mind is of a black iron cup full of boiling metal that looked like lava being poured from one container into another...
Thursday, November 19, 2020 | Reflections
From the Archives: December 22, 1955Perhaps some of us have lost our hearts, our ability to love. But God can give them back to us. God plans that each one of us should be a complete person, with good health, intelligence, and wholesome emot….(View this reading...
Wednesday, November 18, 2020 | Reflections
We don’t know for sure who the author of James was, though there is plenty of scholarly speculation. I suspect he wasn’t much fun to know. This person was an excellent arbiter of what was best for the burgeoning Christian community but probably a bit too righteous and...
Tuesday, November 17, 2020 | Reflections
The word gossip sounds strange: It conjures something Puritan and shame-ridden, or a nosey sitcom neighbor who operates the town grapevine. I doubt that any of us thinks of ourselves as a gossip, especially when gossip has become a 24-hour, multimedia facet of the...
Monday, November 16, 2020 | Reflections
What vivid scenes this parable paints for us, and not the least of all of Hades—with chasms and torments and a spectators’ gallery. The rich man, probably feeling thirst for the first time ever, calls out to Father Abraham, begging the assistance of a beggar he...
Sunday, November 15, 2020 | Reflections
What do you think the breastplate of faith and love looks like? I imagine it hovering over us like the remembrance of a warm embrace from someone loved but seen no longer. Maybe the love of this breastplate makes us feel lighter, like the weight of a wrong...
Saturday, November 14, 2020 | Reflections
This verse from Luke sticks with me, always. I’m not sure where along the path of my childhood I first heard it, but the attendant conviction that a person could go directly from using the office printer for personal copies to devouring widows’ houses is branded on my...
Friday, November 13, 2020 | Reflections
In ancient times, the first fruits of the fields were given as a tithe—the finest and choicest produce was delivered as a tribute to God and for the sustenance of those who served in the temple. If you garden, you know that the first harvest is usually the prettiest....
Thursday, November 12, 2020 | Reflections
From the Archives: December 5, 1955Before we learn to read, we begin to get ideas about God. Our parents and friends, our teachers and neighbors are painting little pictures in our minds. One very h….(View this reading and more resources for prayer at Daily...
