Posts from 2020 (Page 23)
Daily Devotions: April 18, 2020
April 18, 2020 John 20:19-25 … “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” vs. 19 The words of this verse seem eerily appropriate for many of us as we continue in this uncertain state we’ve come to call “social-distancing.” Because of fear we’ve isolated…
Daily Devotions: April 17, 2020
April 17, 2020 1 Peter 1:6-9 … “Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy…” vs. 8 We’re all pretty much in the same boat when it comes to Jesus. None of us ever saw him in the flesh and we certainly can’t see him in bodily form now. He lived a long time ago and we’re totally…
Daily Devotions: April 16, 2020
April 16, 2020 1 Peter 1:3-5 … “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” vs. 3 Most everyone is now hoping for a quick end to the restrictions that we’ve been facing because of the COVID-19 virus. Even more than that, we’re hoping that we can stop living in fear. Not only…
Daily Devotions: April 15, 2020
April 15, 2020 Psalm 16:7-11 … “You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” vs. 11 The Psalmist was secure and content in his relationship with the Lord. As he moved along life’s pathway, the things he saw and experienced sparked joy in his soul, and he knew that as the journey continued, those daily pleasures would abound. Some among us, even in the presence of…
Daily Devotions: April 14, 2020
April 14, 2020 Psalm 16:1-6 … “Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.” vs. 1 There have been some religious folks, from a variety of backgrounds, who have claimed that, since God is their refuge and strength, there is no need in this pandemic to follow regulations on the size of crowds or physical distancing. Their leaders have encouraged them to continue to come together in large numbers and trust that God will protect them. Naturally they…
Daily Devotions: April 13, 2020
April 13, 2020 Acts 2:14a, 22-32 … “But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power.” vs. 24 While it’s unlikely that these words from Acts are Peter’s exact words, they do represent the convictions of the early church as it took shape in Jerusalem during those tumultuous years following Jesus’ death. The disciples had had a powerful experience of his continuing presence and they believed that…
Daily Devotions: April 12, 2020 – EASTER SUNDAY!
April 12, 2020 Matthew 28:1-10 … “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’” vs. 10 There’s a double word of grace in today’s text. Twice the women hear–once from the angel, and once from Jesus–that they should not be afraid. That’s good news at any time, but it’s especially important now as we continue to deal with COVID-19. Once we had thought that restrictions…
Daily Devotions: April 11, 2020
April 11, 2020 Romans 6:3-11 … “Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” vs. 4 This has to be the strangest Lent that any of us have ever experienced! As the days have turned into weeks, and now months, our understandable fear of disease and death has led to ever-increasing isolation…
Daily Devotions: April 10, 2020
April 10, 2020 Isaiah 52:13-53:12 … “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.” vs. 4 As news of the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, there were some who saw it as God’s punishment for humanity’s embrace of deviant lifestyles, or perhaps our failure to care for the earth. That’s not an unusual response. Religious folks have always been quick to blame natural disasters on profligate…
Daily Devotions: April 9, 2020
April 9, 2020 John 13:1-17, 31b-35 … “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” vs. 34 Maundy Thursday gets its name from a derivation of the Latin word mandatum, which means commandment. It’s a day set aside in the church, not to remember the origins of Holy Communion, but to remind us of the new commandment that Jesus gave his disciples at their last…
Daily Devotions: April 8, 2020
April 8, 2020 Hebrews 12:1-3 … “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…” vs. 1 The writer to the Hebrews has recounted the faith stories of the ancestors, remembering the tales of their resilience and courage, in order to remind his readers that they were not alone on…
Daily Devotions: April 7, 2020
April 7, 2020 Psalm 71:1-14 … “For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.” vss. 5-6 Many of us fall into the category of what might be called “cradle Christians.” Our parents (at least one of them) were believers and we were raised and nurtured in the church. We went…