Blog (Page 128)
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…
Daily Devotions: April 6, 2020
April 6, 2020 Isaiah 42:1-9 … “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you; I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations…” vs. 6 The Prophet believed, against all circumstantial evidence, that Israel had been called by the Lord, not to just occupy land in the Judean mountains, but to be a light to the nations. The “called people” had a…
Daily Devotions: April 5, 2020
April 5, 2020 Matthew 27:45-54 … “And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” vs. 46 Matthew and Mark report that Jesus’ only words from the cross echoed Psalm 22 and reflected his deep distress and sense of alienation. He felt deserted by God, a deep irony given his identification as the Good Shepherd, the one who leads us through the valley of…
Daily Devotions: April 4, 2020
April 4, 2020 Matthew 27:26-34 … “Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, ‘You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.’” vss. 29-40 It’s amazing how quickly people abandoned the “Jesus Bandwagon” after he was arrested and sentenced to death by crucifixion. Surely some of those who passed by that Friday afternoon were familiar with his ministry—he’d been…