Bible
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I Choose the Path of the Poor in Spirit
My Dear Flock, On Saturday, July 13th we were faced with the deep violence, anger, and hopelessness that grips our country. “Wars and rumors of wars” are far easier to digest when they are across oceans. The drift away from God that infects our culture has turned into a whirlpool, pulling everything into its wake. Make Continue reading
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The Paradox of Maundy Thursday
Thursday of holy week is traditionally known as Maundy Thursday. “Maundy” comes from the Latin translation of John 13:34: “Mandatum novum do vobis…”, “a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (ESV). As Jesus said this, if you remember, he bowed down Continue reading
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Fig Tuesday
Today in the Christian calendar is “Fig Tuesday”, traditionally a day when we remember Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree (Matt 21:18-22). If you remember the story, Jesus was walking from Bethany and came across a fig tree. He was hungry, and hoped to find a fig to munch on, but instead he found nothing Continue reading
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God in a Manger
John 1:1-18 Sometimes the images of Christmas are too familiar to us. We see the story reenacted year after year: Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus, with their attendants, stable-mates, and visitors. We theorize and imagine who and what would be there. Of all the images we use, one almost always stays the same: the Continue reading
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The King Comes in Kindness
Isaiah 42 Justice is a loaded word. Get it on your side, and you’ve won the argument. In the Bible, the word “justice” is mis-pat, and it simply means judgment. It is the quality of kings and captains, fathers and friends, in which they judge issues, disputes, and even their daily life against the law of God. Continue reading
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A Never-Had Memory
I walked, worn and weary, in straits of my own making. Alone, despair, sun-drenched, dry, soul-wrung, cliff-ridden. Atop the mesa my eye caught a glimpse of life’s abiding breeze. Of the balm of branch and trunk and leaf.Of shade, a never-had memory. But it left before my heart could swell, lifting my gaze to future groves. Long ages, epochs, buffeting drought, till, filled Continue reading
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The Wedding Procession of the King
Psalm 45 There’s nothing quite like a wedding. Look far and wide, and in almost every culture you’ll find traditions, celebrations, and rituals signaling when two people leave their father and mother and become one flesh (Genesis 2:24). The Bible is full of weddings, too. The Song of Solomon is all about two lovers and Continue reading
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Cursed and Waiting
The word “Advent” comes from the Latin adventus, meaning “arrival,” and it is a time when the Church has prepared its heart for the arrival of the King. It is a time of waiting, of reminding ourselves where our hope lies, and re-focusing on our anticipation for the second coming of Christ. Tradition tells us that Advent Continue reading
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Jesus at the Door
I hate our doorbell. Before we bought our house I never once rang the door, but now it is a constant torment. Why? Well, it’s not a normal, sweet-sounding doorbell. Circa the early 90s, it is a customizable (but wholly unintelligible) electric doorbell system that has been programed to chime the tune (I think) to Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee! as Continue reading
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Breath of Life
From Psalm 137: “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres… “ Yahweh, mercies that I needon exile shores, by willow trees. While plowmen plow and rivers flowmy heart, soul-sick, sits and on it goesdown sand and stonesweeping branches grown. Lyres, useless in temple-fire;For Continue reading
Revival and Renewal 