Tag: heart
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3rd Monday after Easter
Galatians 2:15–3:6, Philippians 1:20–26, The church in Galatia was struggling. Someone was pouring bad ideas and thoughts into them, causing them to walk away from the faith that Paul had taught them. The funny thing is that many of them probably didn’t know that they were being drawn away. It is easy, step-by-step, to be…
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Avoiding Shaping
Psalm 103, 2 Peter 1:3–11, 1 John 1:5–2:2 Have you ever whittled, shaping a piece of wood cut-by-cut, flick-by-flick, putting something into life that was only in your mind? While God does not use a knife to whittle on us, through others and life’s trials God does shape us. Sometimes it is to bring something…
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Saturday after Easter
John 16:16–22, Galatians 4:8–20 How often when we know the story so well do we look down on those who don’t get it? The disciples certainly didn’t get it. Jesus often spoke in parables, and because we think we know the answer, we find it easy to impose our understanding onto Jesus’ words. If we…
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Good Friday
Isaiah 52:13-53:11, Luke 22:39–23:56 You might wear a cross. You might have one on a wall in your home. You probably have one on your bible. Today the cross has lost much of its brutality and disgrace. Movies like the “Passion of the Christ” attempt to convey the brutality, but it is so very hard…
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Holy Wednesday
Psalm 55, 2 Samuel 16:15–17:10, John 13:21-32 Betrayal. It’s not that we expect our enemies or adversaries to “play” fair, but our friends? Co-workers? Family? It’s hard. It hurts. We often feel absolutely powerless in the midst of it. Then we feel angry. All very human. The psalmist (probably not David, but maybe) goes through…
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Holy Tuesday
Psalm 89:19–37, Isaiah 52:13–53:3, John 12:20-43 Imagine all the rumors you were hearing about Jesus, who had dared to ride into Jerusalem as a king. There were Greeks that were ever looking for Jesus. For some that just proved Jesus was not really the Messiah or a righteous man. To others, it added something else…
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Palm Sunday
Psalm 24, Zechariah 9:9-17, Mark 11:1-11 When it comes to the words victory and triumph, the cultural baggage that we bring along (specifically, US Americans) is more on the battle end of things. Whether it was a rugged political “fight”, the athleticism of sports, or the blood and sacrifice of our military, there is a…
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Fourth Tuesday of Lent
Genesis 12:1-7, Ruth 2:13–19, Job 31:24–32 For many of us (if not most), the call of Abram (who would become Abraham) doesn’t seem that significant from a strictly human perspective. Yes, any of us would find being called by God significant, but the calling away from relatives and land is not so strange. This is…