(REFLECTIONS ON Ezra 8:1-14) While reading today’s genealogy of those that returned with Ezra to Jerusalem, I began considering the timing of their return. About eighty years prior, the first group led by Zerubbabel and Joshua came back to Jerusalem with one clear goal, and that was to rebuild the temple of the Lord. This first […]
27 October – 2 November 2019. Habakkuk 1 (click to read). Like many other prophets, Micah saw the way that the people of Jerusalem had turned to evil to make a profit – robbing, cheating, stealing from the needy, and oppressing the weak and poor. Like other prophets before him, Micah warned the Israelites that […]
17–23 February 2019. Leviticus 3. Thank God! (click to read). Many cultures and religions around the world have had the idea that their gods needed to be fed. Food is important to us, and we like to feed the ones we love. It’s not surprising then that people also wanted to feed the gods they […]
10–16 February 2019. Matthew 26:57–75 (click to read). A friend once told me how when she was back in school she decided to find a new church to attend. One Sunday morning she visited a church nearby, and during the service she noticed that one of her classmates was there, too. After worship her classmate […]
3–9 February 2019. Matthew 23 (click to read). We all know about Jesus’s incredible love, his graciousness, mercy, and gentleness. But in today’s reading we see a very different side of Jesus. We see him truly furious. Matthew 23 is unique in all the gospels, because it’s in this chapter that we hear Jesus’s harshest, […]
27 January – 2 February 2019. Matthew 18 (click to read). One of Jesus’s most difficult teachings is his command to forgive. It isn’t difficult because it’s hard to understand – after all we have all heard this teaching before, we all know that Jesus commands us to forgive others “seventy times seven” times (v. […]
20–26 January 2019. Matthew 13:36–58 (click to read). At the very end of John’s gospel, the disciples sit by the sea with the resurrected Jesus and eat breakfast together. During that meal, Peter quietly approaches Jesus and tries to ask questions about one of the other disciples (21:20–23). But Jesus immediately stops Peter and, in […]
13–19 January 2019. Matthew 10:1–20 (click to read). When new Christians come to the faith and join the church, they are so excited to be part of a new family of sisters and brothers, to be part of a loving and supportive community that follows Jesus’s command of love. While it’s truely great and wonderful […]
6–12 January 2019. Matthew 5:1–20 (click to read). Ever since the ancient days of the Old Testament, followers of God have known that they cannot simply open up scripture and immediately understand the will of God. Scripture needs to be interpreted, and wise teachers are needed for that. In Nehemiah 8:8 we see how Ezra […]
9–15 December 2018. Ecclesiastes 3 (click to read). Sometimes we find ourselves in a moment when everything is just perfect. Our plans have worked out, we have reached that goal we were after, we are together with the person we love, and our lives feel full of hope and peace. When that happens, we just […]