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About Disciplines

The Upper Room Disciplines provides an opportunity to look more deeply at scripture by offering a week of devotions by a single author on a particular theme.

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Latest Disciplines Devotions

Befriending Baptism’s Wildness - January 12, 2019

January 12, 2019

During the Sanctus at every Eucharist, we acclaim, “Heaven and earth are full of your glory.” The psalmist proclaims the same throughout this psalm. The psalmist commands heavenly beings to declare...

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Befriending Baptism’s Wildness - January 11, 2019

January 11, 2019

How are we to understand the privileging of Israel here? It seems beyond our understanding of God’s general justice. As Creator, God’s love is for all creation. To the extent that...

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Befriending Baptism’s Wildness - January 10, 2019

January 10, 2019

We find parentheses in today’s reading. Don’t you love parentheses? I think of them as little Wikipedia entries within a story. They illuminate what we might not see otherwise. Christianity in...

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Befriending Baptism’s Wildness - January 9, 2019

January 9, 2019

We could read today’s psalm as a portrayal of a distant God separate from creation and thus capricious and rapacious. We could read it as God thrashing and trashing the trees,...

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Befriending Baptism’s Wildness - January 8, 2019

January 8, 2019

Redemption and wilderness experience go together. Isaiah’s covenant people know God’s love by going through literal and figurative flood and fire, by enduring exile and fear. God’s covenant-making and -keeping engages...

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Befriending Baptism’s Wildness - January 7, 2019

January 7, 2019

Heightened expectations unleash in and among us a palpable and playful wildness. Emotions stir. Our senses go on alert. We wonder and speculate. We ask questions: “What’s the buzz? What does...

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Following the Light, Being the Light - January 6, 2019

January 6, 2019

The journey of three astrologers to the epiphany of Christ includes every means of revelation discussed this week. A peculiar star piques their interest. It prompts wonder to the point of...

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Following the Light, Being the Light - January 5, 2019

January 5, 2019

Biblical texts honor the power of words. Names matter. Stories transport the energy of plot and characters through the teller to the told. Whether we speak of God’s light piercing the...

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Following the Light, Being the Light - January 4, 2019

January 4, 2019

Paul argues that creation should suffice to reveal the Creator and prompt devotion. But the human heart’s impatience for heavenly blessings leads us to worship idols and pursue cheap substitutes. In...

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Following the Light, Being the Light - January 3, 2019

January 3, 2019

Light and darkness offer rich metaphors for our life in Christ. Light is God’s love that breaks through the darkness of cruelty and injustice. Light is Christ meeting us in the...

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