30 Minutes on a Thursday
I had no idea that 30 minutes on a Thursday in May would change the shape Read More
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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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Psalms 120–134 are known as Songs of Ascents, psalms sung by pilgrims on the way to the Temple in Jerusalem. Along the way, people sing their pain and praise. From the...
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We are always preparing for something in this life. We prepare for the arrival of a baby. We prepare for the end of college. We prepare to move to a new...
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We would think that the presence of the new covenant in Jesus might draw Christian communities back toward God and away from their wandering pattern. Looking at the church of Corinth,...
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Our time together closes in the port of Corinth with an ETA on the sabbath. We are beginning to identify with the Corinthians much the same as we viewed the Israelites:...
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I grew up in Miami, Florida, on Biscayne Bay. Water became an integral part of life. Pier fishing after school became Saturday surfing, turning into full-moon catwalk shrimping. The influence of...
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Mark’s few verses are consistent with the theme of contrasts this week. Perhaps we need these opposites to remind us of life’s ebb and flow. Today is the summer solstice, the...
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Today’s scripture provides a striking contrast in tone. We are lifted up with affirmative praise and reminded of the reward for those who seek God (vv. 9-12). Then just as quickly...
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This scripture is a treasure trove of truth about ourselves. Here we have the example of what we can become when we are unsure of ourselves as Goliath was when he...
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Our first image of the Philistines is that of an unsettled, wandering, irritable, and discontent people—like me for a long period of my life. What is likely to happen to us...
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In today’s reading, the apostle Paul outlines some tenets of trust for all who believe in Jesus Christ. Am I confident in the Lord, no longer clinging to this earthly life...
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"Many of us are used to the idea that we might speak to God or to Jesus. Maybe at times it feels like shouting into the darkness or whatnot, but it’s not hard to do—at least as an imaginative exercise. What’s harder—even imaginatively—is to try to hear Jesus speaking to us. Are we just making things up? Are we just using Jesus as a puppet to say whatever we want to hear?" READ MORE
