Author: Sweet Tea and Front Porch Storyteller
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Before the Teacher Speaks: Prevenient Grace
The Pilgrim Continues His WayThe Sixth Meeting — The Skhimnik InstructsScriptures: Matthew 13:1–23; Matthew 7:21; John 16:7–15; Romans 10:14–15; Ecclesiastes 3:1–8Source: The Pilgrim Continues His Way, translated by Olga Savin, Shambhala, 2001 Sometimes a teacher begins teaching before saying a word. That is what I see happening as we enter this part of the Sixth…
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When Power Does Not Look Like Power
Daily Office Readings — Tuesday, September 15, 2026Psalms 61, 62, 68; Job 40:1, 41:1–11; Acts 16:6–15; John 12:9–19Source: The Book of Common Prayer, Proper 19, Year Two Sometimes we think we know what power looks like. Power wins battles. Power controls circumstances. Power gets its way. Power removes obstacles. But today’s readings invite us to…
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The Love of God Keeps Working
Daily Office Readings — Monday, September 14, 2026 Psalms 56, 57, 58, 64, 65; Job 40:1–24; Acts 15:36–16:5; John 11:55–12:8 Some days I can read familiar passages of Scripture and suddenly see something I have never seen before. Today was one of those days. I have read these Psalms many times, but today I saw…
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A Teacher Opens a Door
The Curious Pilgrim — American SaintsSeptember 14, 2026 Lucy Craft LaneyApril 14, 1854 – December 23, 1933 Source: A Year with American Saints, G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, Church Publishing, 2006 I will never forget something that happened when I was about five years old. Minnie Wally patted me on the head and…
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Two Pilgrims, Two Roads, One Mysterious Grace
The Pilgrim Continues His WayThe Sixth MeetingThe Pilgrim and the ProfessorSource: The Pilgrim Continues His Way, translated by Olga Savin, Shambhala, 2001 At the end of the Fifth Meeting, the Pilgrim is traveling with a man he calls the Barin, a gentleman. They are headed toward the Anzersky Skete associated with the Solovetsky Monastery on…
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The Majesty of God Is Love
Daily Office Readings — Year Two, Proper 19Sunday, September 13, 2026Psalms 8, 24, 29, 84; Job 38:1, 18–41; Revelation 18:1–8; Matthew 5:21–26Source: The Book of Common Prayer I have been using the wrong week for my Daily Office readings. Today I discovered that I should be in Proper 19. Perhaps even that is part of…
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The Harvest Becomes Seed Again
The Pilgrim Continues His WaySeptember 13, 2026The Pilgrim’s Account of the Fifth MeetingFellow Traveler: The BarinSource: The Pilgrim Continues His Way, translated by Olga Savin, Shambhala, 2001 I have learned so much from The Pilgrim Continues His Way, but this may be the clearest and most direct lesson I have received from the book. I…
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A Year with American Saints — September 13, 2026
Albert Benjamin Simpson December 15, 1843 – October 29, 1919 Albert Benjamin Simpson was a man of tremendous zeal. Born on a barren farm in western Ontario, Canada, Simpson worked as a teacher to earn money for his education and graduated from college with honors. Feeling called to ministry, at only twenty-two he became pastor…
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William Leroy Stidger: Attraction, Connection, and Transformation
A Year with American Saints — September 12, 2026 William Leroy Stidger | March 15, 1885–August 7, 1949 | Methodist Source: A Year with American Saints, G. Scott Cady and Christopher L. Webber, Church Publishing, 2006. William Leroy Stidger has been called evangelism’s first modern media star. Born in Moundsville, West Virginia, Stidger was ordained…
