Tag: bible
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Some Places Become Holy Simply Because We Live There
In 2003, I was appointed by the Hattiesburg District Superintendent of the Mississippi Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church to serve as pastor of West Laurel United Methodist Church in Laurel, Mississippi. The appointment felt like coming home. My mother and father were both raised in east Jones County. When I was twelve, our…
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What Is God Saying to Us?
One of the questions I hear most often is, “How do you know what God is saying?” Followers of Jesus have wrestled with that question for two thousand years. In the Wesleyan tradition, and now as an Episcopalian, I have come to appreciate four sources that help us discern God’s voice: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and…
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My Help Comes from the Lord
Daily Office Readings: Psalm 121, 1 Samuel 11:1–15, Acts 8:1–13, Luke 22:63–71 “The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in, from this time forth for evermore.” — Psalm 121:8 One of the most familiar affirmations in Scripture is found in Psalm 121: “My help comes from the Lord.” Those words sound comforting…
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The Curious Pilgrim
God Is Already at Work “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.” — Psalm 118:14 One of the greatest mysteries of faith is that God is often doing His deepest work before we recognize it. Today’s Daily Office readings invite us to look back over our lives and…
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Overcoming Evil With Good
Living Romans 12 in a Fractured World A Curious Pilgrim Reflection There are passages in Paul’s letter to the Romans that feel almost impossible when we place them beside the realities of modern life. Division. Anger. Political hostility. Religious conflict. Social media outrage. Family wounds. Violence. Loneliness. Fear. And yet Paul writes: “Live in harmony…
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The Word Made Flesh: More Than Words on a Page
Daily Office Readings: Psalm 148 | Exodus 12:1–14 | John 1:1–18 Introduction The Psalmist calls for all humanity to praise the Lord! Exodus 12 celebrates Passover. John describes Jesus as the Logos or the Word. Most Christians consider God’s Word to be the Bible, but I don’t see that, for John 1 tells us the…
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Walking as He Walked — Light Without Labels
4 Scripture Readings: First Epistle of John 2:3–11 Gospel of John 8:12–19 This morning’s reading from I John is both simple and piercing: “Whoever says, ‘I abide in him,’ ought to walk just as he walked.”“Whoever says, ‘I am in the light,’ while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness.” John does…
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God Comes to Us in Many Different Ways
February 12 — A Life Lesson “Be still, and know that I am God.” — Psalm 46:10 There was a time in my life when I believed God spoke in only one way — through Scripture, through church, through sermons preached from a pulpit. But seventy-six years of living have taught me something different. God…
