Tag: christianity
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Held by Mercy, Learning to Love
Daily Office Readings for Sunday, October 18, 2026: Psalms 63, 98, 103; Sirach 18:19–33; 1 Corinthians 10:15–24; Matthew 18:15–20 Some days I feel deeply in love with God. Prayer comes easily, and I notice reasons for thanksgiving everywhere. Other days, God seems far away. I say the words, but my heart feels dry. I suspect…
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Trusting God with My Whole Self
Daily Office Readings for Friday, October 16, 2026: Psalms 31 and 35; Sirach 11:2–20; Revelation 9:13–21; Luke 10:38–42 Some mornings I sit down with the Daily Office and discover that the readings are asking me the same question from several directions: Where am I placing my trust, and how is that trust shaping the person…
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Trusting God When the Waters Roar
Some words in Scripture are easier to admire than to live. Trust in the Lord and do good.Take delight in the Lord.Commit your way to the Lord.Be still before the Lord.Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Those admonitions from Psalm 37 sound reassuring when I read them in the quiet of the morning. Living them…
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Grace for the Person I Am Becoming
Yesterday, I sat with some painful memories. I remembered actions that hurt people I loved. Looking back, I can see how immature I was in my relationships. I didn’t understand love the way I do today. That recognition does not erase the harm. It helps me see where healing and change were needed—and where they…
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Welcoming the Next Person
Today’s Daily Office readings have me looking back over my years in ministry and asking a question that feels more important with each passing day: Am I a faithful steward of God’s message? There was a time when attendance figures, offerings, programs, and fundraisers occupied much of my attention. Those things were part of a…
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Grace for the Next Step
Some mornings, the Sacred Writings bring me back to places I would rather not revisit. As the United States reeled from the September 11 attacks, I lay in a hospital room listening to doctors tell me I had a fifty-fifty chance of surviving. Years before, Erma and I had heard the devastating news that our…
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The Kingdom at My Doorstep
Daily Office Reflection for Sunday, October 11, 2026Psalms 114, 115, 148, 149, 150; Sirach 4:1–10; 1 Corinthians 10:1–13; Matthew 16:13–20 Today I walked outside and admired the beautiful elm tree in front of my apartment. It is fall, and soon its leaves will come drifting down. I enjoy the shade it gives. I have watched…
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An Open Door and a Listening Heart
Daily Office Reflection for Saturday, October 10, 2026Psalm 20, 21, 110, 116, 117; Sirach 3:17–31; Acts 28:17–31; Luke 9:37–50 As I read the psalms this morning, familiar music began stirring in my memory. “How Great Thou Art.” “Praise Him! Praise Him!” Handel’s magnificent “Hallelujah” chorus from Messiah. And the word hallelujah still finds its way…
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Learning to Follow Jesus Without Hating Myself
The Curious PilgrimDaily Office ReflectionPsalm 18; Jonah 3:1–4:11; Acts 27:27–44; Luke 9:18–27 My first sermon, when I was fifteen years old, was about taking up our cross and following Jesus. Looking back across the years, I realize that the boy who preached those words was still struggling to understand them. I thought denying myself meant…
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The Road Beneath My Feet
“Set up road markers for yourself;make yourself signposts;consider well the highway,the road by which you went.”—Jeremiah 31:21 I have begun reading The Road to Emmaus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life by Jim Forest. Chapter One, “The Road,” opens with these words from Jeremiah. Forest describes roads as “the circulatory system of the human race…
