Read Luke 4:1-13. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. (Luke 4:1) I have long found the particular temptations Jesus went through in the wilderness in preparation for his ministry to be puzzling and difficult to empathize with. Read more…
Luke 9:28-36 O light of everlasting love By which the world was made, Illume your people from above With veins of gold inlaid. O light of never-ending fire On Moses’ holy tree, Consume our darkness on your pyre, And set your people free. O light of eye, O life of Read more…
Read Jeremiah 17-5:10. They shall be like a tree planted by water. (Jeremiah 17:8) Does God really care for us? We are abused. We get cancer. We die in car accidents. We live in war-torn countries and are oppressed and exiled. We are poor and don’t have enough food. We Read more…
The thirteenth-century beguine Hadewijch was a lyric poet from the Antwerp region. She adapted the form of courtly love poetry to her love for Minne, Love. In the original middle Dutch you can get a sense of the meter, rhyme, consonance, assonance, and word play, but what really stands out Read more…
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? (Isaiah 6:1-13) Questions: What is a divine calling? Is there a calling for every Christian? Are there multiple callings? Is purification necessary? Empowerment? Should we attempt to serve God without an explicit and personal call? Why does Isaiah preach to Read more…
Prov. 4:23: Guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Proverbs 4:23) Politics. For me it’s junk food—the guilty pleasure of someone falling off his diet. Sometimes, if I’m tired or bored, or if I find what I’m supposed to be doing difficult, I’ll look at a news Read more…
Read Luke 24:13-35. “O how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe!” (Luke 24:25) What does it mean to be “slow of heart”? Should we trust our hearts over our heads? Salvation is through faith (i.e. trust, love), not through head knowledge. God is known by love, Read more…
Read Philippians 2:5-13. It is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13) When there is talk of God teaching us directly, without intermediary, or of God speaking, or leading, or reminding, or convicting, and of our Read more…