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 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 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 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, 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 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 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, 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 Read more…