Readings for January 5, 2025

We’re doing things just a bit differently this week.  Yes, I am still going from the lectionary, but not the Scripture’s recommended for Sunday, January 5th, but instead the readings for Monday, January 6th.

Each year you have the choice to go with the second Sunday after Christmas or to celebrate Epiphany.   My wife noted that I used the word Epiphany in the sermon on Sunday and perhaps I use that word without everyone knowing what it means.  I think we all know the dictio

Readings for December 22, 2024

The final Sunday of Advent brings us a peculiar happening in the lectionary, the same Scripture twice.

Here’s what the lectionary serves up:

Two doses of the Magnificat if we’d like to go that route, but more than that, it is beginning to feel like Christmas in the Scriptures.

The Old Testament lesson from the prophet Micah foretells of our Lord and Savior.  We get a first glimpse of our Christmas se

Readings for December 15, 2024

Third Sunday in Advent.   Sorry to have skipped last week, but let’s get back to it this morning.  An oddity for three of the four weeks of Advent is that there is no Psalm.   We instead get to hear from two OT prophets and then the typical Epistle and Gospel lessons.

You’re not supposed to put much stock in the little headlines your Bible puts above sections of Scripture, but I certainly like the sentiment as I r

Readings for December 1, 2024

It has taken more than half a year, but we have left Pentecost behind and enter the joyful and anticipatory season of Advent!

Here’s the lectionary readings for this coming Sunday:

The texts for Advent rarely change and I actually preached on this text from Jeremiah last year.  I have no idea what I said, but I am certain I look at this text a bit differently now than I did back then.   Between our Sunday morn

Bible Study on the Cheap

Studying the Bible can get expensive.  It should be obvious from this space that you could spend thousands upon thousands of dollars just on Study Bibles.  Once you move into the Bible Commentary side of things, costs ramp up quickly and exponentially.  How in the world do you build a library and not go broke?  The good news is you really don’t have to build one by purchasing much of anything, presuming you already have a decent Study Bible or a Bible Handbook to go along

Readings for November 24, 2024

The last Sunday after Pentecost!  We made it!  On this final Sunday before Advent, here’s what the lectionary sets us up with:

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 Psalm 93 Revelation 1:4b-8 John 18:33-37 

I’m at a bit of an advantage knowing that this is also known as “Christ the King Sunday.”  It helps put the reading from Daniel in perspective.  Daniel’s vision of God sitting on the throne and then Jesus taking his rightful place is simply incredible with this vision or prophesy coming

Readings for November 17, 2024

We are in the final two weeks of the Pentecost season, and this is what the Revised Common Lectionary has for us this week:

Daniel 12:1-3 Psalm 16 Hebrews 10:11-14 (15-18) 19-25 Mark 13:1-8

I’m going to have to do something I don’t typically do in these first-blush looks at the Scripture, I’m going to have to do some quick study of context.  I could easily dash off some provocative thoughts, but we need to be careful so that we understand and speak about Scripture properly

Readings For November 10, 2024

Yet another week of Pentecost, by far the longest liturgical part of the year.  Here’s what the Revised Common Lectionary has for us this week:

1 Kings 17:8-16 Psalm 146 Hebrews 9:24-28 Mark 12:38-44

I’m sure you’re all surprised that a hymn came to mind as I read the Old Testament lesson.  I also thought about another story I heard as a teenager.  The provision of God is on miraculous display as the jar of meal to make bread never emptied.   Thy hymn “Little Is Much When

Readings for November 3, 2024

Another week closer to Advent believe it or not.  As the liturgical season of Pentecost lingers, here’s what the lectionary has for us this week:

Deuteronomy 6:1-9 Psalm 119:1-8 Hebrews 9:11-14 Mark 12:28-34

A lot of thoughts swimming around in my head as I go through the Old Testament lesson, let’s see if I can make something coherent out of them.  One way to think about this new law, is a new way of living.  If you’re going to live in the so-called promised land, there i

Trunk or Treat

Trunk or Treat is another event where I do very little but reap wonderful benefits.

Nurture Commission along with the help of all who donated candy and money, put the whole thing together, such as choosing the theme, setting up, ensuring we have enough candy to hand out and this year it also included blowing up inflatable animals.   There’s probably much more that I don’t even think about, but all I have to do is ride out to the town park with my robe, fake hair and fake be

Out of the Garage #49

The Jesus Bible, well aren’t they all?

This is a neat, compact Bible and not a traditional Study Bible.  There are some notes but not many.  There are plenty of what I would call tidbits sprinkled throughout the Bible, but nothing heavy.  Some of the best notes appear to be in the Book of Psalms.  Each book has a short introduction with a brief timeline, but again nothing too serious.  The text of the sidebars (tidbits) is large and very easy to read.  The regular text is

Readings For October 27, 2024

This Sunday we reach the 23rd week after Pentecost, but Advent is now on the foreseeable horizon and will be here before we know it.

The lectionary offers these four readings this week:

Jeremiah 31:7-9 Psalm 126 Hebrews 7:23-28 Mark 10:46-52

One problem when trying to share thoughts on Scripture like I do each Monday is that just looking at the readings themselves lacks context and thus your thoughts lack context.  The Old Testament reading is deep in the book of the prophe

The Hymn I Didn't Use

Some weeks are harder than others to choose the hymns, but this week there were numerous possibilities.  Sadly, one got left on the cutting room floor that deserved a much better fate.

As we look at the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah, we read the words of verse five, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed” (NRSV, Anglicized).  A hymn that captures some of that

Hurricane Relief Update

The Shenandoah District Church of the Brethren has provided an update on recent efforts to assist with hurricane relief.

Volunteers with the Shenandoah District Church of the Brethren Disaster Ministries have been filling clean-up buckets and going through hygiene kits to prepare supplies for distribution to flooded areas in Southwestern Virginia. Twenty-eight volunteers arrived on Monday at the Kit Depot behind the District Office to load 192 clean-up buckets, 405 personal

Readings for October 20, 2024

We continue on in this season of Pentecost, now pushing into the 22nd week after the holy event.

Here’s what the lectionary has for us:

Isaiah 53:4-12 Psalm 91:9-16 Hebrews 5:1-10 Mark 10:35-45

The prophet Isaiah starts this selection with a callback to the message of last week, that God was made one of us in Jesus.  Not only was he made man, but he shared in our infirmities and in our sorrow according to the prophet.  That’s the important distinction made when we talk abou