Archive for August 2021

DAILY READING Matthew 23:29-36 FIELD NOTES Jesus doesn’t mince words in today’s passage.  His infamous “Seven Woes” speech is pretty cutting against the Pharisees.  Here he calls them out for their belief that had they been alive during the time of the prophets, they would have listened, rather than ignore, or even kill them as their ancestors…

DAILY READING Psalm 149 FIELD NOTES What does the word praise mean to you?   When I was a child, I would sit in the pews at church during the hymns and I would color my bulletin, or play with whatever small toy I had managed to sneak in.  I did whatever I could to avoid singing.  In…

DAILY READING Exodus 9:1-11 FIELD NOTES Can you imagine what Pharoah must have been feeling in the midst of the story of Moses and the Exodus?  In our passage, we see just one of the many plagues God unleashes on the Egyptian people for the sake of freeing the Israelites.  God has sent a plague of disease…

DAILY READING Matthew 12:22-32 FIELD NOTES We’ve all heard the cliché, “A house divided cannot stand.”  Often we use this phrase to call for unity.  Here, Jesus is talking to the Pharisees, defending against their claims that he performs his miracles under the power of Beezelbul, the prince of Demons.  Why would evil fight against evil, he…

DAILY READING Psalm 83:1-4 FIELD NOTES Who is against God?  It sounds harsh to say.  We want to believe everyone is God’s (and indeed God created and loves all of his children), but some of us actively disobey, and even seek to destroy the Kingdom of God.  These people sow hate instead of love.  They sow war instead of…

DAILY READING Psalm 83:1-4 FIELD NOTES In times of great strife, we often wonder, “Where is God?  Why is God silent?”  So often in times of trouble, we struggle with what we perceive to be the silence of God.  The Psalmist here begs for God to come to the defense. One can wonder though—is God’s perceived silence actually…

August 14, 2021 DAILY READING Genesis 50:15-26 FIELD NOTES I worked with inner-city youth for several years.  One day we were studying the story of Joseph.  When we arrived at this scene in Genesis, where Joseph forgives his brothers, several of the students were absolutely confounded.  Joseph’s brothers had betrayed him, imprisoned him, and sold him into slavery.  Several…

August 13, 2021 DAILY READING Psalm 138 FIELD NOTES What a beautiful vision of prayer we find in Psalm 138!  The Psalmist writes, “I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise…On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul.”  Prayer is a gift…

August 12, 2021 DAILY READING 1 Corinthians 6 FIELD NOTES For me, the passage today from I Corinthians is in many ways about forgiveness.  Paul is challenging the early church on their practice of taking lawsuits to the state instead of settling matters within the church community.  While some scholars will focus on how Paul understands the…