Posts by Michele Crater

DAILY READING Luke 19:41-44 FIELD NOTES This morning I glanced through some headlines in the news.  Far too many of them spoke of war, violence and genocide. In this passage in Luke, Jesus has just made his triumphant entrance into Jerusalem and as he looks around, he is moved to tears.  In the midst of his weeping, he…

DAILY READING Zechariah 7:9-10 FIELD NOTES Each of our daily readings this week focused on how to live out our Christian faith. We’ve learned that our faith grows hands and feet when we: respect legitimate authority include voices from all sides when we settle a dispute — especially those who feel wronged identify what belongs to…

DAILY READING Isaiah 1:17 FIELD NOTES Our reading for today is one short verse: “learn to do good; seek justice; rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” In ancient times orphans and widows were among the most vulnerable members of society. Without a male head of household to provide for them and…

DAILY READING Psalm 72:12-14 FIELD NOTES Psalm 72 describes the reign of an ideal king and may have been originally used at a coronation or at the annual commemoration of a coronation. What are some characteristics of an ideal leader that this psalm describes? He or she employs justice and righteousness; and is a defender…

DAILY READING Matthew 22:15-22 FIELD NOTES In today’s reading, Jesus’ enemies sought to trip him up with a trick question, a question designed to make Jesus offend someone with his answer — either the supporters of Jewish independence or the Romans themselves. They cunningly asked him if it was “lawful” to pay taxes or not.…

DAILY READING Acts 6:1-7 FIELD NOTES My mother-in-law had a clever way of solving disputes between her two children when it came time to divvy up the last pieces of cake or pie. She would say to them, “One of you slice, and the other one choose.” This helped the one slicing to be fair…

DAILY READING Mark 1:14-20 FIELD NOTES Every time I read this section of Mark, I can’t help but to imagine what was going through the heads of the apostles when Jesus approached them as fishermen. He tells them that they will become fishers of men, which they had no clue as to what that meant.…

DAILY READING John 1:14 FIELD NOTES Sometimes the hardest part of a journey is just after you begin – when things become routine, when the novelty wears off, when the celebrations for having begun the journey have ended – but you still have a long, long, long way to go. This is precisely the place…