Posts by Michele Crater

DAILY READING Micah 4:1-5 FIELD NOTES This week marks the start of Advent, the season of anticipation and preparation for the birth of Christ.  During this season, we remember the longing of Jews for a Messiah and our own longing for, and need of, forgiveness, salvation and a new beginning.  We also anticipate the full reign of…

DAILY READING Revelation 21:5—“Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look! I’m making all things new.’” FIELD NOTES Advent begins tomorrow! Time to prepare for Christmas! As we age, the magic of Christmas tends to disappear, and preparing for Christmas can become sheer drudgery. Football coach Lou Holtz once said that Christmas Day was the most…

DAILY READING Romans 12:9-18— Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints;…

DAILY READING Psalm 100:4-5—Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. FIELD NOTES One Thanksgiving, when I was a boy, I asked my grandparents what they did when they were children on Thanksgiving Day. They said, “It was…

DAILY READING 1 Thessalonians 5:18— “. . . give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” FIELD NOTES In 1822, Sarah Hale was a young widow, mother of five children, and editor of a women’s magazine. During this time, she began a 40-year campaign for Thanksgiving to be a national holiday.…

DAILY READING James 1:2-4— “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” FIELD NOTES During one especially difficult day of struggle, trial, and tribulation, I…

DAILY READING Psalm 118:1—“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” FIELD NOTES As Pastor Joe was preparing for his Thanksgiving message, he called his mother and asked, “Mama, you lived through the Great Depression with seven of us kids. We had nothing. We were worse than poor. How did you make it…

DAILY READING Exodus 14:10-14 FIELD NOTES In this passage of Exodus, the people of Israel are terrified and they cry out to the Lord in anguish. They ask God, why “you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?” (v. 11). They question God and lament the path to destruction that they feel that…