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DAILY READING Psalm 89:1-4 Hebrews 1:5-14 FIELD NOTES During the Christmas season, angels are everywhere. We see their gilded images printed on Christmas cards, fashioned in twinkling lights on roofs and treetops, appliquéd on tree ornaments and Christmas stockings. We hear the lilting refrain of “Angels We Have Heard on High” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.”…

DAILY READING Psalm 89:1-4 Hebrews 1:1-4 FIELD NOTES When I was in college, I had a professor whose office displayed beautiful artwork framed in simple wooden frames. When I had occasion to visit her I often admired the tall, gold-leaf designs which I later found out were rubbings from brass monuments on gravestones.  The intriguing…

DAILY READING Psalm 125 Malachi 3:16-4:4 FIELD NOTES Malachi is the last book in the Old Testament and bridges the Old Testament and the New Testament with its announcement of the coming “Day of the Lord” and the arrival of the prophet Elijah before that day arrives. (Malachi 4:5). Many believe that John the Baptist…

DAILY READING Psalm 125 2 Kings 2:9-22 FIELD NOTES Have you ever heard the saying that someone was “picking up the mantle” from someone else — meaning they were assuming that person’s role and responsibilities? Today’s reading gives us the origin of that common English idiom in the story of Elijah, and his apprentice, Elisha.…

DAILY READING Psalm 125 Ephesians 6:10-17 FIELD NOTES When my children left to go to college and were no longer safe and sound in our family home, I prayed this scripture passage every day for them. I imagined that they were putting on each piece of the armor that Paul describes in this passage —…

DAILY READING Psalm 77 FIELD NOTES Pain always seems worst in the middle of the night — when the house is silent; when darkness shrouds our vision and the outside world seems to have disappeared; when we feel alone — so very alone. It’s during the middle of the night, when sleep escapes us and…

DAILY READING Psalm 22:23-31 Mark 8:27-30 FIELD NOTES As today’s text opens, Jesus and his disciples are walking along the path to visit several villages around the pagan city Caesarea Philippi. Out of the blue, Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” That was an easy question for the disciples to…

DAILY READING Psalm 22:23-31 FIELD NOTES My mother-in-law was a talented seamstress. She began sewing at an early age, and by the time she had her first child, she was proficient at French hand sewing. For her daughter’s baptism she stitched a white cotton batiste gown with pin tucks, delicate lace, and intricate smocking.  Through…

DAILY READING Psalm 22:23-31 Genesis 15:1-6, 12-18 FIELD NOTES Several years ago my husband and I vacationed in Maine. One cold, clear evening we drove to the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park to look at the stars. From the pinnacle of the mountain we had a 360-degree view of the inky black…