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DAILY READING Psalm 121 FIELD NOTES Today, I want to highlight a different translation of this familiar Psalm.  This is from The Voice translation: A song for those journeying to worship.1 I look up at the vast size of the mountains—    from where will my help come in times of trouble?2 The Eternal Creator of heaven and earth and these mountains    will send the help…

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…