March 18, 2020 DAILY READINGS John 7:14-24 FIELD NOTES There is more going on than we ever realize. When we are anxious or scared, like some of us may be right now, we often only see what’s on the surface of things. This can cause us great stress. We watch the news and hear crazy numbers and we…

March 17, 2020 DAILY READINGS John 14:27 FIELD NOTES These are anxious times. I’m not sure about your house, or your family, but in my home, we have to daily pray for the peace of Christ, the peace that passes all understanding, to wash over us. I remember that morning on 9/11/2001, watching the towers…

March 16, 2020 DAILY READINGS 2 John FIELD NOTES We are entering into (do we ever get out of) election season. You’re going to be tempted to post on social media. You’re going to be tempted to reply to posts on social media. You’re going to eat meals with family members who share different opinions…

March 14, 2020 DAILY READINGS Psalm 95 Exodus 16:27-35 John 4:1-6 FIELD NOTES Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving    and extol him with music and song. . . .4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,    and the mountain peaks belong to him.5 The sea is his,…

March 13, 2020 DAILY READINGS Psalm 95 Exodus 16:9-21 Ephesians 2:11-22 FIELD NOTES As a former English teacher, I am always bothered when casual readers of Robert Frost’s poem “Mending Wall” claim Frost believed, “Good fences make good neighbors.” Look again. Frost is repeating the line his next-door neighbor says, and Frost does not agree…

March 12, 2020 DAILY READINGS Psalm 95 Exodus 16:1-8 Colossians 1:15-23 FIELD NOTES Today’s readings begin with Psalm 95, a call for us to worship joyfully the Rock of our Salvation, the Lord our Maker, the Giver of all good things. But it is also a reminder that dissension and conflict are a hindrance to…

March 11, 2020 DAILY READINGS Psalm 128 Ezekiel 36:22-32 John 7:53-8:11 FIELD NOTES Several times in the Gospels, Jesus is accused of not living up to the law of Moses. He is called to account for breaking the Sabbath by healing and by allowing his disciples to pick some grain when they were hungry. At…

March 10, 2020 DAILY READINGS Psalm 128 Isaiah 65:17-25 Romans 4:6-13 FIELD NOTES Isaiah 65 asks us to imagine God’s new creation, where infants thrive and grow up in God’s grace, where old folks have long, useful lives, enjoying the house they built or the garden they planted. There, even former enemies live together in…

March 9, 2020 DAILY READINGS This weekend’s reading: Job 19:13-25 Read the psalm aloud with expression and feeling. How does this psalm compare to the way you pray when you feel like the writer does? Psalm 139 (A psalm of David) You have searched me, Lord,    and you know me.You know when I sit and when I…