February 24, 2020 DAILY READINGS Acts 7:30-34This weekend’s reading:Job 1:6-12 FIELD NOTES In Stephen’s speech, we see in our text him invoking Moses’ encounter with the burning bush.  It includes God’s command to Moses to take off his sandals because he was standing on Holy Ground.  Have you ever wondered: what exactly is holy ground?…

February 17, 2020 DAILY READINGS Psalm 1001 Peter 5:1-5This weekend’s reading: Ecclesiastes 12:1-14 FIELD NOTES When most people think about the world’s great leaders, they imagine figures that can command people’s attention, that demand respect from others, that are brilliant orators, or that can bend other people’s will to their own, even if it means…

February 8, 2020 DAILY READINGS Matthew 15:1-9Psalm 119:1-8 This weekend’s reading:Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 FIELD NOTES We can do everything right. We can go through the motions perfectly. We can obey every rule or ethic code, or whatever it may be. Yet if our heart isn’t in it, if we aren’t sincere in our convictions, then what…

February 7, 2020 DAILY READINGS 1 John 2:7-17Psalm 119:1-8 This weekend’s reading: Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 FIELD NOTES Look, we can all admit that relationships are hard. People mistreat you. They gossip about you. They attack your character. Perhaps even worst of all, they completely ignore you. And yet, we see in the text that if we…

February 6, 2020 DAILY READINGS James 1:12-16Psalm 119:1-8This weekend’s reading: Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 FIELD NOTES “It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.” The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis God didn’t make us do it. Neither did the devil. It…

February 5, 2020 DAILY READINGSJohn 8:12-30Psalm 119:105-112 This weekend’s reading:Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 FIELD NOTES Scholar N.T. Wright says about Jesus in his book, John for Everyone: “He and his father are giving evidence that he is the Messiah; but if this is so, he is bringing the light that they cannot escape.  As he has come…

February 4, 2020 DAILY READINGS2 Corinthians 4:1-12Psalm 119:105-112 This weekend’s reading:Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 FIELD NOTES Is there anything worse than the feeling of hopelessness?  I am hard-pressed to think of a worse feeling.  And yet, unfortunately, all of us will eventually be in that space.  Eventually we all find ourselves in a moment where the odds…

February 3, 2020 DAILY READINGSRomans 11:2-10Psalm 119:105-112 This weekend’s reading:Ecclesiastes 7:1-14 FIELD NOTES This sobering passage reminds us of this simple truth: we are not special.  Sometimes our desires for ourselves cloud our view of those around us.  We let jealousy, and really, our own sense of superiority dim us to the light of those…