DAILY READING Exodus 16:27-35Psalm 95This week’s sermon text: Matthew 5:43-48 FIELD NOTES Keeping the Sabbath is hard work.  We might think that this is a modern day problem; that having our email in our pockets and cell service that covers us worldwide makes it even harder for us to escape from work and find real rest.…

DAILY READING Ephesians 2:11-22Psalm 95This week’s sermon text: Matthew 5:43-48 FIELD NOTES Years ago, I worked for a summer at a United Methodist camp. This particular summer, the leaders of the camp had been very intentional in hiring a staff that was diverse—racially, ethnically, and culturally. For some members of the staff, this was the first…

DAILY READING Colossians 1:15-23Psalm 95This week’s sermon text: Matthew 5:43-48 FIELD NOTES It is a mind-blowing thing to think that, in the person of Jesus, we see the “image of the invisible God.” This is one reason why reading scripture is so important—in the life and ministry of Jesus, revealed in scripture, we get a picture…

DAILY READING John 7:53-8:11Psalm 128This week’s sermon text: Matthew 5:43-48 FIELD NOTES In God’s Kingdom, there is a perfect balance between justice and love. As Christians, we know that God’s Kingdom is breaking into the world all around us and that we have to learn to see it through the lenses of the gospel. We also…

DAILY READING Romans 4:6-13Psalm 128This week’s sermon text: Matthew 5:43-48 FIELD NOTES “For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.” Romans 4:13 For Christians, faith is everything. We all reach points in our lives where we realize we…

May 20, 2019 DAILY READING Today’s reading: Matthew 22:34-40This week’s challenge: WALK FIELD NOTES “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” – Jesus …

May 18, 2019 DAILY READING This week’s sermon text: Matthew 22:34-40 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 19 (A psalm of David) The heavens declare the glory of God;     the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day…

May 17, 2019 DAILY READING This week’s sermon text: Matthew 22:34-40 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 23 (A psalm of David) The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.He makes me lie down in green…