March 28, 2019 DAILY READING John 8:21-32This weekend’s reading: Mark 15:33-41 FIELD NOTES This passage concludes with Jesus speaking words that are likely quite familiar to you. Speaking to the Jews who had believed in him, he said: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the…

March 27, 2019 DAILY READING John 8:12-20This weekend’s reading: Mark 15:33-41 FIELD NOTES The internet is so fully integrated into our lives at this point that it is almost impossible for us to remember the world before our phones were permanently attached to our hands. The answer to every question we could ever come up with…

March 26, 2019 DAILY READING John 7:37-43This weekend’s reading: Mark 15:33-41 FIELD NOTES Jesus stood up and shouted! In his shouting, he promised to give the Holy Spirit to all who believed. And wrapped up in that promise was the claim to be the Messiah. The response from the crowd was mixed. While some could boldly…

March 25, 2019 DAILY READING Isaiah 52:7-12This weekend’s reading: Mark 15:33-41 FIELD NOTES I doubt many of us ever think of our feet as beautiful. Feet are often calloused or tired or sore or even stinky. But usually not thought to be beautiful. Even so, the prophet declares that worn and weary feet can be made beautiful…

March 23, 2019 DAILY READING Luke 6:43-45This weekend’s reading: Mark 14:66-72 FIELD NOTES The CEB translation of the passage today says, “You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives.…

March 22, 2019 DAILY READING Revelation 3:1-6This weekend’s reading: Mark 14:66-72 FIELD NOTES It’s a harsh word that God delivers to John about the church in Sardis- a church that appears alive but is indeed dead.  The book of Revelation is apocalyptic literature.  This means that while it shows us the “end times,” it creates for…

March 21, 2019 DAILY READING Revelation 2:8-11This weekend’s reading: Mark 14:66-72 FIELD NOTES It seems almost like Divine intervention that many congregations are discerning responses to the UMC Special Called General Conference during Lent, a time often spent in prayer and discernment. General Conference wasn’t the prettiest showing of the church. It revealed how divided and…

March 20, 2019 DAILY READING 2 Chronicles 20:1-23This weekend’s reading: Mark 14:66-72 FIELD NOTES Did you notice in today’s passage in 2 Chronicles that Jehoshaphat, the ruler of the Jews in Judah, called a nation-wide fast as a means for the Jews to prepare their hearts to hear from God?  Fasting was and is a spiritual…

March 19, 2019 DAILY READING 1 Corinthians 10:1-13This weekend’s reading: Mark 14:66-72 FIELD NOTES Like yesterday’s reading, this passage in 1 Corinthians is a reminder that doing religious things like baptism and partaking in communion as if they are a checklist for salvation is not the faith Jesus calls for.  I don’t know if you can relate,…