March 8, 2019 DAILY READING Exodus 6:1-13This weekend’s reading: Mark 15:21-24 FIELD NOTESOur story today opens with God declaring: Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh!  And then in verses 2-8, God reminds Moses: that God has been there with his ancestors in the past, that God currently hears the cries of the…

March 7, 2019 DAILY READING Psalm 91This weekend’s reading: Mark 15:21-24 FIELD NOTESOne of the lessons I learn every Lent is the power of letting God be God. Of course, this requires me to surrender a lot. I must surrender my expectations of timing, my need to have things done in the way I want…

March 6, 2019 DAILY READING Joel 2:1-2, 12-17This weekend’s reading: Mark 15:21-24 FIELD NOTESToday – Ash Wednesday – is the beginning of Lent, which is a penitential season. Penance is a time of confession out of a desire for reconciliation.  As the Israelites gathered at Mount Sinai following 400 years of slavery in Egypt God reveals God’s…

March 5, 2019 DAILY READING Psalm 35:11-28This weekend’s reading: Mark 15:21-24 FIELD NOTESOur Psalm passage begins with: Malicious witness rise up; they ask me about things I do not know.  They repay me evil for god; my soul is forlorn.  And it ends with: Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness, and of your…

March 4, 2019 DAILY READING Exodus 35:1-29This weekend’s reading: Mark 15:21-24 FIELD NOTESAfter 400 years of slavery in Egypt, the Israelites are being led into freedom and a new kind of living.  God has provided food, guidance, and a leader (Moses) for the journey.  God has met them at the Mountain and provided a code of…

March 2, 2019 DAILY READING Psalm 99Deuteronomy 9:15-24Luke 10:21-24This weekend’s reading: Luke 9:28-36 FIELD NOTESReading Moses’ continuing condemnation of the sins of God’s people (Deut 9:15-24) reminded me of Harry Emerson Fosdick’s great hymn “God of Grace and God of Glory” (UMH 577) with the line, “Lo! the hosts of evil round us.” We think…

March 1, 2019 DAILY READING Psalm 99Deuteronomy 9:6-14Acts 10:1-8This weekend’s reading: Luke 9:28-36 FIELD NOTESIn the next section of Deuteronomy 9, Moses goes from sounding like the coach to sounding like a weary parent who has worked so hard, sacrificed so much, and still the teenagers won’t behave. After 40 days of fasting Moses received…

February 28, 2019 DAILY READING Psalm 99Deuteronomy 9:1-5Acts 3:11-16This weekend’s reading: Luke 9:28-36 FIELD NOTESToday we begin reading Deuteronomy 9, part of Moses’ farewell address to the wandering Hebrews as they are about to cross the Jordon and enter the Promised Land. At first Moses sounds a little like the coach trying to convince Vanderbilt…

February 27, 2019 DAILY READING Psalm 38Leviticus 5:1-13Luke 17:1-4This weekend’s reading: Luke 9:28-36 FIELD NOTESI confess my iniquity;    I am troubled by my sin.Many have become my enemies without cause; . . .    though I seek only to do what is good. Lord, do not forsake me;    do not be far from me, my God.Come quickly to help me,    my Lord and my…