November 13, 2018 DAILY READING 1 Timothy 5:9-16This weekend’s reading: Luke 21:1-4 FIELD NOTES “Sign some widows up for the special ministry of offering assistance. They will, in turn, receive support from the church. They must be over sixty, married only once, and have a reputation for helping out with children, strangers, tired Christians, the…

November 12, 2018 DAILY READING Luke 21:1-4This weekend’s reading: Luke 19:1-10 FIELD NOTES The story of the widow’s mite is one of the best-known stories in the New Testament. The passage just prior to this concerns Jesus’ rebuke to priests who are “devouring widow’s homes.” Jesus was concerned about a religious institution that had become…

November 10, 2018 DAILY READING Psalm 127Ruth 4:18-22Mark 11:12-14, 20-24This weekend’s reading: Luke 21:1-4 FIELD NOTES “God is not only a divine person whom we can address in prayer but also a wide living space. We human beings are giving each other space for the living when we meet each other in love and friendship”…

November 9, 2018 DAILY READING Psalm 127Ruth 4:11-17Hebrews 9:15-24This weekend’s reading: Luke 21:1-4 FIELD NOTES The Book of Ruth has a happy ending, but it is no fairy tale. No one waves a magic wand. The marriage of Ruth and Boaz came about because Naomi understood how things worked in those days, and she and…

November 8, 2018 DAILY READING Psalm 127Ruth 4:1-10Romans 5:6-11This weekend’s reading: Luke 21:1-4 FIELD NOTES Psalm 127 begins with an image for God found throughout the Bible: God the Housebuilder and Homemaker. Hymns often address God as almighty King, Lord, and Ruler, names that have to do with God’s sovereignty, but the Bible begins and…

November 7, 2018 DAILY READING Psalm 18:20-30Ruth 3:8-18John 13:31-35This weekend’s reading: Luke 21:1-4 FIELD NOTES Ruth and Naomi were at a disadvantage in a culture where men determined the financial arrangements and the social customs, but they were clever women. They knew Boaz should be their “redeemer,” and they figured out a way to bring…

November 6, 2018 DAILY READING Psalm 18:20-30Ruth 3:1-7Acts 7:17-29This weekend’s reading: Luke 21:1-4 FIELD NOTES Today’s reading from Ruth centers on the act of “finding home,” especially crucial for Ruth who was a Moabite, not a Hebrew. For some of us, our home found us—caring family, food on the table, comfortable house, nice hometown, and…

November 5, 2018 DAILY READING Matthew 14:13-21This weekend’s reading: Luke 21:1-4 FIELD NOTES The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle that is found in all 4 Gospels. It happened at the conclusion of a seminar Jesus conducted on discipleship. As the hour grew late, the disciples noted that the people were famished.…