Tag: bible
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A Strange Deity
Isaiah 48:6-11 – 7/10/2026 For my name’s sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, so that I may not cut you off. Isaiah 48:9 (NRSVue) The traditional understanding of the theistic God is that God is impassible. In other words, God is not affected by that…
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Love Is in Our Nature
Romans 2:12-16 – 7/9/2026 When gentiles, who do not possess the law, by nature do what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. Romans 2:14 (NRSVue) The law of the Hebrew Bible, the Torah, is, among other things, a statement of God’s will for God’s people, a set…
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The Foot Washing
John 13:1-17 – 7/8/2026 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done…
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The Ends Do Not Justify the Means
Romans 3:1-8 – 7/7/2026 Why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), “Let us do evil so that good may come”? Their judgment is deserved! Romans 3:8 (NRSVue) Good things can come out of evil situations, actions, and choices. It happens all of the time. The outcomes of our choices…
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An Easy Burden
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 – 7/5/2026 – Sixth Sunday after Pentecost For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Matthew 11:18-19 (NRSVue) Jesus famously promises in…
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Become Like a Child
Luke 10:21-24 – 7/4/2026 At that very hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. Luke 10:21 (NRSVue) Jesus…
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Paul’s Moral Psychology
Romans 7:7-20 – 7/3/2026 – The Feast of Thomas, the Apostle What then are we to say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not…
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The Spirit and the Letter
Romans 7:1-6 – 7/2/2026 Now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are enslaved in the newness of the [spirit] and not in the oldness of the [letter]. Romans 7:6 (NRSVue with my translation correction) One of the themes of Paul’s letter to the Romans, one…
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A Polyvocal Scripture
Jeremiah 18:1-11 – 7/1/2026 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. Jeremiah 18:6 (NRSVue) Jeremiah’s words of prophecy indicate a God of will, a God…
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Testing Spirits and the Weight of Choice
1 John 4:1-6 – 6/30/2026 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1 (NRSVue) One of the distinctive features of the New Testament writings that bear John’s name is an emphasis on God’s…
Dionysus on a Bike 