Tag: faith
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Changing the Logic of Our Relationships
Matthew 9:9-26 – 6/7/2026 – Second Sunday after Pentecost When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what…
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Calling the Good Evil
Matthew 9:27-34 – 6/6/2026 The Pharisees were saying, “By the ruler of the demons [Jesus] casts out the demons.” Matthew 9:34 (NRSVue) Today’s passage shakes me. Jesus is setting people free from their demons, giving people new life, offering them hope, healing their disabilities. That’s what Jesus came to do. These are the kinds of…
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A Cure Not a Miracle
Acts 28:1-10 – 6/5/2026 It so happened that the father of Publius lay sick in bed with fever and dysentery. Paul visited him and cured him by praying and putting his hands on him. After this happened, the rest of the people on the island [of Malta] who had diseases also came and were cured.…
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God Does Not Demand Blood
Psalm 50:7-15 – 6/4/2026 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. Psalm 50:8-9 (NRSVue) God does not demand blood. Sacrifice, in the sense of taking a life to atone for sin, is not…
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Silence in the Face of Our Finitude
Job 39:26-4:5 – 6/3/2026 Then Job answered the Lord: “See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.” Job 4:3-4 (NRSVue) Job has a complaint with God and he makes it. God’s response is thunderous. Verse after verse, God asks Job if Job can do the…
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Everyone Means Everyone
1 Corinthians 12:4-13 – 6/2/2026 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13 (NRSVue) One Spirit, one body, one baptism, these are the rapid fire images Paul uses to describe the unity of Christians…
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The Liturgical Use of Scripture
2 Corinthians 13:11-13 – 5/31/2026 – Trinity Sunday & The Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you 2 Corinthians 13:13 (NRSVue) Today’s Lectionary texts from the New Testament, both the Epistle reading and the…
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The Response to Love: Command and Promise
John 14:15-17 – 5/30/2026 If you love me, [you will] keep my commandments. John 14:15 (NRSVue) The connection between loving Jesus and keeping Jesus’s commandments is central to the life of a Christian. Loving Jesus provides the motivation to follow; keeping the commandments is simply the act of following Jesus. There is a certain amount…
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The Time of Our Salvation
2 Timothy 1:8-12 – 5/28/2026 [God] saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace, and this grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before [historic time]. 2 Timothy 1:9 (NRSVue with my re-translation) When I left the life of the…
Dionysus on a Bike 