My friend and colleague Jim Somerville from First Baptist Richmond has inspired me to try to read the whole Bible in 2020.
Friends can follow along too. I’m posting a link to the daily reading assignments. The readings are ordered chronologically for the sake of context and clarity.
I plan to take my Daily Lessons from the prescribed readings. But then, if you’re actually reading the whole Bible yourself you may not want to read much else!
https://www.blueletterbible.org/assets/pdf/dbrp/1Yr_ChronologicalPlan.pdf
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Sunday, December 29, 2019
A Prayer on the Day of the Slaughter of Holy Innocents
On a day when many churches read the story of the Slaughter of the Innocents and what Joseph did to protect his Holy Family from evil, yet another House of Worship was attacked in America, this time here in Tarrant County.
We pray for those who were murdered this morning in a holy place.
We pray and give thanks for those modern-day Josephs who quickly and bravely acted to stop the further shedding of innocent blood.
We pray for the families and friends of those who mourn the loss of loved ones tonight — including those left to mourn the life and death of the assailant.
We pray God will act to thwart the plans of madmen and deliver us all from evil.
Maranatha, LORD, hear our prayer.
We pray for those who were murdered this morning in a holy place.
We pray and give thanks for those modern-day Josephs who quickly and bravely acted to stop the further shedding of innocent blood.
We pray for the families and friends of those who mourn the loss of loved ones tonight — including those left to mourn the life and death of the assailant.
We pray God will act to thwart the plans of madmen and deliver us all from evil.
Maranatha, LORD, hear our prayer.
Saturday, December 28, 2019
The Darkness Did Not Out It
I wonder if it was the Star itself
That hid in the night’s sky when
The wise men rode their camels
Into Jerusalem asking everyone
Who would talk
Where they might find Him
Who was born king of the Jews
For heaven knows
No Herod can abide light
So the Light hid in darkness
And the darkness,
To its credit,
Did not out it
That hid in the night’s sky when
The wise men rode their camels
Into Jerusalem asking everyone
Who would talk
Where they might find Him
Who was born king of the Jews
For heaven knows
No Herod can abide light
So the Light hid in darkness
And the darkness,
To its credit,
Did not out it
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Daily Lesson for Christmas Day, December 25, 2019
Today’s Daily Lesson for Christmas Day comes from the final stave of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol:
Yes! and the bedpost was his own. The bed was his own, the room was his own. Best and happiest of all, the Time before him was his own, to make amends in!
"I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!" Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed. "The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. Oh Jacob Marley! Heaven, and the Christmas Time be praised for this. I say it on my knees, old Jacob, on my knees!"
He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions, that his broken voice would scarcely answer to his call. He had been sobbing violently in his conflict with the Spirit, and his face was wet with tears.
Today is a day for glowing. It is a day for rejoicing, and giving thanks, and making amends, and truly being alive. It’s a day for charity. It’s a day for Justice. It’s a day for declaring intentions. We have made it once again. The darkest days of the year are behind us. The past is the past. The future is the future. But this one day of Christmas present is ours and ours to keep.
So let us commit ourselves to Love. To forgive. To seek forgiveness. To watch over widow and orphan and welcome the stranger. Let’s even pray for Scrooges. And, when necessary, let us trample on snakes — but only for the sake of the simple and vulnerable.
It’s Christmas. No more let sin and sorrow grow; nor thorns infest the ground.
It is Christmas. So let us keep it; and keep all the year long.
Yes! and the bedpost was his own. The bed was his own, the room was his own. Best and happiest of all, the Time before him was his own, to make amends in!
"I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!" Scrooge repeated, as he scrambled out of bed. "The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. Oh Jacob Marley! Heaven, and the Christmas Time be praised for this. I say it on my knees, old Jacob, on my knees!"
He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions, that his broken voice would scarcely answer to his call. He had been sobbing violently in his conflict with the Spirit, and his face was wet with tears.
Today is a day for glowing. It is a day for rejoicing, and giving thanks, and making amends, and truly being alive. It’s a day for charity. It’s a day for Justice. It’s a day for declaring intentions. We have made it once again. The darkest days of the year are behind us. The past is the past. The future is the future. But this one day of Christmas present is ours and ours to keep.
So let us commit ourselves to Love. To forgive. To seek forgiveness. To watch over widow and orphan and welcome the stranger. Let’s even pray for Scrooges. And, when necessary, let us trample on snakes — but only for the sake of the simple and vulnerable.
It’s Christmas. No more let sin and sorrow grow; nor thorns infest the ground.
It is Christmas. So let us keep it; and keep all the year long.
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Daily Lesson for December 24, 2019
Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 2 verses 1 through 16:
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
Behold the Mystery. Emmanuel. God came to be with us. And when God came God chose to show up amidst the poor and indigent of this earth, far from the throne of power.
And so there God was, in a weekly-rate motel rental, with hand-me-down clothes from the Methodist community closet, and the bathtub for a bassinet. Mary and Joseph thanked the heavens that the hotel heater worked, though it smelled like old dust and they worried for the baby’s fragile lungs. In the middle of the night cowboys coming home from Billy Bob’s knocked and giggled at the door wanting to get a look at the new baby. They were from Paducah and they brought beer. And cigars. When they saw the baby in the bathtub they sang Amazing Grace and then Robert Earl Keene’s Merry Christmas From the Family. During the Spanish parts they went cowboy operatic: “Feliiiizzz Naaavidaaaad.”
This was the scene. The low-brow, budget motel Mystery of Incarnation. It was. And it still is. And ever more shall be.
And may those who with eyes let them see . . .
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.
Behold the Mystery. Emmanuel. God came to be with us. And when God came God chose to show up amidst the poor and indigent of this earth, far from the throne of power.
And so there God was, in a weekly-rate motel rental, with hand-me-down clothes from the Methodist community closet, and the bathtub for a bassinet. Mary and Joseph thanked the heavens that the hotel heater worked, though it smelled like old dust and they worried for the baby’s fragile lungs. In the middle of the night cowboys coming home from Billy Bob’s knocked and giggled at the door wanting to get a look at the new baby. They were from Paducah and they brought beer. And cigars. When they saw the baby in the bathtub they sang Amazing Grace and then Robert Earl Keene’s Merry Christmas From the Family. During the Spanish parts they went cowboy operatic: “Feliiiizzz Naaavidaaaad.”
This was the scene. The low-brow, budget motel Mystery of Incarnation. It was. And it still is. And ever more shall be.
And may those who with eyes let them see . . .
Monday, December 23, 2019
Daily Lesson for December 23, 2019
Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 1 verses 26 through 38:
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
In yesterday’s sermon I reflected on the Annunciation and its relation to women in ministry. The story, I tried to say, is quite clear that there are certain things conceived in women which men cannot claim to have put there nor should they prohibit.
The Annunciation is the good news the angel brings to Mary of the LORD’s intention to do something wonderful in and through her. “It is the gift of God,” as Paul says, “so that no man can boast.”
What God wishes to place in the wombs of our bodies, and minds, and spirits is gift. And if we say, “Yes,” it gestates and grows, first hidden in darkness, then later bursting to be born. Finally it breaks forth, born of water and spirit, still needing to be nurtured and fed and loved for the gift it is.
It comes naked, vulnerable, in dire need of protection. For Herod is out there somewhere. So too is somebody who will want to quench this tiny, flickering wick with words of scorn.
So we hold it. We swaddle it. We run with it all the way to Egypt if we have to. Because the angel said this is the Holy Spirit’s baby; and its ours to keep . . .
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
In yesterday’s sermon I reflected on the Annunciation and its relation to women in ministry. The story, I tried to say, is quite clear that there are certain things conceived in women which men cannot claim to have put there nor should they prohibit.
The Annunciation is the good news the angel brings to Mary of the LORD’s intention to do something wonderful in and through her. “It is the gift of God,” as Paul says, “so that no man can boast.”
What God wishes to place in the wombs of our bodies, and minds, and spirits is gift. And if we say, “Yes,” it gestates and grows, first hidden in darkness, then later bursting to be born. Finally it breaks forth, born of water and spirit, still needing to be nurtured and fed and loved for the gift it is.
It comes naked, vulnerable, in dire need of protection. For Herod is out there somewhere. So too is somebody who will want to quench this tiny, flickering wick with words of scorn.
So we hold it. We swaddle it. We run with it all the way to Egypt if we have to. Because the angel said this is the Holy Spirit’s baby; and its ours to keep . . .
Friday, December 20, 2019
Daily Lesson for December 20, 2019
Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Luke chapter 1 verses 57-63:
57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.
59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”
“So that’s how it is in their family.”
That’s what the neighbors must have thought when they heard Zechariah confirm Elizabeth in the naming of their child John.
And why did it have to be mansplained like that, anyways?
Because in that world — as is too often the case in our own — the people wouldn’t believe the woman.
But — regardless of what the neighbors thought — the baby’s name was John; and Elizabeth was the one who gave it.
And so, with the coming of this child a new age was being ushered in. No longer would custom dictate. The settled order of things would be disrupted. The established would be disestablished, the mountains leveled, the valleys raised, and the women would speak . . . and be heard.
57 When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.
59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60 but his mother spoke up and said, “No! He is to be called John.”
61 They said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who has that name.”
62 Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63 He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone’s astonishment he wrote, “His name is John.”
“So that’s how it is in their family.”
That’s what the neighbors must have thought when they heard Zechariah confirm Elizabeth in the naming of their child John.
And why did it have to be mansplained like that, anyways?
Because in that world — as is too often the case in our own — the people wouldn’t believe the woman.
But — regardless of what the neighbors thought — the baby’s name was John; and Elizabeth was the one who gave it.
And so, with the coming of this child a new age was being ushered in. No longer would custom dictate. The settled order of things would be disrupted. The established would be disestablished, the mountains leveled, the valleys raised, and the women would speak . . . and be heard.
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