Scripture: Mark 1:40-41 A leper came to Jesus begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” Thought for the Day: There are few words as beautiful or hope-filled as those we find in this passage from Mark’s Gospel…specifically the
Scripture: Mark 1:30-31 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. Thought for the Day: Simon (Peter) had a mother-in-law. It’s interesting, years ago I played a game of Bible Trivia, and the question I received
Scripture: Mark 1:38 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee. Thought for the Day: In a time before press agents, Facebook and a 24 hour news cycle, the idea of someone’s fame spreading quickly was extraordinary. Word would have been shared in the market places, among extended families, and in the town squares. Yet what would people have been saying? To this
Scripture: Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thought for the Day: This is the same passage I used yesterday, but in rereading it, I
Scripture: Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thought for the Day: Today, I grieve the death of a great man, scholar and Christian. Marcus
Scripture: Psalm 16:11 You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Thought for the Day: On this day in 1535, the French government responded to the Affair of the Placards. French Protestants put posters attacking the Catholic belief that Christ was physically present in the eucharist. There had been a somewhat cordial relationship between
Scripture: Mark 7:32-36 They brought to Jesus a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And
Scripture: 2nd Samuel 14:14 We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up. But God will not take away a life; he will devise plans so as not to keep an outcast banished forever from his presence. Thought for the Day: Brian McLaren writes in his book, The Secret Message of Jesus, “Martin Luther King, Jr. learned what happens when
Scripture: Hebrews 13:1-3 Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Thought for the Day: Most people know the first half of this passage where we hear
Scripture: Mark 1:16-17 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” Thought for the Day: I always liked Steven Wrights’s deadpan humor. With his slow and dry delivery, he said, “There is a fine line between fishing