Prayer for the Week: We hear your invitation, Lord God. It meets us as a whisper that appears to have no source; it comes upon us in the rustling of leaves along a path; it is felt upon our skin like a warm breath revealing your presence. In other moments, your invitation is a bit more concrete and mundane. It comes in an email that entices our curiosity;
Scripture: Luke 5:4 When he finished speaking to the crowds, he said to Simon, “Row out farther, into the deep water, and drop your nets for a catch.” Thought for the Day: Jesus was the master of using interactive techniques to teach an important point. Simon and others will become those who toss out the Gospel net and catch those who find themselves caught in the web of love
Scripture: Luke 5:1-3One day Jesus was standing beside Lake Gennesaret when the crowd pressed in around him to hear God’s word. Jesus saw two boats sitting by the lake. The fishermen had gone ashore and were washing their nets. Jesus boarded one of the boats, the one that belonged to Simon, then asked him to row out a little distance from the shore. Jesus sat down and taught
Scripture: Luke 4:42-44 When daybreak arrived, Jesus went to a deserted place. The crowds were looking for him. When they found him, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of God’s kingdom in other cities too, for this is why I was sent.” So he continued preaching in the Judean synagogues. Though for the Day: I
Scripture: Luke 4:37-38 Reports about him spread everywhere in the surrounding region. After leaving the synagogue, Jesus went home with Simon. Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a high fever, and the family asked Jesus to help her. Thought for the Day: With such amazing popularity, it is nice to see Jesus making home visits when needed. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but when someone becomes famous,
Scripture: Luke 4:33-34 A man in the synagogue had the spirit of an unclean demon. He screamed, “Hey! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the holy one from God.” Thought for the Day: Unclean spirits and demons seem to recognize Jesus better than his disciples. This is a literary motif used
Scripture: Luke 4:25-28 And I can assure you that there were many widows in Israel during Elijah’s time, when it didn’t rain for three and a half years and there was a great food shortage in the land. Yet Elijah was sent to none of them but only to a widow in the city of Zarephath in the region of Sidon. There were also many persons with skin
Prayer for the Week: We explore the holy scriptures in search of what you have done and what has been said about you. O Word of Life that took on flesh, we desire to know you, but if we do not have a starting place in the ancient stories of the faith, we will struggle to know of you and to be in relationship with you. We claim
Scripture: Luke 4:20-21 Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the synagogue assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the synagogue was fixed on him. He began to explain to them, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.” Thought for the Day: Notice the movement in the story. Jesus has just finished reading from the scroll of Isaiah. He is standing as
Scripture: Luke 4:17-18 The synagogue assistant gave him the scroll from the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed…