verseoftheday

Mark 8:34 NLT Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said,  "If any of you wants to be my follower,  you must give up your own way,  take up your cross,  and follow me." Mark 8:34 NLT In Mark's account Jesus had been talking with the Disciples about rejection, suffering, death and ressurection, and here he is launching into a teaching to the crowd to "take up your cross" if they want to follow Jesus. Perhaps Jesus was trying to tell the crowd there's a lot more going on here than people getting healed, some kind of celebrity Rabbi thing. Maybe the clue is in the phrase before "take up your cross", which is "give up your own way". I'm not good at giving up my own way. But maybe this Easter we are being invited like this crowd was, like the disciples were, to put something down of our "own way". What could that be? #gospelofMark #GoodNews  #invitation  #easter

Romans 3:23-24 NLT For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.  Yet God,  in his grace,  freely makes us right in his sight.  He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.  Romans 3:23-24 NLT Yet God. Yet God. Yet God. It was our God who IS Love chose us. Yet God. He stepped towards us. He made a way. In His Grace. Freely. He chose us.  We can wonder why all we like, but we don't have to make sense of Love. Love is.  Love acts. Love acts for the Beloved. This is the Easter story, the redemptive strands that flow from our God through the Cross to bring us Life and Hope. Grace. Freely. Something to chew on right here today...Beloved. (I wonder how I can freely express a tiny piece of the Grace I have received towards this world, towards someone, towards me, today) #letters #Easter #yetGod #redemptivestrands #hopeishere #weareBeloved 

Sunday Psalms; Psalms 14:1, 7 NLT [1] Only fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." ...  [7] Who will come from Mount Zion to rescue Israel?  When the Lord restores his people, Jacob will shout with joy, and Israel will rejoice. Psalms 14:1, 7 NLT This is a bleak psalm/song.  There's days, maybe weeks, months, when our world is bleak.  If that has been or is your experience, then maybe this psalm/song while written 3000 years ago in a different culture and language tells us we're not alone in how we feel or experience life. David starts by it seems reminding himself of Truth, that even when God is silent, seems distant, when the world is bleak, don't take from that that there is no God.  And then right at the end, the strand of hope, the redemptive strand we're looking for; "When the Lord restores his people..." Restoration will arrive. We get the benefit of reading this after the first Easter, knowing that Jesus death is the way of restoration,...

Mark 8:29-32 NLT Then he asked them, "But who do you say I am?" Peter replied,  "You are the Messiah." But Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead.  As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. Mark 8:29-32 NLT Peter got it.  Got who Jesus is. But didn't get it all. Because Jesus for what seems the first time is unpacking more of his mission, or perhaps it's the "how" his messiahship will actually work, not the way Peter wanted or expected. Peter is the voice (& often the doer) of the things others want to say or do. He just says out loud what the others may well be thinking - "you're the Messiah, saving us doesn...

Friday! Proverbs! [9] Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser. Teach the righteous, and they will learn even more. Proverbs 9:9 NLT This Proverb is suggesting a cumulative effect of wisdom and learning. That wisdom and learning get multiplied in some way. Hoe does this Proverb land when we are the person doing the teaching, the sharing, giving the instruction? "Instruct the wise,  and they will be even wiser.  Teach the righteous,  and they will learn even more." I'm wondering how this lands differently when I am the receiver of wisdom, when I am being taught...how well am I allowing the cumulative impact of wisdom to shape me, my heart responses? Where is wisdom building on wisdom in me? Where am I getting wisdom? #proverbs  #wisdom  #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #takethenextstep 

Romans 3:21-22 NLT But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. Romans 3:21-22 NLT Paul has spent some time telling the church in Rome that none of us can keep the law in it's entirety all the time. The law can't make us right with God. It can help us see where sin has a grip on us and where we might want to focus, but making us right with God? Nup. It's faith in Jesus. That's it. Faith in Jesus changes everything. Does part of us want to add something? A "yes but..." or "yes and..."? How about today we just sit with this Truth that Faith in Jesus is enough... #letters #redemptivestrands #faithinJesus #hopeishere #weareBeloved 

Romans 2:15 NLT [15] They demonstrate that God's law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.  Romans 2:15 NLT Paul has just unpacked how we're all in trouble before a holy God, and then he drops this wee gem in, that the "Gentiles", those who hadn't been given God's law, hadn't had it impressed on them for generations have this deep internal knowledge of what is right and wrong. It's built in. The redemptive strands are there in all of us, and always have been. I wonder if we're so busy  listening and scrolling to voices from the outside we've lost connection with that inner voice that is connected to Our God's Voice... #letters #redemptivestrands #hopeishere #weareBeloved 

Mark 8:27-29 CEB Jesus and his disciples went into the villages near Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples,  "Who do people say that I am?" They told him, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others one of the prophets." He asked them,  "And what about you? Who do you say that I am?" Mark 8:27-29 CEB John the Baptist's death is recorded by Mark in Ch6, not long ago, and news wouldn't have travelled as quickly as it does today. It seems that people were saying Jesus was some kind of reincarnated prophet! He was the second coming of someone else. And then Jesus asks his team; "And what about you? Who do you say that I am?" And this question continues to echo down the centuries, all the way to us today... "And what about you? Who do you say that I am?" Is Jesus in a category with others? Comparable? Is he like someone else? "And what about you? Who do you say that I am?" This question invite...

Mark 8:25-27 CEB [25] Then Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes again. He looked with his eyes wide open, his sight was restored, and he could see everything clearly. [26] Then Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village!" [27] Jesus and his disciples went into the villages near Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" Do you wonder why Jesus first led this man out of the village and then told him not to go back, but to go home? I'm wondering if a clue is found in the next thing Mark gives us here...Jesus asking his team "who do people say that I am?" As good and wonderful the miracle of returning lost sight is, it's not the Big Story of what Jesus is about. Maybe he was concerned about becoming a celebrity. As followers of Jesus what are we concerned about? In our current culture which seems to value celebrity, profile, followers, Jesus seems to take a different path, and what doe...

Then Jesus placed his hands on the man's eyes again. He looked with his eyes wide open, his sight was restored, and he could see everything clearly.  Mark 8:25 CEB One day we will see Jesus face-to-face, he will touch our eyes, our sight will be restored, and we will see everything in a new way. For this man who had been blind, and then seeing people like trees, then having his sight fully restored, everything changed.  He was the same person, and he was different. I wonder what fears, what hurts, what griefs this person was able to put down after Jesus touched his face again? What today are are we being invited to start putting down, maybe not perfectly or completely, but just a little? Where can we let the light in a little more as we wait for that face-to-face encounter with Jesus? #gospelofMark #GoodNews  #invitation  #weareBeloved 

Taking the blind man's hand, Jesus led him out of the village. After spitting on his eyes and laying his hands on the man, he asked him,  "Do you see anything?" The man looked up and said, "I see people. They look like trees, only they are walking around." Mark 8:23-24 CEB Can you see Jesus taking this man by the hand and walking with him? He's blind. And his hand is being held by Jesus. Jesus the person Jesus the divine, the Eternal, the creator of it all. Crazy picture And then Jesus spits on his eyes and asks "do you see anything?" And the man who was blind can see something, but it's not clear. People like walking trees. Unclear. Something, but knowing there's more. Seems to be a picture of where we are, Jesus is close, his hand is holding ours, we can see, but we know everything there's more, more clarity to come... We stand like this not quite blind man in the now and the not yet, with our hand held by Jesus, but we can't see ...

Friday! Proverbs! Whoever instructs the cynic gets insulted; whoever corrects the wicked gets hurt.  Don't correct the impudent, or they will hate you; correct the wise, and they will love you. Proverbs 9:7-8 CEB Somedays I just want to correct everyone! This Proverb invites us to dial down our reactions to others, to consider their character before jumping in. Pick your battles, not on the importance of the battle, but the character of the other person...something to chew on there... And now I'm wondering if I'm not being corrected because I'm not seen as wise, that I might not love the person who brings correction into my life! #proverbs  #wisdom #somethingtochewon 

As Jesus and his disciples were going into Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch the man. Jesus took him by the hand and led him out of the village, where he spit into the man's eyes. He placed his hands on the blind man and asked him if he could see anything. The man looked up and said, "I see people, but they look like trees walking around." Mark 8:22-24 CEV This man's experience with Jesus seems quite different to some of the other people we have met in Mark's gospel. Before he met Jesus he already had a community of people who wanted to help him.  When I read these accounts I'm tempted to see me in the story, as the person in the middle who's life is changed by the transforming touch of Jesus. But if I place myself as one of the Blind Man's support team, one of many who are advocating for, working for solutions for someone else, it chamges the view... We can see this man's team waiting in the village, hoping,...

Romans 1:20-23 NLT For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. [21] Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.  And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. Romans 1:20-23 NLT The thing with this discussion from Paul is that it describes me - when our God seems too mysterious, distant, quiet, difficult to understand, doesn't step in and solve my problems, then I do what Paul describes here, I make stuff up about God. I lose site of the Creator. The ever-living One. And then make things up about...

Romans 1:20 NLT [20] For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature... Romans 1:20 NLT When we're stuck, lost, unsure, need to reconnect to the Big Story, Paul invites his readers to go outside. Go outside and grow something. Sit in the sun. Look at the stars. Listen to the birds. Go visit the ocean. Get a cat.  Sit in the forest. Feel the sun on your skin. Reconnecting with the created world helps us reconnect with the Creator of the world. What can we do today to reconnect, to see a glimpse of who our God is in the world He has made? #redemptivestrands #hopeishere 

Romans 1:15-17 NLT So I am eager to come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News. For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ.  It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes - the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight.  This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.  As the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life." Romans 1:15-17 NLT Paul is keen to get to Rome, to share the Good News wherever he can...the ever expanding Kingdom...the Kingdom that has room... In my church the teaching currently is based around this idea of making room. Making room. And the key that opens the Kingdom is not my talent, abilities, achievements, how "good" I am, my church, it's traditions, my family, my history, what resources i might or might not bring, but one thing...Faith. Paul reminds us the start and finish is Faith. What does that Truth invite us to put down to...

Sunday Psalms; But I have trusted in your faithful love.  My heart will rejoice in your salvation.  Yes, I will sing to the LORD because he has been good to me. Psalms 13:5-6 CEB This song is repeats the question "How long Lord?" several times. How long Lord? If David asks the question then it's OK for us to ask it too. How long? When will this change? What's going on? How much more? David doesn't give us some neat answer, he looks back at God who he knows, he looks up in faith and trust, and he looks in and knows that he is held, held in the Bigger Story of God's Love, and then he looks out and chooses to sing anyway... When we have these questions of how long, how much more, David's song invites us into a deeper understanding and place of communion with our God, a place where we get to follow the redemptive strands deeper... #sunday #worship  #thisisourGod  #invitation #redemptivestrands #hopeishere #onedayallwillbemadenew 

Mark 8:14-16 CEB Jesus' disciples had forgotten to bring any bread, so they had only one loaf with them in the boat. He gave them strict orders: "Watch out and be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees as well as the yeast of Herod." The disciples discussed this among themselves, "He said this because we have no bread." Mark 8:14-16 CEB What was Jesus trying to teach his team? What is the "yeast of the Pharisees" and the "yeast of Herod"? Maybe it's something like this...Jesus has just fed crowds from small amounts of food, we're good people, Jesus will sort this for us now, we deserve it...the yeast of the Pharisees... Jesus has fed crowds with his power, just use that now and feed all of us...the yeast of Herod... In the next few verses Jesus reminds his team of the surplus generated at those two events where the crowd was fed...perhaps Jesus was wanting them to see that they had already squandered or lost His provision for th...

Friday! Proverbs! [4] "Whoever is naive turn aside here," she says to those who lack sense.   [5] "Come, eat my food, and drink the wine I have mixed.  [6] Abandon your simplistic ways and live; walk in the way of understanding." Proverbs 9:4-6 CEB Invitations abound here...invitation to turn aside... What is it that Wisdom would call us to turn aside from today? To give up. To put down. To step away from. The invitation to step towards the feast Wisdom has prepared...what is it that Wisdom invites us to partake of today? To choose. To take up. To step towards. The invitation to abandon something that is unhelpful, unhealthy, and choose Life instead...an invitation to walk in the path of understanding...where do I need that? Step towards Living Wisdom. #proverbs  #Wisdom  #somethingtochewon #itsaheartthing #takethenextstep  #invitation 

[13] I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I planned to visit you many times, although I have been prevented from coming until now. I want to harvest some fruit among you, just as I have done among the other Gentiles. [14] I have a responsibility both to Greeks and to those who don't speak Greek, both to the wise and to the foolish. Romans 1:13-14 CEB This passage and the next few verses in Romans give us an insight into what motivates Paul...but tucked in there is something else... Recently I was in a conversation about God's plan for your life... Paul wanted to visit Rome, planned to, and something happened, it didn't work out. He doesn't blame God, doesn't turn these events into a question about whether he is living in God's plan or not - this seems to just be life for Paul - we make plans and they don't always work out. Paul (just go back and read the first few verses of this chapter) is in a bigger story, a calling, and that intersects with stu...

Mark 8:11-13 CEB The Pharisees showed up and began to argue with Jesus.  To test him, they asked for a sign from heaven. With an impatient sigh, Jesus said,  "Why does this generation look for a sign?  I assure you that no sign will be given to it." Leaving them, he got back in the boat and crossed to the other side of the lake. Mark 8:11-13 CEB Jesus wasn't entering into their game, didn't buy into their argument, their test, and walked away. This can't have been the first time because Love is Patient, but Jesus patience had run out. Maybe that's part of being human.  Perhaps he could see that there was nothing he could say that wiuld shift the Pharisees because they weren't coming to Jesus wanting to learn, or discover, or understand, anything about him.  And Jesus walked away. Where does Wisdom say that we should just walk away, not enter in to someone else's agenda, someone else's argument, someone else's problem? #gospelofMark #GoodNews  #...

Romans 1:12 CEB [12] What I mean is that we can mutually encourage each other while I am with you. We can be encouraged by the faithfulness we find in each other, both your faithfulness and mine.   Romans 1:12 CEB Paul isn't trying to be some kind of guru, but wants to sit in this learning space too. None of us have all the answers. None of us have it all together all the time. We need one another. What can we discover together? What can we encourage one another in? How does your faith encourage me? How does mine encourage you? When we walk together with this mutual learning in mind, what shifts, what opens up (especially about faith)? #letters #redemptivestrands  #inthistogether 

Romans 1:8 CSB [8] First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because the news of your faith is being reported in all the world. Romans 1:8 CSB Lots of things pop into mind when I read this; 1. How do I get on Paul's top 10 list of Christians? 2. Their church must be "the" place to be on Sunday 3. Am I doing enough? Maybe I need to do more What comes to mind for you? And then I look again at what Paul is reporting to others about? Their faith. The Greek word Paul uses is "pistis" which means persuaded by, carries the meaning of a guarantee, a warranty. Paul is holding these people up as a model to the world not because of what they do, but who they are. We are not human doings, we are human beings. They have been persuaded by, moved by, live by, the truth claims of Jesus. That's what makes them famous in Paul's world. Whatever our story is, our circumstances today, we are invited to be persuaded anew by Jesus, who He is, listen for His voi...

Sunday Psalms; Psalms 12:5 CSB "Because of the devastation of the needy and the groaning of the poor, I will now rise up," says the Lord.  "I will provide safety for the one who longs for it." Psalms 12:5 CSB David starts this song complaining about people - there are no good people left. None. That's how it feels to him at that time. His experience with people seems to have left him exasperated. Frustrated. Angry. In despair. Lost sight of the good. The good people in his world may well be there but he can't see them right now. And it's in his Despair he holds on to the Truth, that in the Big Story we are heard, that our God does make a way. And from our place in time we can see David's song fulfilled in Jesus. And in Him we can continue to hold the hope that our God does hear us, and is and will make all things new.  The redemptive strands are here. There are good people here. When we're stuck in frustration, anger, despair, we have a voice her...

Romans 1:5-7 CSB Through him we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the Gentiles, including you who are also called by Jesus Christ. To all who are in Rome, loved by God, called as saints.  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1:5-7 CSB "including you" Paul is writing to the church in Rome which seems to be mainly people who are not Jews, who the Good News of Jesus did not initially seem to include...but it always did. "including you" Sometimes there's part of us that seems to think we don't belong  "including you" Our story includes being excluded  "including you" When we feel judged, left out, not good enough "including you" To all who are in Rome (to you, wherever you are, in your struggles, in your story, including you, you are), loved by God, called as saints.  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the L...

Friday! Proverbs! Proverbs 9:1-3 NLT [1] Wisdom has built her house; she has carved its seven columns. [2] She has prepared a great banquet, mixed the wines, and set the table. [3] She has sent her servants to invite everyone to come. She calls out from the heights overlooking the city. Proverbs 9:1-3 NLT The invitation is here. Everything is ready, laid out like a great feast. And all we have to do is accept. Step towards.  I wonder what stops me stepping towards God's Widsom? Sometimes it's the myth that it's all about the rules, it's restrictive. Sometimes it's my own heart. I know best. I'll decide.  Can you imagine the builder of this house, the preparer of the food who has carefully laid it out, and is now calling people in, to see them walk by. To choose something else. To choose a second rate counterfeit, to choose junk food in a cardboard box over the great banquet and the table set and waiting. And even when we do, He still loves us. And keeps inviting...

Mark 8:8-9 NLT [8] They ate as much as they wanted. Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food. [9] There were about 4,000 men in the crowd that day, and Jesus sent them home after they had eaten. Mark 8:8-9 NLT It seems that when Jesus fed people there was not "just enough", there was an abundance. Leftovers. And it was the disciples that did the cleanup, the collection of the the surplus, the abundance. Maybe Jesus was pointing them towards a Kingdom of abundance. They came to him with scarcity and he supplied abundance.  It seems that Jesus wanted them to see something, and it's about more than food. It's in Jesus Kingdom that what we really need gets met, and gets met with abundance. These people needed food and Jesus supplied with abundance. What does our world need? And as Kingdom representatives are we, the Church, supplying? Food. Clothing. Housing. Care. Connection. Healing. Hope. Faith. What are "we" supplying in abunda...

Mark 8:5-6, 8 NLT [5] Jesus asked,  How much bread do you have? Seven loaves, they replied. [6] So Jesus told all the people to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, thanked God for them, and broke them into pieces... ... [8] They ate as much as they wanted.  Afterward, the disciples picked up seven large baskets of leftover food. Mark 8:5-6, 8 NLT Seven - 7 - is a number that seems to be about completeness, wholeness. And we see it repeated here in this story: 7 loaves found. 7 loaves blessed. 7 loaves broken. 7 baskets of leftovers. I wonder what Jesus is telling us here? Does he want us to go back to 7 days of creation, blessed, broken, and one day made new, in abundance. Maybe it's about us, his people, the "church", found, blessed, broken, and restored. Maybe it's about Him. Broken. Looking forward to Easter. And the Abundance that will flow from that, the way, the invitation into reconnection with His Beloved. Us. As we sit with this story today...

Mark 8:1-5 NLT About this time another large crowd had gathered, and the people ran out of food again. Jesus called his disciples and told them,  "I feel sorry for these people. They have been here with me for three days, and they have nothing left to eat. If I send them home hungry, they will faint along the way. For some of them have come a long distance." His disciples replied, "How are we supposed to find enough food to feed them out here in the wilderness?" Jesus asked,  "How much bread do you have?" Mark 8:1-5 NLT Mark Ch6 doesn't seem all that long ago. In Ch6 Jesus miraculously multiplied the small amount of food that the Disciples located and fed a massive crowd. And it seems like they're in a similar situation. And the Disciples seem to have forgotten, because they ask "how are we supposed to fix this?" And Jesus appears patient and steps thru the same process with them. When we come back to Jesus with the same things, the same ...

When the very bottom of things falls out, what can a righteous person possibly accomplish?   Psalms 11:3 CEB I keep this quote in the front of my journal and return to it regularly when it all seems too much: "Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief; Do justly now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now. You are not obliged to complete the work. But neither are you free to abandon it." Perkei Avot 2:16 Rabbi Tarfon The ethics of our fathers. And this one from Jesus: "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.  Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart,  because  I  have  overcome the world." John 16:33 NLT When we lose heart, look up, look out, remember that we don't have to fix it all, but work with God in it, and we are held in a Bigger Story, where it might not seem like it, but Jesus has already overcome. #redemptivestrands #hopeishere #weareBeloved  #allwillbeandisbeingmadenew

Sunday Psalms; When the very bottom of things falls out, what can a righteous person possibly accomplish?   Psalms 11:3 CEB  This song asks one of those Big Questions - in v1-2 it paints the picture of a world where evil is winning, and then asks "what can I do in the face of all this?" We have variations on this around our powerlessness to change anything in what we think are meaningful ways... And what does David have to say? But the LORD is in his holy temple.  The LORD!  His throne is in heaven. His eyes see - his vision examines all of humanity.   Psalms 11:4 CEB David asks us to look up. To open again our eyes of faith and remind ourselves of the Big Story that we are in. And our God does see. And He does care.  And His Justice will prevail.  [6] God will rain fiery coals and sulfur on the wicked; their cups will be filled with nothing but a scorching hot wind  because the LORD is righteous!  He loves righteous deeds.  Th...