verseoftheday

Luke 1:56 NLT Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back to her own home. Luke 1:56 NLT Luke doesn't tell us why Mary stayed 3 months with Elizabeth- maybe it was to give Elizabeth someone to talk to 'cos Zechariah wasn't speaking! Maybe it was for Mary, having some distance from other members of he family, maybe it was for Elizabeth, an older woman having her first baby...but whatever their reasons, they formed a little community for a time. This need for community and connection is in us, and here it may look a bit unusual: An older couple, one mute, from a long line of Priests, having their first child, and Mary, a single Mum figuring out her part in God's Redemptive Story that she finds herself parachuted into... What we need may be found in unusual or unexpected relationships. Here at the beginning of this new phase of God's Redemptive Story is a little community, for a time. Perhaps today on Christmas Eve there's an invitation to comm...

Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, "God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said." Luke 1:42-45 NLT There's some kind of interesting connection being described here; physical  emotional  spiritual  The interconnectedness of who we are, of the miracle of carrying another life, and the connection between people. Maybe that's one of the things that we are looking for at Christmas with the gathering and the gift giving is connection... And then there is Elizabeth's blessing to Mary: "You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said." Elizabeth & Mary's story will never be repeated, but this blessing can be: "You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said." The ...

Luke 1:39-41 NLT A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:39-41 NLT What an interesting part of the story that Luke records for us. Two women, one young, one who thought that having a child was only for others, for the young. Miraculous pregnancies in different ways. A child in the womb who knows something is up. All happening in a small ordinary town, between two women in this small ordinary connection. Unseen. God is at work in the small. The unseen. In a world that seems to value big, loud, spectacular, our God was at work in the ordinary, the small, and the unseen. It's OK to be ordinary. It's OK to be small. Knowing that in God's Love story, His redemptive story, we are not unseen, but Beloved. #advent #Christmas  #redemptivestrands #GodsLove...

Sunday Psalms; I will declare the Lord's decree.  He said to me,  "You are my Son;  today I have become your Father." Psalms 2:7 CSB Some people formally adopt children, others whangai, sometimes people are welcomed in and become part of our lives, intertwined, sometimes forever, others just for a time... In the middle of this song is this declaration from our God of adoption, of giving a birthday, of belonging, of connection. God choosing. We're limited. We have limited capacity to love and connect, but our God is beyond those human limitations and chooses us.  Gives us a birthday.  It doesn't depend on us, whether we think we're good enough, measure up, are enough, He is doing the choosing, the becoming, it's God who Loves and makes a Way. Do you see the redemptive strands? #hopeishere  #advent #Christmas  #redemptivestrands #GodsLoveisEnough #weareBeloved 

"Don't be afraid, Mary," the angel told her,  "for you have found favor with God!" Luke 1:30 NLT "Don't be afraid" is not a command, but an invitation. An invitation to connection. An invitation to step closer. An invitation towards something unknown, mystery, opportunity. God, The Creator, The Unlimited, Yahweh, is opening the way to connect, and Mary did  not need to be afraid. She wasn't told to change, tidy up, clean up, fix up, put right, anything, just to put down her fear. It's like something has shifted in the universe, something new is happening, and we have no need to be afraid. Come as you are. Redemption is here. The Angel had something to say to Mary, and if her fear got in the way, she would not have heard it.  What does this story invite us to put down that is a barrier to hearing from our God? What could He be inviting us towards that we can't "hear" because we're holding on to something? What is that thing...

Friday! Proverbs! Proverbs 6:16-17 CSB The Lord hates six things;  in fact, seven are detestable to him: arrogant eyes... Why does God even care about my eyes? What even are "arrogant eyes"? They're not a colour or a shape, they're the expression of something going on in the heart. And I've had them.  Proverbs is about helping us find a path to wisdom, it's not a weapon to use against others but an invitation to self reflection, to check our own hearts. And I'm familiar with this thing that our God stands against- because He is Love, and an arrogance, a haughtyness in my eyes is not love, it says that there's something disordered in my Love, and in this relationship. Ouch. Jesus turned up in the least haughty, the least arrogant way possible...as a baby. And his reason? Love. Us. Relationship. To redeem. This Proverb invites us to consider our own eyes, my eyes, and what they're communicating to those I meet or see, and to ask our Heavenly Father t...

Luke 1:28-30 ESV And he came to her and said,  "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.  And the angel said to her,  "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God." Luke 1:28-30 ESV Luke doesn't tell us anything about Mary's life, what she has acheived, whether she read the scriptures everyday, went to church... She was probably a teenager, engaged to be married to a nice guy, in a small town that had a poor reputation, living under the rule of the Roman Empire. How did God pick her out? Joseph's family in Luke 3 traced all the way back to Adam. Zechariah was from a long line of Priests. Elizabeth traces her line back to Aaron, Moses brother. Mary's only claim to fame seems to be that she is some kind of relative of Elizabeth... She's young, ordinary, done nothing that Luke knows about or notes, is from a poor, ordinary plac...

Luke 1:26-27 NLT In the sixth month of Elizabeths pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary.  She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Luke 1:26-27 NLT Luke weaves together the stories of these two women, Elizabeth, who traces her story all the way back to Aaron, and Mary, who all we know about is that she is going to marry Joseph. Joseph, who is a traces his story back to King David...in Luke 3, all the way back to Adam. While Joseph becomes Jesus Dad, it is by what we might call adoption. Jesus is adopted into his family, accepted, loved. If being adopted is your experience, then you're in good company. Of you've adopted a child, then Joseph is a great role model. And Paul uses the language of adoption to describe us being adopted into God's family, weaving us all together... The redemptive strands go all the way back to Adam, perhaps today to remind us that we're part of the...

John 1:43-46 NLT The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him,  "Come, follow me." Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter's hometown.  Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, "We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth." "Nazareth!" exclaimed Nathanael. "Can anything good come from Nazareth?' "Come and see for yourself," Philip replied. John 1:43-46 NLT Nathanael was from Bethsaida. Jesus was from Nazareth. Somehow in Nathanael's story anyone from Nazareth got a label, and Jesus was from "there" so he is one of "them". Them. Less than. Not worthy. What happened at Bondi Beach with the killing of Jewish people simply getting together to celebrate starts with a "them".  A label. Less than. Not worthy. The world Jesus stepped into was full of fear, hatred, labels. And he stepped in anyw...

Luke 1:24-25 CSB After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived and kept herself in seclusion for five months. She said,   "The Lord has done this for me.  He has looked with favor in these days to take away my disgrace among the people." Luke 1:24-25 CSB Can you imagine carrying shame your whole life? Here is Elizabeth as an older person finally putting down the shame she has held her whole adult life. While Zechariah wasn't able to talk he must've communicated in some way with Elizabeth what happened to him with the Angel Gabriel. And Elizabeth's response? To tuck herself away.  And to finally release the shame.  Shame put on her by others.  Expectations, norms, others.  Even in our times of joy and goodness there can be these strands of sorrow, loss, grief, and yes, shame. At Christmas it's supposed to be all joy and tinsel and happiness ('cos our culture says so). Yet for many this time of year carries with it loss, grief, and shame. The redemptive ...

Sunday Psalms; They are like a tree replanted by streams of water, which bears fruit at just the right time and whose leaves don't fade. Psalms 1:3 CEB Can you picture a tree that has been replanted, shifted, moved from an environment where it did not produce fruit, where the plant was stressed, when it was unhealthy, and now it is in a place of thriving. Flourishing. Where this tree is free to produce what it was designed to produce. Who's the "they" who shift and are replanted?  People who choose to follow God's ways, who choose to learn about Him, about the Big Story, and the Love that is behind it all. This Story that got a new chapter at Christmas, when Love came down and joined us, opening up the Way. This place of thriving and flourishing is a heart thing. "Lord, Jesus, replant me today, move me closer to that stream that gives Life & Hope, the Life & Hope that you brought into the world.  May I produce some of the fruit you have created me to ...

Luke 1:21-23 NLT [21] Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out of the sanctuary, wondering why he was taking so long. [22] When he finally did come out, he couldn't speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures and his silence that he must have seen a vision in the sanctuary. [23] When Zechariah's week of service in the Temple was over, he returned home.  Luke 1:21-23 NLT I wonder what would happen if our Pastor suddenly couldn't speak! What would we think? "That he must have seen a vision"? How did Zechariah communicate what was going on, what happened? And he didn't go home, take a day off or anything, but kept serving, kept doing the tasks he had come to the temple to do for the rest of the week! Not sure I'd be doing that if an Angel had turned up, told me my decades old prayers had been answered, and when I questioned him, found I could no longer speak... Everything about this story is extraordinary. It seems like it's su...

Friday! Proverbs! What are worthless and wicked people like?  They are constant liars, signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers.  Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble. But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing. Proverbs 6:12-15 NLT This is an uncomfortable part of Proverbs to sit with. It paints a bleak picture of a group of people.  Them. And at the same time those traits can be found in me...and at this time of year as we peel back the layers of tinsel, we find beneath all that the birth of a Saviour who not only saves us from destruction, saves us from separation from God, but saves us from those parts of ourselves that harm us and those around us. Jesus came to show The Way of peace with God, and peace with ourselves.  This bleak picture in proverbs is not the whole picture, and it's not the end of the story...there is a way out, a way f...

[13] The angel said,  "Don't be afraid, Zechariah.  Your prayers have been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to your son and you must name him John." Luke 1:13 CEB Going into the temple alone to light incense expecting solitude and meeting an angel is extraordinary and not surprisingly, frightening. And extraordinary. But the message is not so extraordinary - "your prayers have been heard, and this is what will happen". Answers to prayer can seem ordinary, they can make us face our fears, perhaps take away our fears, invite us to address our fears. Perhaps the thing God is inviting you towards, the change He is nudging you for, the direction shift, the action He is prompting you to take, has fear attached to it. Fear of the Unknown. Fear of Failure. Fear of what others will say, or think. Doubt. Self-doubt. We're in good company with Zechariah today, and perhaps the Angel's words today will be of some help as we face our fears and hear God's...

[13] The angel said,  "Don't be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayers have been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will give birth to your son and you must name him John." ... [18] Zechariah said to the angel,  "How can I be sure of this?  My wife and I are very old." Luke 1:13, 18 CEB I don't know what the angel Gabriel looked like, but his presence was enough to frighten Zechariah. But here Gabriel is, in the temple, in the middle of the incense burning, connection with God moment. And then Gabriel gives Zechariah some specific information- his prayers have been heard. The content of those prayers are known. The prayers (given that they're old my guess is that Zechariah & Elizabeth long ago gave up praying for children of their own) are now going to be answered. Zechariah meets this supernatural creature/person who tells him his specific, very personal prayers from long ago are now being answered...and the first thing he says is: "Really?" It must be p...

Luke 1:5 CEB [5] During the rule of King Herod of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah.  His wife Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron.  Luke 1:5 CEB Zechariah is a priest in the line of Abijah, who was a King of the nothern tribes for 2 years (2 Chronicles 12). Elizabeth was a direct descendent of Aaron. Aaron, the brother of Moses, who spoke for Moses when he couldn't, who was called up the mountain with him to receive the 10 Commandments from God. And Aaron who was in the middle of the "golden calf" betrayal. Here he is again mentioned as part of the greatest redemption story of all.  Do you see the redemptive strand here generations later? Our God didn't abandon Aaron, but tied him into Jesus's story. He doesn't abandon us either. The redemptive strands keep being woven and we're included.  You're included. That is the story of Christmas - God's redemptive strands showing up as a person. And we...

Luke 1:5, 8-9, 11-12 CEB [5] During the rule of King Herod of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah... ... [8] One day Zechariah was serving as a priest before God because his priestly division was on duty. Following the customs of priestly service, he was chosen by lottery to go into the Lord's sanctuary and burn incense. ... [11] An angel from the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. [12] When Zechariah saw the angel, he was startled and overcome with fear. Luke 1:5, 8-9, 11-12 CEB Zechariah was from in intergenerational line of priests. Being a priest is a vocation he was born into. This day it was his team's turn to serve in the temple and burn the incense, and from his team, on this day, he was chosen by chance to do something he may have done hundreds of times. But this day something unusual happened, something unexpected, unpredictable, supernatural, and frightening. Zechariah was just ...

Mark 6:30-32 CEB The apostles returned to Jesus and told him everything they had done and taught.  Many people were coming and going, so there was no time to eat. He said to the apostles, "Come by yourselves to a secluded place and rest for a while." They departed in a boat by themselves for a deserted place.   Mark 6:30-32 CEB Where had the team been? Off in pairs without any money or food or anything, out for some time talking to people about change. I wonder how long they were away for? Days? Weeks? What did Jesus do while they were somewhere else? How come they all came back at the same time? Anyhow...they're back and they have stories to tell, and Jesus could see what they needed; 1. Time away from the crowds. 2. Some kai. There would be disappointed people as a result. There's days when it would be great to have Jesus here taking us away from "the crowd", the noise, the pressing problems, and feed us. He knew what the Apostles needed. His Spirit dwells...

Friday! Proverbs! Proverbs 6:1-2, 9-11 CEB [1] My son, if you guarantee a loan for your neighbor or shake hands in agreement with a stranger,  [2] you will be trapped by your words; you will be caught by your words. ...  [9] How long, lazy person, will you lie down?  When will you rise from your sleep?   [10] A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to lie down -  [11] and poverty will come on you like a prowler, destitution like a warrior.   Proverbs 6:1-2, 9-11 CEB As a parent it's tempting to use v9-11 as a weapon to get a child to get up, get moving. However these Proverbs weren't written to children, and this interesting piece about a little folding of the arms leads to poverty stands in direct contrast to God's invitation into rest, to sabbath. It seems that these v9-11 are connected to the opening premise of this chapter, where the person has made a mistake, an overcommittment, and needs a nudge to front up and sort it...

Beloved... 1 John 4:1 NASB2020 John chooses to start this next part of his letter with "agapétos", "Beloved". He's writing to people he cares about, but being Beloved, their Belovedness is about a Bigger Love than John can offer. We are Beloved because our God loves us. God's Love is Enough. More than enough to hold us, to hold all our fears, all our hurts, all our tears, all our hopes, all our dreams. John addresses his readers as Beloved, and the invitation is to hear that as a word from God's heart to yours today. You are Beloved. #truthtorestin #lettersfromJohn #testimony  #light  #weareBeloved 

1 John 3:23-24 NLT [23] And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. [24] Those who obey God's commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us. 1 John 3:23-24 NLT Believe in Jesus  Love One Another. Do that and John assures us of fellowship, belonging, abiding, being with Him. And the Spirit lives in us. This can seem quite the mystery. There's no long list on must do, to do, rules, requirements, just believe in Jesus & love One Another. Jesus said the law and the prophets were summed up in 2 things, love God, Love others as yourself, ie love one another. In all the craziness and pressure and must do things and expectations of others and our world, let the simplicity of John's invitation be our guide today... Believe in Jesus Love One Another Rest in the Spirit who dwells within... #lettersfromJohn #testi...

[6] Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Psalms 150:6 BSB The last word from the Psalms...after 150 songs and stories the Psalms ends with this: "Let" An invitation. "Everything that has breath" An inclusive invitation that welcomes us all in. "Breath" This idea of Life, the Spirit, essence. "Praise the Lord" See our God, glimpse Him, and praise, see Him a little clearer, make Him a little clearer to others, boast about Him. Hallelujah. #psalms #psalms150 #lastwords #itsaheartthing  #weareBeloved

Praise him with a blast of the ram's horn;  praise him with the lyre and harp! Psalms 150:3 NLT I was listening to a podcast recently by Matt Brown who was raised in a home awash with family violence and harm. He became a Barber, cutting men's hair, listening to their stories, and sharing hope. He described his Barber's Chair as his "cathedral". Making a noise, praising our God can look different for all of us.  Your "cathedral", your ram's horn, lyre and harp could be your workplace, vocation, art... You may praise by caring for those others miss, for refusing to refuse the refused, by standing against injustice, by sitting with someone who no one else will, by smiling, thanking, blessing, encouraging in the small and every day... Your praise might look like self-care today. Anything we do which points to our God, puts Him nearer the centre... The "noise" we make isn't the important part, it's a heart thing. So praise Him today, in...