Loading more...
The Gifts of Contemplation and Courage
I love children’s picture books. They offer beautifully illustrated lessons for children and a picture window Read More
Bruce Reyes-Chow | Read Psalm 119:107 , Read Matthew 13:1-9
Sometimes, it is difficult to see hope, let alone to live with hope. The constant rage-baiting and abusive onslaught of violent, destructive, and dehumanizing words and actions that are being unleashed upon our collective existence by politicians, institutions, and hoarders of power are determined to extinguish our hope. We are...
Pray a breath prayer. As you inhale, pray, “God, you reveal your path.” As you exhale, pray, “I will follow with hope.”
Psalm 119 will serve for us as a pathway of insight into the intertwined and multiple truths that can be revealed when one text is seen through the lens of another. Through a verse of the psalm each day, we’ll explore the failures and successes represented in the other scriptures. In Genesis, Jacob should feed his brother out of care and concern, but he takes advantage of the situation and robs Esau of his birthright. Paul in Romans contrasts the life of the flesh and the life in the Spirit. Without the power of God, we are doomed to repeat our mistakes in the flesh, but the Spirit sets us free. Jesus reminds us in Matthew that the effectiveness of the gospel is not based on our efforts. We sow the seed, but we cannot control whether it takes root.
Read Psalm 119:105-112. How do you listen and look for how God may be revealing the path that God yearns for you to follow?
Read Genesis 25:19-34. How might you resist the pull to take advantage of another’s desperation (people you know or people with whom you share no adjacency) for your own benefit?
Read Romans 8:1-11. In a world constantly competing for your imagination, intelligence, and integrity, when have you embraced and navigated the divine call to faith that has been gifted to you?
Read Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23. Knowing that none of us thrives or “succeeds” one hundred percent of the time, when has your life and faith felt like each of the seeds in this parable?
Respond by posting a prayer.
