Looking for today's Disciplines Devotion? Click here to read it.

About Disciplines

The Upper Room Disciplines provides an opportunity to look more deeply at scripture by offering a week of devotions by a single author on a particular theme.

Read More

Latest Disciplines Devotions

The Thin Places of Transformation - February 8, 2021

February 8, 2021

Only a few weeks ago we celebrated the coming of Light into the world in the form of a tiny baby. Epiphany was a moment of revelation—an “Aha!” Here at the...

Read More

The Call to Pay Attention - February 7, 2021

February 7, 2021

One important part of my work as a college chaplain is to begin faculty and staff meetings with an opening reflection to calm our minds and center our being. The poet...

Read More

The Call to Pay Attention - February 6, 2021

February 6, 2021

We are in the liturgical season that follows the Epiphany. In this season, we recognize the ways in which Jesus revealed himself to those he encountered in his ministry. The Magi...

Read More

The Call to Pay Attention - February 5, 2021

February 5, 2021

Like others in the last section of the psalter, Psalm 147 is a praise psalm. While it clearly calls us to a posture of praise, it also names a range of...

Read More

The Call to Pay Attention - February 4, 2021

February 4, 2021

In the second half of the text from Isaiah, again we hear these words on the prophet’s lips, “Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard?” This time, however, Isaiah gets straight to...

Read More

The Call to Pay Attention - February 3, 2021

February 3, 2021

The prophet Isaiah is writing in the time of the sixth century (BCE), a time when destruction and exile have left the community fractured and in chaos. The prophet seems to...

Read More

The Call to Pay Attention - February 2, 2021

February 2, 2021

When I was going through the ordination process, it felt like I told my “call story” a hundred times. In ministerial circles, a “call story” is the story of the way...

Read More

The Call to Pay Attention - February 1, 2021

February 1, 2021

In Mark’s Gospel, events happen at a rapid-fire pace. There is no time for drawn-out stories. In today’s reading, Jesus is at work healing Simon’s mother-in-law. Before this, he was busy...

Read More

Power and Authority - January 31, 2021

January 31, 2021

The crowds flock to Jesus. He heals people with leprosy, casts out demons, feeds the people, and teaches with authority. After Jesus teaches in the synagogue and casts out a demon,...

Read More

Power and Authority - January 30, 2021

January 30, 2021

It’s a classic movie cliché—the teacher is gone for the day, and in walks a substitute. The substitute doesn’t have the authority or relationship with the students, so the students feel...

Read More