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

Where Does God Reside? - July 21, 2024

July 21, 2024

This text brims with edges and boundaries. Christ calls the faith ambassadors to a deserted place, presumably the outer edges of society, to rest. Christ then crosses over the shoreline, only...

Read More

Where Does God Reside? - July 20, 2024

July 20, 2024

Spiritual abandonment feels particularly pervasive these days. I don’t have to go far to hear stories of wounds and aches from folks who feel outcast by the church community and have...

Read More

Where Does God Reside? - July 19, 2024

July 19, 2024

God’s home can be in our very bodies. Regardless of the body, God can dwell there. Moreover, God chooses more often than not to make a home in those bodies often...

Read More

Where Does God Reside? - July 18, 2024

July 18, 2024

Years ago for my Lenten prayer practice, I chose to paint abstract art. I had seen the work of a synesthetic abstract artist who saw colors when she heard music and...

Read More

Where Does God Reside? - July 17, 2024

July 17, 2024

My daughter in all her toddlerhood often experiments with the world around her. It is how she learns best. This also means that countless times a day I hear, “Uh-oh!” When...

Read More

Where Does God Reside? - July 16, 2024

July 16, 2024

I see this often in the church. We, as beloved community, are full of good folk who wish to give of themselves. Sometimes, though, we get so caught up in what...

Read More

Where Does God Reside? - July 15, 2024

July 15, 2024

I do not remember the first time I heard, “Home is where the heart is.” It is one of those colloquialisms that was embedded deep and early. In this text we...

Read More

Power and Ritual - July 14, 2024

July 14, 2024

Herod was bound in the tension between doing what was right—refusing to behead John the Baptist—and upholding the social norms and standards around keeping one’s word. Both options had their own...

Read More

Power and Ritual - July 13, 2024

July 13, 2024

Those in power in today’s passage had very different opinions of John the Baptist. Herodias had preconceived notions against him, while her husband, King Herod, feared him yet “liked to listen...

Read More

Power and Ritual - July 12, 2024

July 12, 2024

This scripture moves from the cosmic infinite to the very personal, truly relational connection God has with humanity. We have insight into God’s selection of humanity through Jesus Christ and through...

Read More