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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.

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Latest Disciplines Devotions

God Loves So That - May 22, 2024

May 22, 2024

Reading Psalm 29 feels like the storm it describes. The phrases are short and punctuated with graphic imagery. Listening to the psalm, I can close my eyes and see the raging...

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God Loves So That - May 21, 2024

May 21, 2024

Edith struggled to find inner peace after the death of her child. She grieved that she could not have any more children, and she wanted her life to count for something...

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God Loves So That - May 20, 2024

May 20, 2024

As a high school senior, I was busy planning for college but feeling cut off from my friends. One winter evening, after being snubbed by a classmate, I felt sad and...

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Stories of the Spirit - May 19, 2024

May 19, 2024

Pentecost Sunday is the day Christians around the world celebrate as the birthday of the church. We read about “the rush of a violent wind” and the “divided tongues, as of...

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Stories of the Spirit - May 18, 2024

May 18, 2024

I sometimes wonder if we focus so much on the bewilderment and amazement of the crowd at Pentecost that we do not contemplate the effect of the Spirit on the early...

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Stories of the Spirit - May 17, 2024

May 17, 2024

In wisdom you have made them all.” This psalm sings to me of the diversity of creation and the diversity and inclusiveness of Pentecost. Everything and everyone created by God is...

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Stories of the Spirit - May 16, 2024

May 16, 2024

Whenever I read this portion of John’s Gospel, I try to put myself in the shoes of the disciples. Jesus has been saying good-bye for a while. How frightful it must...

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Stories of the Spirit - May 15, 2024

May 15, 2024

The psalmist says God “touches the mountains and they smoke.” I grew up at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and we often visited the Great Smoky Mountains along the...

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Stories of the Spirit - May 14, 2024

May 14, 2024

We often say that preaching should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. How often though do you think of the Spirit as the afflicter? We translate the Greek word Paraclete...

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Stories of the Spirit - May 13, 2024

May 13, 2024

Waiting is hard. Waiting for God is particularly difficult, especially as the whole of creation seems to groan in pain. We hear of violence, political unrest, and injustice all around us....

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