DEVOTIONAL: As I read over this passage, I am struck by the anticipation of the Psalmist. At a time when I am overcome with schoolwork, the numerous other jobs to be done and with no end in sight, I have not been looking ahead with anticipation. There is one verse in the psalm that catches my feelings precisely; “Save us, we beseech you, O Lord! O Lord, we beseech you give us success!” Help me!   » Read more…

THIS WEEK’S THEME: Hosanna! Look, your king is coming

DEVOTIONAL: By the end of this week we will be waving palm branches and celebrating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Jesus is coming! The season of Lent gives us the opportunity to make a space in our ordinary routines — a space in our lives into which we welcome God’s steadfast and transforming love.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Death bearing new life — a mystery for sure. Even though Jesus was talking about his physical death, this passage makes me consider my own state of affairs. What needs to “die” in my life?   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: Today’s text offers us a picture of Christ’s submission to God that leads to eternal salvation for all who believe and obey. In this text, Jesus lives into God’s reality and does not give up when worldly oppression bears in from every side. Instead of giving in, Jesus prays harder.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: One of the many gifts of my childhood was the priority my parents placed on church. If there was a service, we were there, and it was important to be quiet and attentive. I loved the singing most of all, but it wasn’t a chore to sit still through the rest. I giggle at the memory that we even unwrapped our occasional pieces of candy before church to be sure there weren’t sounds of crinkling plastic during the sermon.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: Francis Collins, an American-physicist and engineer, and also the head of the Human Genome Project, wrote a book about his work called The Language of God. He writes that, through his work and study of the intricate details and specifics of the human body including genes and DNA, it is clear that the mark of God has been written all over us.   » Read more…

THIS WEEK’S THEME: Whoever serves me must follow

DEVOTIONAL: Numerous times throughout the Gospels we hear Jesus command those who desire to serve him to “Follow me.” Usually this command is given to someone in a situation where leaving and following Jesus will cost them something.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: Today marks the first day of spring, the season of rebirth. During spring, the Earth’s axis is tilted toward the sun and daylight gradually lengthens. This begins the winter thaw, causing the earth to warm and new life to emerge.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: In The Message’s interesting version of Ephesians 2:1-10, it talks about our old life and says: “you filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience.” I associate this with how polluted and contaminated our environment is becoming.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: As I sit down to write a devotional here in a library in Baltimore, I wonder what I will do for the rest of my life. What do I have to give the world that the other 200 people in this building haven’t already given? Over and again I come up short, thinking I have no place to go, nothing else to learn; that my peers have all done it better, or else I would have a job just like they do. I wonder what God has in store for me if everyone around me seems to already live the life I want for myself.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: Lent is a season of waiting. Like the people of God following Moses through the wilderness, I grow impatient. The constant reminders that Jesus is going to die wear on me, perhaps similarly to the ways in which miles and miles of walking, dry ground, heavy heat and miserable food wore on the people following Moses.   » Read more…

THIS WEEK’S THEME: By grace you have been saved

DEVOTIONAL: What was I doing in one of San Salvador’s most dangerous, crime-ridden neighborhoods after sunset? Determined to use the public transportation system, I had passed by a line of taxis that could have quickly taken me back to my host family’s urban neighborhood after a day trip to a rural Salvadoran community. Instead, I took the bus I’d been told would take me to the city center — but I didn’t realize it was on its evening schedule.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: I can distinctly remember the accompanying picture in my children’s Bible from first grade about when Jesus cleanses (condemns) the temple. I remember considering what it would look like if Jesus came and overturned our tables at one of my church’s fellowship meals.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: What is wisdom?

Wisdom does not always accompany good grades. Walker Percy once said, “You can get all A’s, and still flunk life.” I can testify to the truth of that statement, and you probably can too.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: In this Lenten season the economy dominates the headlines. People are losing jobs and houses and investments. Politicians and experts suggest various solutions, take decisive action. But no end is in sight. Companies that seemed impregnable a short while ago have suddenly collapsed like a house of cards. Where there was faith in the wisdom of markets to ensure our prosperity and secure our posterity, there is now fear and distrust.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: When I was 14, my younger brother and I spent the summer down south with our cousins. We were city kids, and that summer in Mom’s rural hometown presented to us a different way of life. As is the nature of small towns, everyone seemed to know everyone. I had only to walk down the road to have a chorus of people greet me by name, one by one as I passed by their front porches. Even though I was a visitor, by knowing my family, they knew me. They also took on the responsibility of teaching me the mores of the community, like the practice of addressing adults as ma’am and sir; walking slowly, taking time to visit. Paying attention.   » Read more…

THIS WEEK’S THEME: My rock and my redeemer

DEVOTIONAL: I have been given many presents over the years, but one gift in particular is especially important to me. It is a hymnal given to me by my church the spring before I went off to college. Books given as presents often have a special message written on the inside that offers word of advice, but my hymnal does not. Instead, everyone in my congregation signed their name in the margins of their favorite hymn. When singing a hymn, I often think of those whose favorite hymn it is and say a short prayer for them.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: The old trunk of an apple tree had been lying on the floor of my garage of a number of years. It was gnarly and crooked. At some point, it had been exposed to moisture, so some fungal activity had started to change the color of the wood. By all appearances, the trunk looked like it should be headed to the fireplace.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: What is the promise that the author of today’s Scripture speaks about? It is righteousness. But what is righteousness? Webster’s Dictionary defines righteousness as being just, honorable, free from guilt/wrong. How can we obtain righteousness? Can we as mere humans, whose hearts are wicked, become righteous?   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: We wait in faith. But we do not forget what we have known. And we do not forget what sorrows have brought us here.

Psalm 22 begins with the last words Jesus cried out on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We hear these as words of despair. But even in despair, the psalmist remembers what God has done and trusts in what will be done. Jesus knew this Psalm. He knew that the last verses contain the great promise of the Messianic age, the kingdom of God when we shall all praise, glorify and stand in awe of God. What Jesus cried out in his last breath would not then have been words of despair, but words of hope.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: I didn’t grow up celebrating Lent in the traditional sense of giving up or taking on something for 40 days in preparation for Jesus’ resurrection. It has only been since high school through friendships with Catholics and exposure to the liturgical calendar that I have explored what waiting paired with practice might mean.   » Read more…

DEVOTIONAL: If I were to make a “Top 10 List” of Anabaptist/Mennonite quotes, somewhere near the top would be Hans Denck’s memorable statement that “No one can truly know Christ except he follow Him in life.” Mennonites love this quote because it embodies our cherished belief that the essence of Christianity is discipleship — following Jesus.   » Read more…