Daily Devotional Oct 6 2021
Psalm 119:145-176; 2 Kings 22:14-23:3; 1 Cor. 11:23-34; Matt. 9:9-17 ‘This is my Body.’ Τοῦτό μού ἐστιν τὸ σῶμα. ‘This… of me… is… the… body. A very simple sentence, and one which has given rise to more acrimony and hair-splitting than any other simple sentence in the long and (sadly often) acrimonious history of […]
Daily Devotional Oct 5 2021
Psalm 120, 121, 122, 123; 2 Kings 22:1-13; 1 Cor. 11:2,17-22; Matt. 9:1-8 Sorry, faithful readers: there has been some kind of meltdown in the security world that blocked off half our access to the interwebs (only just fixed this morning, thanks to the skills of Chris Palma!) and then Facebook (which is where […]
Daily Devotional Sept 29 2021
Psalm 103; Genesis 28:10-17; Revelation 12:7-12; John 1:47-51 ST MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS ‘Saint Michael the Archangel, defender in battle; protect us against the wickedness and snares of the devil, whom we humbly pray God to rebuke, and may you, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust Satan and all […]
Daily Devotional Sept 27 2021
Psalm 97, 99, 100; 2 Chron. 29:1-3,30:1-27; 1 Cor. 7:32-40; Matt. 7:1-12 If I could live up to Matthew 7, I’d be a better man and a better priest. No doubt about it. So much in these twelve verse: we could spend a lifetime exploring the wisdom, and the immense challenge, of them. And […]
Daily Devotional Sept 27 2021
Psalm 89; 2 Kings 17:24-41; 1 Cor. 7:25-31; Matt. 6:25-34 “Today’s trouble is enough for today.” We spend so much time borrowing trouble from tomorrow–or more accurately, from tomorrows that may or may not happen. Tomorrow, after all, is like Schrödinger’s cat: maybe alive, maybe not, who can tell until you open the box? […]
Daily Devotional Sept 26 2021
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22; Psalm 124; James 5:13-20; Mark 9:38-50 My dad’s favorite verse in the entire Bible was James 5:16 ‘the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much.’ Sorry for the gendered language: it was a King James era. He understood that prayer isn’t magic–do it right, often enough, with enough […]
Daily Devotional Sept 21 2021
Psalm 119:33-40; Proverbs 3:1-6; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; Matthew 9:9-13 MATTHEW the EVANGELIST ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician.’ But, of course, as anyone looking at America’s dismal health stats (while we spend more per capita than any other country and have undoubtedly the world’s finest hospitals and doctors, when compared to […]
Daily Devotional Sept 20 2021
Psalm 80; 2 Kings 5:1-19; 1 Cor. 4:8-21; Matt. 5:21-26 Can you be a ‘good guy’ and still be wrong about some major moral issues? Well, Naaman appears to fit the bill: he’s such a good guy that even his slave girl worries about his health and even Elisha (who has no love for […]
Daily Devotional Sept 19 2021
Proverbs 31:10-31; Psalm 1; James 3:13–4:3, 7-8a; Mark 9:30-37 Three things, say the first Psalm, to avoid: walking in the counsel of the wicked, lingering in the way of sinners, sitting in the seat of the scornful. Of those, two are totally passive: only walking is an active verb. So of the three, it’s […]
Daily Devotional Sept 18 2021
Psalm 75, 76; 2 Kings 2:1-18; 1 Cor. 4:1-7; Matt. 5:17-20 Nothing stays the same for ever: it is all passing away. Elisha is comfortable playing second fiddle to Elijah, but Elijah’s time is coming to an end. And Elisha’s none too happy about that fact, but it is, as they say, what it […]
