LIsten to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Proverbs 2:1-15.

The Mounts of Sinai, the Beatitudes, and the Transfiguration invite us to linger in their atmosphere of contact with the divine as we listen to these words. While they are abstract, taste them nonetheless. Consider how wisdom, knowledge, discretion, and understanding are present, or absent, in your life. Let today be a special day of reflection on your life, taking the mountain images as ones of retreat, reflection and reordering of your life’s priorities in keeping with the daily inspirations of God’s holy Word.

Though these four gifts are abstract, they engage all the practical aspects of your life. How are you to live in the light of these gifts? This is the constant question of Proverbs. Reflect … ponder … write.

Proverbs 2

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More…
Example: Wisdom coming to my heart v. 10

Tuesdays are dedicated to the Old Testament books of history
and the Hebrew “Writings.”
In the seasons of Advent to Epiphany this year we read Joshua and Proverbs 1—3

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information

Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Isaiah 11:1-9.

Intended as Hezekiah, the rod from the stem of Jesse reaches forward in time and touches Jesus. The Lord uses Isaiah for more than the immediate circumstance into which he prophesies. The Holy Spirit, referred as such by Isaiah more times than any other prophet, uses this great man of God for announcing the Messiah. With the addition of “piety,” not mentioned in verse 2, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are listed.

This chapter and the next conclude the first of five parts in Isaiah. As a symphony raising its themes in sweeping final movements, so do these chapters lift up the ultimate triumph of God in images of reconciliation. Let the Word of the Lord fill all your days “… as the waters cover the sea.”

Isaiah 11

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the seasons of Advent to Epiphany this year we read Isaiah 1-13.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Knowledge covering the sea v. 9

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information.

Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and the Gospel.

There are moments of suspension and stillness in the movements of ice dancers. The male skater lifts his partner high with outstretched arms. As two statues intertwined, they glide effortlessly across the ice—a time of pause in spinning and dancing.

In the dance of Jesus’s saving grace, the Transfiguration is a moment of suspension and stillness on the heights. All the glory of the dance of salvation is gathered into one moment, a suspension in time that Peter wishes to hold onto forever. The glimpse of eternal glory serves to strengthen the faith of the three disciples, awestruck before three great figures in the history of God’s gracious intervention in human life. Relish the pause, the suspension of time, drinking in the power of Jesus as soon we will descend the mountain into Lent. There the dance goes on, drawing us closer and closer to our Lord who alone lifts us high from the cross and from the grave.

Matthew 17:1–8

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: This, my Son—listen to him.v. 5

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
In year A, we generally read from the Gospel of St. Matthew.

For all the Firestarters I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these introductions with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information.