Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and the Gospel.

Mount Sinai and the Mount of the Beatitudes stand beside each other in our imagination. From the former comes the foundation of how to live a godly life. Moving beyond the “Thou shalt nots,” the Beatitudes begin with positive expressions of blessing: How blessed and fortunate you will be, that now having the foundation, you understand how to live in the Kingdom.

Imagine that you are salt and light—one at a time. Salt offers zest to others’lives; light illumines the way of Jesus.

In the second half of our reading, Jesus uplifts “both-and” of his teaching, referring to the Law and to his words. It is not “either-or” for Jesus, but rather “both-and.”

Matthew 5:13–20

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: My light shining for others v. 16

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.

Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Exodus 18:13-23.

A brief, but decisive moment of intervention comes from a tender meeting with Moses’s father-in-law. Likely Moses had sent his wife and children to him during the ravages of the plagues. Now that the Exodus is complete, Jethro brings Moses’s family to him.

While the Midianites were descendants of Abraham through his concubine Keturah, they were considered as foreigners. However, God is at work in faith in Jethro through Moses’s witness. In addition, Jethro’s outside view of God’s work affords him a perspective often missed by those inside. Jethro suggests that Moses delegate leadership according to the numbers indicated in Exodus 18:21.

Is there someone to whom you can turn who loves you, yet is not so involved in your life that he or she is still able to give you insight into areas that you are missing?

Exodus 18

This is the first of three parts of the Torah Portion Yithro (Jethro)
Conservative and Reform Jewish congregations read only this part this year,
as also in this Bible plan.
Here is the entire portion in all three parts.

Exodus 18:1—20:26

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Seeking the discerning voice

The Saturday passages follow the reading list that Jewish people use in their synagogue worship
throughout the world. They are taken from
“The Torah,” the first five books of the Bible from Genesis to Deuteronomy
that are read each year beginning with autumn.

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 Matthew 5:38-48.

Jesus’s words from the Mount of the Beatitudes join with those given to Moses on Sinai. Jesus embraces them, but goes deeper than mere external fulfillment of the Torah, the Law. Six times, while referring to the Torah, Jesus says “But I tell you …”

Consider the power of this transference. Jesus embodies the Torah. He is alive in the Holy Spirit, seeking to go ever deeper into your own heart, there to refine and make perfect, the inner subtleties of Jesus’s law of love. The Spirit prompts you to live love from its point of depth-sowing until full fruit-bearing, as we considered in yesterday’s reading from Galatians.

May you find special joy in knowing that the Spirit within you will be constantly suggesting, inclining, inspiring you this very day at every moment, to act, not as the world teaches, but as Jesus does.

Matthew 5:21–48

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: I will go the extra mile v. 41

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels.
In the seasons of Advent to Epiphany this year we read Luke 1 2; Matthew 1 7.

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.