[From the original version]

Autumn has always been a nostalgic time for me—smells, sounds of crunching leaves, fresh pencils and books for a new year of school. This sober, inward season is the setting when our Jewish brothers and sisters celebrate Rosh Hashana (September 7 and 8, 2021). It is a solemn beginning of a new year. Autumn is a season to meditate upon life and to discover the sacredness of time.

We have come to that place in Mark’s Gospel, which is the “autumn,” of Jesus’ earthly life. Jesus will be speaking about the End Times. It is the beginning of the end, which turns out to be a new beginning.

Today we flash back to Palm Sunday as Jesus, your King, rides into the heart of Jerusalem to take possession of God’s Kingdom. Walk beside the donkey.

[Paragraph from the version for families with children]

Jesus enters into Jerusalem in a flurry of glory—not unlike the colors that break out on the leaves before they fall and die.  Think of the branches of leaves that are placed beneath Jesus’s feet.  The crunching of leaves beneath our feet in this season can have us recall that moment of glory as Jesus enters into Jerusalem.  He will be crowned king there–not with a crown of gold, but one of thorns!  And there’ll be a different kind of throne too—the cross! 

Mark 11:1–14

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Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels. This year, we generally read
from the Gospel of Mark, this season, chapters 10 to 16.

For all the Firestarters in the original version 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.

[From the original version]

St. Paul’s greatness may have us envision him as a wondrous “Lone Ranger.” Today’s reading will change that. “Now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord,” says Paul. Is he co-dependent to others’ faith? No, but he is intimately inter-dependent to them, with bonds of faith and love that are the sinews of the Body of Christ. We belong to each other in Christ.

Do not go it alone, gritting your teeth, faking a smile that everything is just fine when it is not. The Lord wants you to trust in him with bonds extending into a community of faith, hope, and love that is immensely real to you. What are you doing to be sure that you have friends in the Lord?

[Paragraph from the version for families with children]

…There are lots of young people and adults too, who are praying this same passage with you today.  That’s the power in this way of reading the Bible; you are not alone!  Read Paul’s words as though you are drinking in your favorite soda or juice and be refreshed by the energy of God that you’ll find all over this passage.

  1 Thessalonians 3

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More

Thursdays are dedicated to the letters of Paul, other letters,
the Book of Acts, and the Book of Revelation.
In season of Kingdomtide this year,
we read 1 and 2 Thessalonians; Revelation 4—11.

For all the Firestarters in the original version 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

Tap on the image for a video on Psalm 84.

[From the original version]

Would that we loved the house of the Lord as much as the psalmist does! Though the church means much more than a physical building, still it does include those places in life where we especially find ourselves in the presence of God.

Are there such places in your life now? Do you long for time with the Lord in special settings? If not, pray that you desire this with the same passion as today’s prayer.

Can you feel the love of the Lord that the psalmist has in today’s verse? Memorize it and repeat it often throughout the day. Be drawn to the inner court of the heart—God’s favorite place to dwell. With God inside you, wherever you are can become a cathedral.

[From the version for families with children.]

In your imagination, go to your favorite place in your life—the one you most love.  Close your eyes and picture it.  Imagine it with your eyes and ears and all your senses. Feel the silence that surrounds the memory, like a small boat gently rocking on the sea.

The sacred writer’s favorite place is the courts of the Lord, the lovely outer area of the Temple.  Once he enters into that space, he finds himself surrounded by everything that reminds him of God whom he loves so much.

This is one of the very beautiful psalms in the Bible.  It is full of wonderful feelings that you will feel yourself, if you enter into the heart and imagination of this writer.  Pause at verse 10 and sink even deeper into the thought of the writer.  Then from that deep place, read on till the final verses of the psalm.  Go to this psalm often—just as often as you would daydream about your favorite place on earth.

Psalm 84

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More

We follow a reading of the Psalms in numerical order.

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