The Advent candle has yielded to the intensity of the Star in the East—shining, moving, leading, drawing the entire world to the place of the glory of the Lord visited in Christ Jesus.

The trade centers of the ancient world are listed in a kind of procession of glory, all converging with their wealth upon the feet of Jesus, center of the universe. Isaiah’s poetry does its work upon you as this new calendar year explodes with so much more than the passing fancy and fanfare of a New Year’s Eve party.

May the joy of the season be sustained in you, growing within you as you receive the Christ whom the world is summoned to adore.

Isaiah 60

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Arise, shine: your light has come! v. 1

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the seasons of Advent through Epiphany this year we read Isaiah 56 to 66..

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.

From the outer fringes of creation and the place where the sun rises, searching wise men, the magi, “The Three Kings” yield to the gentle tug of a star. They arrive at the center of the earth, Jerusalem. There another king sits in luxury, complacency, and arrogance, surrounded by the Scriptures and those who supposedly know how to interpret them. And there is the infant king in Bethlehem—a mere five miles to the south.

Sense the irony, the contrasts, the evil, as well as the protection God gives to those who truly seek. In place of joy at the news that Jesus is born, fear grips Herod and his sickly entourage of pseudo wise men—the chief priests and scribes. Silently, prayerfully move with the magi, loosened from being held hostage by anyone or anything that is not the wondrous God who makes all things new.

Matthew 2:1–12

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Joy in reaching Your presence. v. 10

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
In year C, we generally read from the Gospel of Luke.

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.

Happy New Year!

God addresses Pharaoh through the mouth of Moses. However great is the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart, even stronger are the consequences of his stubbornness. Plague upon plague comes against Pharaoh and the Egyptians—five of them in this year’s reading.

The Bible’s way of stating that God is in command at every moment is to have God be the one who sends the plagues. Actually, when we do anything outside of the Lord’s will, the results will be something like the plagues. Because of Jesus, we know that God is not out to punish, but to save. The Lord is actively present in the afflictions and hardships of life, manifesting divine power to deliver us precisely through the pain that urges us to drop to our knees, not in defeat, but in worship. Pray until you find the blessing embedded in the pain.

Exodus 8:16—9:35

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Examples:

Soften my heart with Your love. 8:19

Clearing a space for worship 8:27

What God wills, coming to be

Blessings embedded in pain

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