Listen to Pastor Nick read the “Firestarter” and the Gospel.

[From the original version]

Jesus compresses all the laws and ordinances that the Pharisees believed must be kept in order to attain God and reduces them to two—love of God and love of neighbor as oneself. These bring one to the brink of the Kingdom.

Yet what is it that has one enter all the way into the Kingdom? The final movement is from Jesus alone. Believe in the Lord’s sacrificial death for love of you and me; live while being open to die out of love; this completes your entry into the Kingdom. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

With this incident, Jesus’ adversaries question him no more. A Rabbi once said: “Where there is faith, there are no questions; where there is no faith, there are no answers.”

Mark 12:28–34

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: “Loving neighbor as yourself” v. 31

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
In year B, we read from the Gospel of Mark.

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 Genesis 11:1-9.

[From the original version of the book]

What arrogance—to think about getting to heaven by building a tower, instead of being lifted up to heaven by God! The seventeenth century Rabbi, Chaim Ibn Attar, suggested that the sin was also found in placing humans in tight, vertical space, when God had intended the population to be spread out. Naturally he made this comment before the advent of high apartments and office buildings. Though these are not evils in themselves, one wonders where the boundaries of justice are, in decisions emanating from skyscrapers around the world that result in unjust distribution of the world’s resources.

The Day of Pentecost reversed Babel’s confusion of tongues, as recorded in Acts 2. We need to allow our mouths to be regulated by the Spirit-tongue of fire in the head and heart.

Genesis 16-17

This is the third of three parts of the Torah Portion Lech L’cha (Go Yourself)
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.
Genesis 12—17

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Language confused when there’s pride v. 7

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 Mark 14:1-11.

[From the original version]

The final month of God’s year of grace is here. Leaves lie on the ground; days are getting colder and shorter. Autumn, as well as spring, is a prayerful time to ponder the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The plot to kill Jesus, woven beneath the fabric of the Gospel itself, now comes to completion with the cooperation of someone from the inside—Judas. In the Anointing at Bethany, extravagant love for Jesus is literally poured out at the same time as extravagant hatred surges ahead.

Take the alabaster flask of your life and empty it out in love and abandon, as do the very leaves pour themselves from the trees. The anointing is a symbol of resurrection. Go inward and adore your Lord.

Mark 14:1–31

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Pouring oil of the heart v. 3

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 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.