Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Malachi 4:1-6.

God’s love, like circles and cycles, has no beginning or end. While we mark the conclusion of the three-year cycle of Bible readings and its beginning next week in Advent, the movement of God’s Word is all of one piece. These final chapters of the Old Testament are sutured to the New. The “coming messenger” is John the Baptist. There is unity of ends and beginnings, even as Advent begins the story of God’s grace, yet points to the end, in the Second Coming of Christ.

Chapter 4:8–10 are among the principle texts in the Bible about tithing and giving the first fruits to the Lord. Make connections with economic systems of injustice that exploit the Third World. Linger on the blessed promises of the concluding verses of the Old Testament, and the curse upon those whose hearts are hardened.

Malachi 3—4

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the season of Kingdomtide we read Habakkuk to Malachi.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: You are like refiner’s fire. 3.2

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.

The final Sunday dedicated to Christ the King has us contemplate our Lord upon the throne of the cross. Place yourself before the cross, aware of the two thieves on either side. Hear the blasphemies of the one, and the tender response of the other. The late Bishop Fulton J. Sheen remarked, “The thief on the left wanted to be taken down; the thief on the right wanted to be taken up!”

As you look upon your King and the ignominy of his throne, may your heart be filled with the same grace with which the good thief responded. Jesus has taken possession of the Kingdom; he will share the paradise of his Kingdom presence with you now, if your prayer is as simple and direct as the one of the saved thief. The cross is the throne upon which Jesus shares his kingship with you. The victory and the joy are there.

Luke 23:33–43

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: My Jesus, remember me. v. 42

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

Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and Genesis 25:19-34.

Within the womb of Rebecca, the twins Jacob and Esau struggle in strife—sign of the same evils that will beset future generations of the human family. Within the flow of God’s gracious covenant and the responses on the part of our patriarchs, there are the shadows of selfishness and greed. Witness the tension between instant gratification, and patient waiting for fuller revelation, as described in Esau’s selling his future destiny so that he could have his stomach filled in the present. Find the points of identification with these figures portrayed as so very frail and human, though at the same time touched by God with wondrous plans for the future.

Are there future possibilities you are compromising by being obsessed with some immediate desire that presses on you for satisfaction?

Genesis 25:19—26:22

This is the first of three parts of the Torah Portion Tol’doth (Progeny) 
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 25:19—28:9

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Free us, Lord, from fam’ly strife.

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