Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and the Gospel.

Luke’s Gospel ends where it began—in the Temple. Sense the contrasts between these two moments. The longing for the Messiah in the beginning with aged Zechariah in the Holy of Holies, is balanced with the new community joyfully filling the Temple with the sounds of expectant praise. A new level of God’s coming is about to take place with the Holy Spirit. Spend these days in the temple of your heart, gathering in prayer with faithful believers. It is Advent revisited.

Where were you spiritually six months ago when the first Advent candle began to illumine your darkness? Cast your memory over that period, giving thanks to the Lord for the opportunities to grow that you received. Repent for time wasted. Wait again with even more expectancy, for the Holy Spirit is coming!

Luke 24:44–53

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Waiting till clothed with power v. 49

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
In year C, during the Easter Season, we read from John’s Gospel, with Luke on the Seventh Week.

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 Numbers 4:1-15.

Words such as order, holiness, and sacred tasks come to mind as we move through the lists of names and the duties assigned to each of the priestly families, the Levites and the Kohathites. Every action and object is meant to evoke a sense of God’s presence. Once again the use of colors evokes spiritual feelings.

There is beauty in the sacred task appointed to Eleazar, whose name means, “God is Helper.” He tends to the light and takes care that incense and anointing oil are in readiness. He is given the overall responsibility of the sanctuary.

Reflect upon your occupation in life as a call to bring the light of the Lord, the sweet aroma of God’s presence, and the oil of healing to those with whom you come in contact. You are the sanctuary of the Lord. How you do what you do, either draws others to the Lord or tends to push them away.

Numbers 3:14—4:20

Learn about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: All I do as sacred tasks

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 the Gospel.

When someone greets us with, “How are you,” the usual response is, “Fine, thank you”—whether we are fine or not. Only with those we trust do we share how it really is with us. To reach that place, the question, “How are you” may need to be asked a few times, as so many steps that descend to the place of inner truth.

So it is with Peter. Each time that Jesus asks him if he loves Jesus, Peter moves beneath the levels of his reactive nature, to the place of beauty and total love that he has for his Lord. Jesus knows that Peter loves him; yet his sadness and shame eclipse his soul. The triple question of Jesus helps Peter pass below the upper spaces of anger and violence in the garden of arrest, beneath the fear in the courtyard of denial, to the place where Peter loves, by the lakeside in the morning with Jesus.

Only in accepting and returning Jesus’s love will you be able to nourish his lambs.

John 21:15–19

Create your own Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Yes, Lord: you know I love you. v. 15

Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels.
In the Easter Season this year we read the final third of John’s Gospel.

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.