[From the version for families with children]

The goodness of Daniel comes through again and again, as God grants him visions of the things of heaven.  It’s all so much for Daniel: he is overwhelmed with fear!  But listen to the words of reassurance of God, calling him “greatly loved by God.”

   Now God loves every one of us, yet God’s joy in us is the greater the more we are open to listen to God and to see with our hearts what God wants to show us.  Daniel’s soul is completely open to God—like a window pane of perfectly clear glass through which God’s life just pours into his soul.  Daniel kept the windows of his soul very clean by prayer, good works and just wanting to be pleasing to God.  

    May you and I keep our soul clean and clear so that God’s presence can come through.  Prayer, longing to be in contact with God, loving others: all these acts on our part will be like spiritual Windex for the soul!

Daniel 10

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In the season of Kingdomtide this year, we read the Book of Daniel.

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…

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 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…

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.

[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…

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.