[From the edition for families with children]

Though many persons are divorced in our world, still Jesus upholds the holiness of marriage of one man and one woman for life.  When God puts a husband and wife together, let no one attempt to separate them.

Yet there are many people married who may not have been really put together by God.   Unhealed hurts from the past and other forms of wrong thinking and wrong doing can result in mistakes when some couples marry.  This can occasion suffering for young people—maybe for you.  Remember that underneath the suffering of your parents, there is a pure space of love for you.  Ask God to take you to that place.  Remember too, that God loves you and is actively at work to bring you the comfort and security that you need.

God is at work right now preparing you and the other young man or woman who is going to be your spouse in life!  Pray that you be guided to the right person, and that you will have all the love and grace you’ll need to be an example of a holy marriage till the end of our life.  

Mark 10:2-16

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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 of the book]

 A hedge protects; be aware of this as you read today’s parable. Evil powers break into the Lord’s sacred vineyard. This is what happened on Calvary, yet not without the Lord’s permission.

Love is vulnerable. Jesus does not protect himself from the onslaught of destructive forces. Yet his love is stronger than evil, stronger than death, and thus the resurrection has created a hedge around a new garden, a new vineyard, a new temple, protecting us by the power of the Spirit from any evil that would further break through.

As you read the arguments and “set-ups” of the religious authorities, be sobered by this. Do not argue with the Lord; just listen and be saved. Rest in the Lord within the “hedges” of God’s protective arms.

Mark 12:1–27

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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.

[From the original version of the book]

Watch and be sober—two imperatives in Paul’s admonition today. The Greek root of the word for “watch” is egeiro, whence comes the name, Gregory. The image recalls the security guards of old who stayed up for three hours at a time during a night watch, making sure that no enemies would sneak across the boundary. The root means “to gather together” the senses into a wakeful whole. The notion is linked with being sober, the absence of which shatters and scatters the focus and attention needed to live the realities of the final words of Paul in this letter.

Listen carefully. Is the Spirit sweetly convicting you of anything? The Lord gives you the gift of discernment. Treasure it. Watch and be sober.

1 Thessalonians 5

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Thursdays are dedicated to the letters of Paul, other letters,
the Book of Acts, and the Book of Revelation.
In season of Kingdomtide this year,
we read 1 and 2 Thessalonians; Revelation 4—11.

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.