Listen to Pastor Nick read the “Firestarter” and Daniel 10:8-19.

[From the version for young people]

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…
Example: You touch me and I am safe. v. 18

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.

[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