Listen to Pastor Nick read the “Firestarter” and Hosea 11:1-9.

Pouring out one’s deepest feelings to a loved one who will receive and accept them—truly this is one of life’s richest blessings. This happens in today’s reading. In the previous ten chapters of Hosea, you have heard the heart of God poured out in anguish at the infidelity of God’s spouse, the Chosen People. Now waves of tenderness well up from God’s heart. Be sure to enter the power of the tenderness of the example of a father teaching his son to walk.

Verse 7 deserves special attention—the difference between calling on the Lord and failing to exalt God in praise. Above all, receive the Lord in your heart through praise for who God is and not only for what God does.

Hosea 11

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: You lead with cords of kindness. v. 4

Mondays are dedicated to the reading of the Hebrew Prophets.
In this season we read Hosea; in the 9th week, we read Lamentations 3.

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.

Jesus offers the Bread of Life. In place of joyous acceptance, argument and complaint ensue, just as the ancient Israelites murmured about the Manna. A physical interpretation of Jesus’s teaching binds the religious leaders encircling Jesus. Only those in the Spirit see into the sacramental power.

When we eat ordinary bread, the bread becomes part of the person who eats it. In the Eucharist, it is the reverse; the person becomes the Bread.

Adam and Eve ate the “bread” of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and they died. Jesus says about the Bread from the Tree of Life: “The one who eats this bread will live forever!” The Calvary Tree has given the fruit of everlasting life. Eat of it often and live!

John 6:35, 41–51

“Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: With each breath I’m drawn to You.  v. 44

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 Deuteronomy 2:2-8.

With the passing of one generation, it is time to tell the story. This is sacred history brought up to the present.

History makes a people one. We step back and see the past as a whole, with connectives of grace and separations by sin. For Moses, this moment serves to bring the new generation of people up to the present by a vivid recall of where they have been. The final phase of the journey needs the energy of what God has done— and what others have undone by complaining, false worship, and strife.

The Book of Deuteronomy is the thread of connection from past to future. Moses, the great leader and instructor, gathers all that he has received into one book, leaving it as a legacy from the generation gathered then to listen, to the present generation gathered across the Jewish world. In our plan of reading, Christians join with this community to listen to the one Spirit of God speak to us today with words that have come down to us from thousands of years.

Deuteronomy 2:2–30

This is the second of three parts of the Torah Portion Devarim (The Words) 
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.
Deuteronomy 1:1—3:22

Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Blessed are the pure of heart. v. 14

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.