Tap here for a video meditation on Psalm 120.

 Quick to ignite into a blazing fire with long-lasting coals: such is the broom tree. This image occurs to the psalmist to describe the deceitful mouths that surround him, an image that James would use in his letter about the tongue.

The psalmist walks with those making their way to Jerusalem for the pilgrimages three times a year for Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. We interrupt the numerical flow of Psalms on Wednesdays, to catch this sense of movement to Jerusalem each Lent. This year, one third of the fifteen “Songs of Ascent” (Psalms 120 to 134) will be our weekly Wednesday meditation-points to Holy Week and Easter.

Burn away your old self, so that a new self can live. If you are as dead to self as the ashes of last Wednesday, the fires of life can harm you no longer. On the contrary, you will burn on and on in the Spirit!

Psalm 120

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More
Example: In distress I cry to You. v. 1

We read the Psalms in numerical order.

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

We know something Job does not: God and Satan have decided to test him. How far can Satan push Job by the powers of evil in his life, and Job still not curse God? God, sets the boundaries of the test—not Satan; Satan is not permitted to touch the life-core of Job.

So begins this book of the Bible, dealing with the ancient problem posed in the Garden of Eden—how to understand good and evil. God forbade us to eat of that tree.

The test for Job and for us: how much do we trust God, no matter what?

Job 1—3

What are Bible Breaths? Learn More…
Example: Silence absorbing suff’ring 2:13

Tuesdays are dedicated to the Old Testament books of history
and the Hebrew “Writings.”
In the Season of Lent, we read the Book of Job.

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

The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years because they were so often lost in sin. Complaining, lack of faith, idolatry, and pride: all these held them back from a free-flowing movement into the Promised Land.

The Blessed Trinity says with great love, “We will intervene once again. This time, the Son will take upon himself the sin of the past, gathering new followers for a new Promised Land.”

The days of Lent are as the years of wandering. Beset with the same temptations of God’s people in the desert, Jesus reduces each one to ashes by the power of God’s Word from Deuteronomy. These are the same verses that the Israelites could have applied to their temptations, but did not. Cling to Jesus and let him move you into the Promise.

Matthew 4:1–11

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: I live by words from Your mouth. v. 4

Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary.
In year A, we generally read from the Gospel of St. Matthew.

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.