Christmas, Easter, Pentecost:  these three holidays are like midnight, dawn and noon.  How’s that?  Well, Christmas comes in the winter-time when everything is dark.  The Epiphany Star is like a star at midnight, leading the Magi to the new-born infant Jesus.  All of God is seen in the tiny baby in the manger…like beautiful, shining star at night.

Easter is like the dawn.  The sun breaking out in the East is like Jesus rising from the grave.  A new day has come with the Resurrection of Jesus.  Pentecost is like noon-time.  The fullness of God is poured out in the coming of the Holy Spirit, just as the noon sun is the highest and brightest…and hottest as the summer weeks draw near.

Pentecost is really the greatest holy day there is, because it’s the final gift of God to us—God’s Spirit living inside us.  If you and I were to really get into living with God inside us and we inside God, what a life of love we would lead!

Acts 2:1-13

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Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from the Revised Common Lectionary
During the Easter Season, are read from the Gospel of John.

For the Firestarters in the original edition, 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 Hebrew name for this portion of the Torah is Bemidbar, meaning “In the wilderness.” It is also the Hebrew name for the book itself, since this portion begins the book of Numbers. Greek people called this the book of Numbers, since it begins with census lists of the names of God’s people and how they were arranged around the Tabernacle, the special portable temple in the wilderness.

The twelve tribes were divided into four groups of three tribes, each gathered about the Tabernacle in the four directions—north, south, east and west. Today’s reading describes the arrangement on the eastern side.

Look how important it was for the people to know that God is the center of their lives. What can you do today to be reminded that God is meant to be the center of your life as well? Is there a place in your room that would remind you that the most important relation you have is with Jesus?

Numbers 2:1-9

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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.

These Firestarters are for families with children. For the Firestarters in the original edition, 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.

Jesus’ eyes are lifted upward to talk to his Father in this wonderful prayer. Is has been called another Lord’s Prayer: that’s how very special is this prayer of union with Jesus’s Father. We go right from the heart of Jesus to the heart of the Father.

The prayer has three parts to it. Verses 1-5 are about the glory of God that is going to shine out through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Imagine: such a death on the cross is part of the glory of God! The glory is in God’s love for us, even in the face of the ultimate meanness in crucifying Jesus.

In verses 6-19 Jesus prays for his friends, his close disciples, that they be protected from all evil and that they be holy. Finally in verses 20 to 26 we are included, as Jesus stretches his prayer down through the years to include all of us in his church—that we all may be one.

Take this prayer in its different parts and let the Spirit of Jesus who lives in you, pray this prayer through you.

John 17

We’re using The Message translation of the Scriptures.
Learn about this. unique translation

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Fridays are dedicated to the Gospels. This year, we generally read from the Gospel of Mark,
except during most of Lent and Easter when we read from the Gospel of John.

These Firestarters are for families with children. For the Firestarters in the original edition, 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.