Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and the Gospel.

One would have to know the kind of person Zacchaeus was before knowing Christ, to appreciate who he became afterward. He was a publican, a tax-collector, just as the one who prayed in the Temple with great repentance in last Sunday’s Gospel. Zacchaeus benefited from his short, stocky build to move cautiously and carefully amid God’s people. They hated him, because he, a Jew, exacted the taxes due to the Roman Empire.

However his soul, short and crouched as his body, expands and lifts itself to the height the tree he climbs to see Jesus. He had heard about Jesus and witnessed the power of the Kingdom near at hand from the disciples that went ahead of Jesus as Jesus made his way to Jerusalem. These faithful disciples opened up a well of deep, spontaneous love in Zacchaeus, breaking the bonds of greed and self-centeredness that bowed him to the ground.

Who will want to see Jesus because of you?

Luke 19:1–10

What are “Bible Breaths”? Learn More…
Example: Out on a limb for Jesus v. 4

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

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 12:1-9.

Having completed a history of the earliest ages, the sacred writer of Genesis turns his attention to the father of all patriarchs, Abraham. Not only is he a prototype of Christ, but Abraham is the model of all who would come to believe in Jesus and leave all to follow him.

God offers a unique and blessed covenant to the human family through Abraham in a people chosen and blessed by God. Previews are laid out of the coming famine and slavery in Egypt and Exodus into the Promised Land, with all the clashes and strife that this movement would entail.

Sense the sweep from the “nobody” that Abraham was, to the greatness of what he came to be—all because he left the comfort of the familiar, and followed God into the empty space of the future. What “country” do you need to forsake to follow God’s plan in your life?

Genesis 12—13

This is the first 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: My heart, an altar for You 13:18

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

Listen to Pastor Nick read the Firestarter and the Gospel.

Pilate and Herod are as kings of “Babylon.” Hear Jesus’s silence in his encounters with them. While there are a few words of Jesus to Pilate expressing who Jesus is, there is not a word in the presence of Herod. As the evil kings of his ancestors from the readings from 2 Chronicles, all the pomp and noise of Herod produces nothing but Jesus’s steady silent stare into his face.

Just before today’s account in Luke of Jesus brought before Pilate, Matthew has inserted the account of the tragic end of Judas, using verses that occur in our reading on Tuesday from Zechariah. If only he, as Peter, had found a moment to behold Jesus’s look of sadness and love upon him! Being in such a presence might have changed him. Look what it did for Pilate and Herod; they became friends! Feel the silent, steady stare of Jesus and be changed.

Luke 23:1–12

Find out all about Bible Breaths Learn More…
Example: Silent before the Herods. v. 9

Thursdays are dedicated to the letters of Paul, other letters,
the Book of Acts, and the Book of Revelation.
In the season of Kingdomtide this year we read 2 Timothy and Revelation 12—22.

For all the Firestarters in the original version, I recommend the ebook.  You will have the entire program of well over a thousand of these Firestarters with you on your phone or tablet. Check the menu options at the site for more information.