Grace for All

Holy Week Maundy Thursday Welcome to our special Holy Week Podcast for Maundy Thursday. The word “maundy” comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning command. The English word mandate comes to mind. This term Maundy Thursday helps us to recall Jesus’ mandate to remember Him, using the observance of Holy Communion/The Lord’s Supper… Today’s scripture comes from two segments of Luke Chapter 22. Luke...

Holy Week Welcome to Grace for All, a daily devotional podcast written and produced by the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. Thank you for joining us today. This is Holy Week, a time when Christians everywhere observe the days leading up to the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Christ. This week, we present a special set of podcasts that day by day, trace...

Holy Week Hello, and welcome to Grace for All, a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee! I’m Grace Jonas, the reader and writer of today’s devotional, which I’ve entitled “By What Authority?”. Thank you so much for joining me on this Holy Tuesday! Now, I’d like to invite you to take a moment and pause with me as...

Mark 11:15-17 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for a...

John 8:3-11 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to wri...

Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Merriam-Webster.com defines meek as enduring injury with patience, and without resentment. The Bible offers meekness as a virtue that means to be humble, gentle, and submissive to God’s will. It is often associated with patience and putting aside one’s own desires, to follow God. Jesus was meek while the soldiers arrested him in th...

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. Years ago, I was giving the children’s message on Sunday morning, and this was our verse. I gave each child a different piece of fruit – a banana, an apple, an orange, a pear, small clusters of grapes, red and white. After getting through the comments “I like oranges, I don’t like pears,...

Luke 5:29-32 NRSV Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not...

Psalm 103:8-12 (KJV) “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide, neither will he keep his anger forever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” This verse from Psalms allows me to breathe easier. I certainly have accumulated a long list of actions and thoughts that could provoke God’s anger an...

Lamentations 3:23 They (compassions) are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Last night, I came home from work exhausted. Monday was a “long week,” and Tuesday was even longer. I was out of energy. I cried my laments as I ate a late dinner and had no time to relax. I got to Friday and celebrated the end of another week. As a culture, we are in love with a sense of accomplishment. We...

Isaiah 44:22 I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me for I have redeemed you. The word redeem means to atone or make amends for error or evil. The thief on the cross beside Jesus, is a perfect example of redemption. This man by a single act of faith was redeemed for a life of evil. When we confess our sins and errors, God is faithful and redeems...

Matthew 19:13-15 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there. As part of the morning services at our church, there is children'...

Luke 17:11-19 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, 10 lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out saying, “Jesus, Master, Have mercy on us!“ When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.“ And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed...

Luke 5:13 (NRSV) “Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, ‘I do choose. Be made clean.’ Immediately the leprosy left him.” This encounter with a leper occurs as Jesus is teaching and healing throughout the land. Growing crowds are following him, amazed by the authority of his preaching. Many are hoping for healing from conditions from which they have suffered for years, even thei...

Isaiah 12:5 Sing to the Lord for he has done glorious things. Let this be known to all the world. Many years ago when my kids were young we had the pleasure of welcoming the African children's choir to our church. This choir was founded in 1984 by a man named Ray Barnett who was traveling in wartorn Uganda and gave a small boy a ride to a safer village. During the journey the child began to sing i...

Isaiah 1: 10, 16–20 Here, the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come, now, let us argue it out, says the Lord: though your sins are...

Matthew 18: 1-5 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the...

Isaiah 41:10 (Common English Bible) Don’t fear, because I am with you; don’t be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will surely help you; I will hold you with my righteous strong hand. I recall a story I heard a pastor tell. His granddaughter and another girl got into a lively game of comparison. One would say what they could do and then the other would come back with something eve...

John 6:11-12 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would. When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. This story of Jesus feeding the five thousand appears in various forms in other Gospels. A...

Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. A pivotal figure in the book of Psalms is King David. Each of the Psalms shows a different aspect of the life of King David and his unwavering faith in his Lord, which is what I find perhaps the most impressive about David as a character. What I find even more impressive about David is how far back this fait...

John 6: 5-9 Lifting up his eyes then and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, “How are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?“ Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.“ One of the disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but wh...

Philippians 4:13 (NIV) I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Isaiah 40:31 . . . but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. When I was in elementary school, I loved to read biographies written for young readers. The one that had the biggest impact on me was on Glenn...

Psalm 149:1 "Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people." Have you ever been in a group of people who are all in the same place for the same reason and felt the energy of the room gathering together? For me, it’s like you’ve taken a bunch of lightning bugs and scooped them up in a jar. It’s vibrant - much brighter than they would be on their own...

Matthew 18:20 (KJV) For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them. and Psalms 133:1 (KJV) Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! We hear the word unity in many labels, slogans, admonitions, and challenges. In simple arithmetic, we know that 1+1=2 and 2+2=4, but when God’s people come together, a new way to add comes to our...

Luke 9:12-13 (The Message Version) As the sunset, the Twelve said, “Dismiss the crowd so they can go to the farms or villages around here and get a room for the night and a bite to eat. We’re out in the middle of nowhere.” “You feed them,” Jesus said. They said, “We couldn't scrape up more than five loaves of bread and a couple of fish—unless, of course, you want us to go to town ourselves and buy...