Reflections

Today's Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:6-13 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 19:1-24; Acts 28:1-15 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinth...

Today's Reading: Small Catechism: Lord's Prayer, Seventh Petition Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 18:10-30; Acts 27:27-44 But deliver us from evil. (Small Catechism: Lord's Prayer, Seventh Petition) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. It's dark down here. There's a lot of evil in the world. It's one of the rare places we can agree with the atheists. The difference is that we can find an evil one, the devil,...

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 17:48-18:9; Acts 27:9-26 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. (1 Samuel 17:51) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. You are not David. Your challenges are not Goliath. This is not a promise that if you just belie...

Today's Reading: 2 Samuel 22:26-34 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 17:20-47; Acts 26:24-27:8 With the purified you deal purely, and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. (2 Samuel 22:27) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. To know God by the Law alone is to know a tyrant. It's a picture of a God who waits in heaven for the chance to send people to hell. He comes across as distant to those in need...

Today's Reading: Luke 16:1-13 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 17:1-19; Acts 26:1-23 The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. (Luke 16:8) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. It's easy to take a look at God's Law and assume that we're more loving than He is. We take a lot of pleasure in...

Today's Reading: Introit for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity (Psalm 54:1-3, 7; antiphon: vs. 4-5) Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 16:1-23; Acts 25:13-27 For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies. (From the Introit for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The psalms are of little present worth if you can't pray them along with Davi...

Today's Reading: Acts 20:27-38 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 15:10-35; Acts 24:24-25:12 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Paul writes to pastors, overseers of the flock, about the dark days to come. Wolves will come and will not spare th...

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 14:47-15:9; Acts 24:1-23 "Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." (1 Samuel 15:3) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Context matters, especially in the Old Testament. The Israelites weren't meant to have a king. They insisted on having one anyway,...

Today's Reading: Small Catechism: Lord's Prayer, Sixth Petition Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 13:1-18; Acts 23:12-35 Lead us not into temptation. (Small Catechism: Lord's Prayer, Sixth Petition) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. After "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," God teaches us to pray, "Lead us not into temptation." I wonder if it's to remind us that Christian...

Today's Reading: Jeremiah 23:16-29 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 12:1-25; Acts 22:30-23:11 "Am I a God at hand," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away?" (Jeremiah 23:23) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. There are preachers who aren't sent by God. The word for them is "false." Preachers who are sent don't just tell you about God. Anyone can do that. Preachers speak for Him. They speak from the mouth...

Today's Reading: Mark 10:35-45 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 10:1-27; Acts 22:17-29 "But to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared." (Mark 10:40) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Sons of Thunder don't know what they're asking for. "Let us sit, one at your right hand, and one at your left, in your glory." I guess their nickname makes...

Today's Reading: Matthew 7:15-23 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 9:1-27; Acts 21:37-22:16 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. (Matthew 7:18) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. So I know we're the grumpy church. It's what others say about us. It's what our own members say about us. We're too picky. Unloving. We can't get along with anyone. We can't even compromise....

Today's Reading: Introit for the Eight Sunday after Trinity (Psalm 48:1, 3, 11, 14; antiphon: vs.9-10) Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 8:1-22; Acts 21:15-36 Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments! (From the Introit for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. We recoil at a God who sits in judgment of our actions. It's so hard to refle...

Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 6:19-7:17; Acts 19:1-22 And he said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said, "No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." (Acts 19:2) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Church needs constant teaching. Woe to those who think they've learned it all in confirmation! Imagine if the disciples who Paul met by Ephesus responded as...

Today's Reading: John 20:1-2, 10-18 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 5:1-6:3, 10-16; Acts 18:1-11, 23-28 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" (John 20:17) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Part of me wants to focus on Mary's announcement. She gets to te...

Today's Reading: Small Catechism: Lord's Prayer, Fifth Petition Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 4:1-22; Acts 16:23-40 Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. (Small Catechism: Lord's Prayer, Fifth Petition) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. This is one sentence we wish could be divided into two separate things. Having my forgiveness and my willingness to forgive others linked...

Today's Reading: Romans 6:19-23 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 3:1-21; Acts 16:1-22 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Only someone who has spent all their life under slavery can be set free and ask, "What do I do now?" If you don't know what freedom really looks like, how would you know what to...

Today's Reading: Genesis 2:7-17 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 2:18-36; Acts 15:22-41 "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:17) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. God made everything and it was good. He made Adam of the dust of the ground. Eve would be there soon. Very good. He put them in the Garden, full o...

Today's Reading: Mark 8:1-9 Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 1:21-2:17; Galatians 6:1-18 "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat." (Mark 8:2) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. There's a difference between a father who spends time with his kids and one who avoids them by being at work. There's a difference between kids who get As and kids who get...

Today's Reading: Introit for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Psalm 47:3, 6-8; antiphon: vs.1-2) Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 1:1-20; Galatians 5:1-26 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. (From the Introit for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. It's hard to sing praises to our King who puts all nations under our feet when we're not even happy with ou...

Daily Lectionary: Judges 16:4-30; Galatians 4:12-31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. (Galatians 4:31) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Abraham had two sons: Ishmael of the flesh, by Hagar, his wife Sarah's slave, and Isaac of the promise, by Sarah. Full stop. Think about how humiliated Sarah had to feel giving her husband to her servant. She trusted God. He promis...

Daily Lectionary: Judges 15:1-16:3; Galatians 3:23-4:11 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4–5) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. The Law was our guardian. The lLw's job is not to love you, but to hold you captive. The Law can't make you hate s...

Today's Reading: Small Catechism: Lord's Prayer, Fourth Petition Daily Lectionary: Judges 14:1-20; Galatians 3:1-22 Give us this day our daily bread. (Small Catechism: Lord's Prayer, Fourth Petition) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. This petition, probably more than any others, drives us to prayer. We have daily needs we see going unmet. We somehow figure this petition is supposed to fix that if we j...

Today's Reading: Romans 6:3-11 Daily Lectionary: Judges 13:1-25; Galatians 2:1-21 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. (Romans 6:6) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Guilt is potent stuff. We drag it around behind us. We attach it to others. We let a singular event define us. The accid...

Today's Reading: Exodus 20:1-17 Daily Lectionary: Judges 7:1-23; Galatians 1:1-24 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery." (Exodus 20:2) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. This is who your God is. Not just the first couple verses, but the whole thing. The Law is a reflection of the Law maker. In my car, there are 11 commandments. God gets His 10....