Water Daily

This week we look at Luke 3:7-18, the story of John the Baptizer in the wilderness. John was capable of a really good rant on occasion - when is that a holy thing?

Today we  turn from  Sunday's gospel  to the story of two elders whom God invited into our story of Incarnation, Zechariah and Elizabeth, the aged parents of John the Baptist. This imagined monologue is based on Luke 1:5-25. Might we find some of our own stories in Zechariah's?

This week we look Luke 3:1-6, in which we meet John the Baptizer, who spoke of a level road for God to come into our lives. That level road becomes a place we can walk with God through our highs and our lows. 

This week we look Luke 3:1-6, in which we meet John the Baptizer, who's mission it was to prepare people to receive Jesus. This is still our mission...

This week we look Luke 3:1-6, in which we meet John the Baptizer. We're told the Word of God came to him in the wilderness... when the Word of God comes to you, look out! God has work for us to do. 

This week we look Luke 3:1-6. Luke begins his story of Jesus' life, ministry, death and resurrection by rooting it in a specific time and place, among specific people. God's Word is always universal - yet we experience it specifically in our own ways. How has God's love been made real to you? 

This week we look Luke 21:25-36 , as we begin the season of Advent. It always begins with foreboding, gloom and doom... yet we are the People of Good News. How might we live alert and ready for God's inbreaking life, here and now as well as then and later? 

Today we reflect on gratitude as a ground for joy - and my gratitude for this Water Daily community of readers and now listeners.  And there is a poem by Denise Levertov. Happy Thanksgiving!

This week we look Luke 21:25-36 , as we begin the season of Advent. Jesus invites his followers to be on guard against all that draws them away from God's love. How might we, like fencers, take position of defensive peacefulness that allows us to pivot toward that love?

This week we look Luke 21:25-36, as we begin the season of Advent. Jesus uses the changing of seasons as a metaphor for sign of the coming of God's reign. How do we see God coming into our lives.

This week we look at Luke 21:25-36, as we begin the season of Advent. Jesus talks about the way the very climate of this earth will portend the end... are we already seeing those signs?

This week we look at John 18:33-38, a strange conversation between a Roman governor and a prisoner named Jesus. Among the things they talk about is truth... what is truth for those who follow Christ? He said he was the truth...

This week we look at John 18:33-38, as we explore what kind of king Jesus was. He said he had come to "testify to the truth." That is a mission we share - knowing that He is Truth personified. 

This week we look at John 18:33-38, Jesus on trial before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. Jesus' claim that his kingdom "is not from this world" invites us to think of him as an alien life force. But the truth is much more preposterous - that he was fully human and fully God all at once - hard to get more alien than that. 

This week we look at John 18:33-38, as we explore what kind of king Jesus was. On trial before Pilate, he was asked, "What have you done?" We could hear that question as a call to confession of guilt. It might equally be an invitation to affirm all the good we do. 

This week we look at John 18:33-38, as we explore what kind of king Jesus was. It wasn't any kind the world has ever known - a kingship of vulnerability and humility, even humiliation; of powerlessness. Yet that is where God's power resides. 

Today we look at 1 Samuel 1:4-20 , the story of Hannah, who desperately longed for a child, though she appeared unable to bear one. It is a beautiful story of longing and faithfulness, the failure of human relationships and goodness of God. 

This week we look at Mark 13:1-8, in which Jesus talks about the signs that will usher in the end of the world, among them armed conflict. On Veterans Day we reflect on how we might honor those who have fought and served for us while working to usher in God's promised reign of Peace. 

This week we look at Mark 13:1-8, in which Jesus talks about the end of the world - wars, and earthquakes, and famines. That's nothing new - and yet we are called to be people of hope in midst of all circumstances. 

This week we look at Mark 13:1-8, in which Jesus talks about the end of the world. Today we discuss our need to know when things are going to happen, though it rarely helps us deal with them. How can we better live in God's kairos time while dwelling in the world's kronos time? 

This week we look at Mark 13:1-8, in which Jesus talks about the end of the world. Today we explore the impermanence of even what look like eternal buildings - and the eternal life of us, who look so impermanent. 

This week we look at Mark 12:38-44, in which we see what Jesus learns from watching human behavior. What can we notice as we observe people in all their crazy glory?

This week we look at Mark 12:38-44, in which we see someone with little give all she has. Does having less free us to trust more and give more?

This week we look at Mark 12:38-44, in which we see someone with little give all she has. Jesus was watching people give at the temple and observed the generosity of many wealthy people. But how generous is it to give when we have a lot?

This week we look at Mark 12:38-44, in which we watch someone with much give little, and someone with little give all she has. Before we get to that, though, we start with the withering contempt Jesus had for many of the religious leaders of his day - how can we guard against hypocrisy and greed?