Posts with the category “2026-bible-in-a-year”

Easy to skim a lot of thisBut note 35:9-15 - An interesting act of compassion and working for just actions35:30 - No one shall be put to death on the testimony of a single witness "If you choose..." - humble but also direct.  Ok to approach God in this wayv26 - "We have seen strange things today."  lolWhy did Levi follow? Psalm 65 - Love love love this Psalm.  How even nature calls otu in praise. ...  Read More

Not a whole lot to say on this part   Like Mark, first things are acts of power over evil and illnessPeter's response is a common one when encountering the holy - I am unclean! Psalm 64 - I love how it describes how the heedless think they are "getting away with it" but God sees and God foils their plans Proverbs 11:22 - Same could be said of any other person...  Read More

Doesn't look too highly on the intelligence of women when talking about their vows.  Sigh31:18 - Keep all the young girls for yourselfs?  What??   Temptation / Purifiction / Preparation - feels like what some call a Vision Quest.  Self denial in order to create opportunities for visions and insightsNazareth - see my sermon from February Psalm 63 - Such a vivid description of a longing for God.  So...  Read More

Im personally grateful that we don't do offerings in the same way now as was then... It is easy to skip over this but there are some deep stories embedded within the names.   Psalm 62 - For God alone my soul waits in silence.  In God alone.  So beautiful.  Also a focus on the centrality of trust in God.   Proverbs 11:18-19 - Right living = good living?  Always true?  ...  Read More

- Do we accept the things of God as Moses did?  Should we? John - a turning to JEsus but also a deep prophetic sense.  Psalm 61 - Shelter of your wings - one of the many places w/ feminine imagery for God.   Proverbs 11:16-17 - verse 17 - being cruel does active harm!...  Read More

Countings and numberings - not much to say here oops - I talked about anna yesterdayLook at verses 40 and 52 - Strong, wise, in the favor of God Psalm 60 - For instruction - how was this a Psalm for instruction?  How to be humble when humbled?  How to pray when all seems to have failed / fallen apart? Proverbs 11:15 - Common sense wisdom here...  Read More

So we have the whole Balak/Balaam thing and then it is just dropped?  Why?Brutality of ancient days and the things that we do in the name of God then and now.  Sigh Lots of tradition here - the inn didn't necessarily mean a hotel-like place.  Likely more of a guesthouse type of thing in a home.  Also, not a stable but animals were often rbought into the home for safetyThe joy of the people on the ...  Read More

Why was God angry if Balaam was going as God told him to?Speak what God says not what others say Zechariah's song - I love the connections with these songs and the Balaam oracles.  Looking over the events of the day and proclaiming God's workingIntersting to compare and contrast Mary's song with Zechariah's Psalm 58 - What a contrast to 57.  Have I ever felt this angry and afraid?  Yes Proverbs 11...  Read More

Did God really desire the death of all the people?Balaam - God speaking to and through someone outside the community Mary's response to the angel doesn't seem to be fear like so many otherstories.  Responses seem more curious than challengingMary likely leaves with haste to protect herself from what could have happened in NazarethMary's song - Revolutionary and powerful message Psalm 57 - Love thi...  Read More

Totally unfair move by God against Moses in my opinionAaron'd death - once again, I love the phrase, "Gathered to his people" Zecharaian sounds like Abraham and Sarah. John as a new Isaac? Psalm 56 - v8 - You have kept count of my tossings, put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your record?  Heartbreaking to read Proverbs 11:8 - The heedless get into it instead.  Feels a bit like a cartoon...  Read More

I love how Moses doesn't give up on the people but instead intercedes for them I love the 1-8 ending. I love the mystery and wonder of itThe other endings feel like they are a "best of" the other Gospels Psalm 55 - Who is David lamenting the betrayal by?  Saul? Jonathan? Someone else?  Violated a covenant - sounds like Jonathan but no story about itv20 - Why "with me" if it is not in the Hebrewv23...  Read More

Things feel like they are fraying.  Explaining natural phenomena or myth or factual? You say so - what was the sense of this - a question?  Statement?  Sarcastic?  Serious?  How would each change this?v21 - Connection possibly to the Alexander and Rufus in Actsv34-35 - Why is quoting the Psalm calling for Elijah?Curtain - torn from top to bottom.  Divine act, not human.  Rememeber the detailed ins...  Read More

The courage of Joshua, Caleb, and Moses to speak up.  Joshua and Caleb to the people and Moses to God.  It takes courage to stand up to friends - I think there's a Harry Potter quote about this.  Moses also offers a brilliant argument here.  Then a random return to the laws How anger and fear build on each other and keep going and getting uglierPeter - not just a few tears, but truly sobbing Psalm...  Read More

I do not understand 11:38ff - why God punishing them?  Or maybe...that the people got sick from something in the birds and people attributed it to God...13:30-33 - The power of that one courageous voice of Caleb even if it doesn't seem people heard it.  Still speak Most simple description of the Last Supper specifically hereHumanity of Jesus int he Gethsemane prayer.  Desperation14:51-52 - So odd....  Read More

Something powerful about a sign/signal to gather, move, worshipFinally leaving Sinai - let the rest of the journey begin11:1 - So casual - consumed outlying parts of the camp...11:4-6 - A longing for what once was even if the whole was awful11:23 - Is the Lord's power limited?  Now you shall see... powerful statement here Contrast the unnamed woman and Judas.  One giving, one taking.  One blessing...  Read More

Difference between the Nazarites and the Levits - still extra consecration / markingOpenness to others @ the passover - yet we in the chrisitan faith too often bar people from the Lord's Supper.  What would it be like for God to be physically present to us today? What are the signs we are watching for and the results?But the deeper - keep watching, be ready Psalm 50 - Not the warm fuzzy God but th...  Read More

The commitment one makes - I think of monastics and desert hermitsOut of nowhere comes the Numbers blessing in 6:24-26What a day it must have been for the dedication (and messy too) Jesus makes this clear contrast between prideful and humble faithHere Mark's version of a scary futureFaith is not an easy road Psalm 49 - Food and dolt perish together.  Dolt.  lolWealth doesn't hold and doesn't last ...  Read More

How the whole thign came together.  Ancient book of order...5:21-22 - Um...not the best liturgy here...5:31 - really? Sure seems to involve both - why only punish one? Jesus doesn't really respond to their question but instead seems to try to get at something deeper Psalm 48 - I love the ending here - do all this so "that you may tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever....  Read More

Not much to say on these... How I do wish Jesus was more direct and responded to questions with more clarityCat and mouse game between Jesus and the religious leaders Psalm 47 - O how I long for a world that feels like God is in control over all of it Proverbs 10:24-25 -I love that statement that the righteous are established forever...  Read More

Feels like reading the NFL rulebook or the book of discipline in the PCUSA Book of OrderNumbers - get used to counting and lists... Note Mark has the procession outside the city12-14 - Huh?  Angsty because of what he knew was next?20-26 - Was it just to show power?  Or something more? Psalm 46 - One of the "top 10" Psalms.  It is a refuge, a rock, a place of being held.  Especially in dicey times....  Read More

Probably the most direct example of the idea of reward/punishment that we have yet - be faithful, God rewards.  Not faithful - punished26:34-35 - The land finds rest.  The land isn't punished.  Powerful Twice, the reminder of who God is and what God did for them27 - feels like this needed to be earlier in the text v32 - They were amazed and those who followed were afraid.  What a contrast.  Howeve...  Read More

God loves bread too!Killing commands - supposed to be about limiting vengeance but feels like it just continues the cycle.  MLK - Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and r...  Read More

I don't like the implication that blemish=bad The upside down Realm of God - death of the messiah and the last/first and first/last.  Still the upside down todayDivorce - how do we reconcile with current practices?  Hard to do.   Psalm 44:1-8 - Read the whole :) - Begins with a recognition of God but them a deep lament.  Kissing up to God?  Or simple acknowledgment?  Hopefully / probably the latte...  Read More

How much of all of this is a statement of the separateness of the other peoples?  "You will be unique among all of them"20:16-23 - Huh?  None of those with a "blemish" can serve?  Maybe some of that was safety thing but other parts - crushed testicles for example - why?  Yes speaking about priests here, but...  Transfiguration - Seeing Jesus in fulness?  And the reminder - stop talking - just list...  Read More

Interweaves the original 10 with the other laws?  Once again, a way to fulfill the 10?19:28 - oops - my tattoo19:29 - What about the daughter herself?19:33-34 - If we hold to Leviticus 18, then why not this?  Or 20:13? No sign, but Matthew includes "the sign of Jonah".  Why not here but there?This illustartion about bread and yeast makes me feel like Jesus did something like "hey, this bread remin...  Read More

Second festival / holy day for Jews instituted here.  Day of Atonement.  Yom KippurOne of the verses regarding sexuality.  Seems simple in reading but actually very complex Here the Syrophonecian woman again but put right after this teaching on internal vs external.  Intentional?Another feeding or the same one? Psalm 41 - Consider the poor.  Understand, relate to, etcAll the rest of vv 1-3 follows...  Read More

15:25ff - This is the reference for why the woman in the recent Mark healing story was outcast and was in the sitaution she was in.  Ancient understandings of bodies but still rooted in the "others" portion of the 10 CommandmentsWhy NRSV says Azaziel and not scapegoat?  Azaziel - ancient demon of the wilderness Interesting reading this while reading the bevy of laws in Leviticus Jesus reinterprets...  Read More

Ancient understandings of disease - usually thought of as a punshment or a consequence - not as an infection / virus / etc Same sense with this as with the stories in Matthew.  Trying to get away and grieve.  Or afraid.  or bothv34 - there's my word again!Imagination - Jesus invites the disicples to imagination but theirs isn't broad enough as yet.  They are used to scarcity thinking not possibili...  Read More

Are these now moving to the commandments for loving others rather than God?  Love one another - means not getting others sick.  This being written in a time of very primitive understandings of contagiousness, viruses, infections, etc Jesus coming home - hard to come home sometimesDisciples were sent out - right off the bat they were called to do the workHerod and John - Pride, ego, lust --> Leads ...  Read More

Clean and unclean foods - still feels tied to a sense of holiness, uniqueness from other people.  Marking and separating them from others Intertwined healing stories.  In both cases, a way to think about it is of someone who was dead being brought back to life. In one case it is a figurative death (outcast) and the other is a literal death (Jairus' daughter) Psalm 38:1-22 - Have you ever felt this...  Read More

Unholy fire - not quite sure what to do with thatPurity and holiness - do we center on this any more?  Why?  Why not?Holy, holy, holy - keeps coming upFeels like these are still trying to stick w/ the "Love the Lord your God" commandments Realm / Kingdom of God - How it works is a mystery (26-29)Two stories of great power - over nature and over demonsAnd the people are afraid of this power Psalm 3...  Read More

7:29 - You must bring your offering from your sacrifice of well-beingOrdination - yikes.  I much prefer how we do it 31-35 - Jesus choosing new family.  Found vs chosen familyParable of the sower - Here and in Matthew.  Reads almost exactly the same3:21-25 - A bit of the sermon on the mount here.  Was the Sermon on the Mount truly one teaching in Matthew or a stitching together of many different t...  Read More

These are all still centering on Commandments 1-3 Mark doesn't have a similar flow to Matthew.  Not nearly so much of "sections"3:14-15 - Jesus sends them out to do the work right off the bat3:21 - His own family tries to restrain him and then notice the connection to tomorrow's reading Psalm 37:1-11 - Center for Action and Contemplation's saying is "the best criticism of the bad is the pracice of...  Read More

4:3 - the sing of the priest brings guilt on the people.  This was something deemed heretical by the early churchSomething to be said about communal confession and restitutionSin across the baordUnintentional sin - this is part of what we do with a prayer of confession in worship Notice the crowd Jesus hangs out withJesus is the new, but still wineskinSabbath is a gift of GodMan with the withered ...  Read More

Notice that the reading plan has longer sections in Leviticus.  Lots to skimRemember this - how do each of these laws fit with the original 10? So much pain and need - then and now1:41 - Great word here - compassion, pityJesus with compassion on the crowdParalyzed man - didn't ask for healing but received it as a gift Psalm 35:17-28 - RTW.  Pleading with God.  Truly pleading!  Wake up!  Get going!...  Read More

First day of the first month - begin with worship as we begin your new life togetherThey are seeking to follow the leading of God No birth story - just John and then Jesus' baptism.  This is the beginning of Mark's story.  It isn't as much about the fulfillment of prophecy but more about what Jesus said and did.  Look in Mark for how often the word "immediately" is used Psalm 35:1-16 - Exhorting i...  Read More

I love that these two artisans keep being named and lifted up38:21ff - HUGE amounts The women leave the tomb with fear and great joy.  What a combination!But they run into Jesus as they goMatthew gives only one resurrection time with all the disciples?  Why this and not others included? Psalm 34:11-22 - Read the whole (RTW) - The second half is one to remember when hard times come - vv 11, 15, 18,...  Read More

35:29 - All the people whose hearts made them willing to bring anything for the work that God had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.  1 cubit = 1.5 ft.  Meaning these curtains were 42 feet!Try to imagine what this might have looked like "Compelled"? - forced?  Paid?The charge isn't really a charge at all - the King of the Jews?  Sedition?Jesus quotes Psalm...  Read More

Moses intervenes before the peopleGod making a covenant with Israel via MosesMoses face - we are changed by our encouters with God.  Jacob, now Moses.  How are our changes obvious to others? Not much to say here other than the heartbreak of it all Psalm 33:12-22 - again, read the whole :-).  This is such a powerful description off faith, belief, and trust.  Love the last 3 verses Proverbs 9:1-6 - ...  Read More

Golden calf - why are we so quick to abandon God?  What are the golden calves we set up in place of God in our lives?God saying "time to start over again"?  and the Lord changed his mind.  These and then the slaughter in the camp - ok to not understand what to do with those things How do we deny Jesus ourselves?What did Judas expect to happen when he betrayed Jesus?Notice Matthew brings in more pr...  Read More