The Bible Through the Seasons

This is the Seventh Week in Easter.
Fridays in the Easter Season are dedicated to the Gospel of John.

A Great City Accepts Christ

Nick — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:00:01 +0000

Acts 18:1-22

Embedded in the midst of the most pagan of cities, there are those hungry and waiting for the Gospel. After a failure in Athens, Paul is lead to turn to another Greek city—Corinth.

It would be different for Corinth. Located on a small isthmus, it was the center of trade in the ancient world, shipments briefly passing over land in the traffic from east to west across the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. Similar to New York City, it was a cosmopolitan city with a great diversity of peoples. It became open to the Gospel. Paul wrote two great letters to this Church.

The verses for today deserve special meditation. What might they mean for you? Are there tasks that God has placed on your heart that in the natural realm, do not seem possible?

We return to the Book of Acts next year at Easter time, with Paul’s third missionary journey.

Nick reads the one-minute Firestarter.

This is the Seventh Week in Easter, Year B
Thursdays in the Easter Season are dedicated to the Book of Acts.

This Week’s Version for Children and Families

God Arises

Nick — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:00:02 +0000

Psalm 68

The psalm begins with the marching cry of Moses from Numbers 10:35. Military images abound, reminding us of the adage: “Is God on our side?” I prefer this alternative: “Am I on God’s side?”

For God sides with the rejected and forgotten expressed in the psalm by the fatherless and the widow. If you have compassion for these and others in our society, then the grace of the Lord will flow through you in a powerful way.

Paul quotes today’s verse in Ephesians 4:8 in the description of the Ascension of Jesus into heaven; you might turn to that chapter of Ephesians as a counterpoint to the psalm for today.

God is beyond us, yet within us, through the Holy Spirit whom we celebrate Sunday in Pentecost.

Nick reads the one-minute Firestarter.

This is the Seventh Week in Easter, Year B
Wednesdays re dedicated to the Psalms,
One a week over the three-year cycle.

A Model for Intercessory Prayer

Nick — Mon, 21 May 2012 18:00:14 +0000

Ezra 8—10

One would think that after the return to the way of life of their ancestors, God’s people would settle down and finally obey the Lord. Wrong! Just as happened soon after the Temple of Solomon was constructed, God’s people wander from the ways of the Lord.

Ezra is a model for intercessors. Without finger pointing, as a true priest, he represents the people before the Lord and expresses the sins of intermarrying as though they were his own personal sins. Jesus did the same. For our sake, “He who knew no sin, [became] sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Ezra desires to lift the people to God. This kind of prayer moves God. In Jesus’ name, pray the same way.

Nick reads the one-minute Firestarter.

This is the Seventh Week in Easter, Year B
Tuesdays are dedicated to Hebrew History and “The Writings.”
During the remainder of the Easter Season, we read the Book of Ezra.

God As Lord of the Nations

Nick — Sun, 20 May 2012 18:00:50 +0000

Monday of the Seventh Week in Easter, Year B Ezekiel 31—32

Nick reads the one-minute Firestarter.

Using the image of a ship, as Ezekiel did in the case of Tyre, he prophesies the destruction of ancient Egypt. Another ancient power will come against Egypt, Assyria, likened to a great cedar tree. Chapter 32 is a lamentation for Pharaoh and Egypt as poetically powerful pictures describe the downfall of this formerly strong nation.

God is in charge of all the nations. They will rise and fall in their own manipulative power. Only those nations truly dedicated to the Lord will have a power that cannot be taken away from them. It means living in the Kingdom of God and not in the kingdom of the world. We are citizens of a heavenly kingdom with roots sunk deep in the earth right now.

As you pray, feel the divine Kingdom of which you are a special citizen. Pray for this hurting world.

Mondays are dedicated to the Prophets.
During the Easter Season, we read Ezekiel.

Nick reads the Alphabyte.

“Zenith” – An Alphabyte

Nick — Sat, 19 May 2012 23:35:25 +0000

Alphabytes are object meditations that move through the alphabet two times
in the course of the fifty-two weeks in the year.
“Zenith” introduces the Seventh and Last Week in Easter.

A half-year has passed since its nadir when winter’s cold in the north
felt the warmth of Advent’s first candle.
A tiny light won over the enveloping black.
Each day the Sun pushed aside the dark on either end of winter’s day and night, passing through springtime’s midway point, on to the summer-zenith
soon to come.

Nadir of Lent becomes zenith of Ascension.
Disciples dizzy from the upward look strain to catch a final glimpse of
    their Master disappearing behind the clouds.
From the contemplative, downward gaze upon God’s nadir descent
    as the Christ in the manger,
    to the upward stretch of the eyes to see him
    in the zenith of the skies,
    God’s grace in Christ moves wider and fuller into the year, into life.

What is completed, is beginning again.
Wait with Mary and the apostles in novena days.
The Spirit is coming into the nadir-bottom of your soul,
lifting you now to the zenith-height of heaven’s life.

The Temple—Beginning and End

Nick — Sat, 19 May 2012 18:00:40 +0000

Luke 24:44-53

The traditional day for the Ascension is last Thursday. The Lord has returned to heaven, completing the Father’s will in dying and rising for us, sitting at the right hand of God. Now the Spirit can come in complete measure.

The Gospel gathers the mystery of the Lord together in the moment of Ascension, also described in the opening chapter of the Book of Acts. There is one final instruction: “Wait in the city till you are clothed with power from on high.”

Luke’s Gospel ends as it began—in the Temple. From the lonely, aged Zechariah in the Holy of Holies, to the New Community raised by Jesus, the Temple is the place of God’s praise and glory. However, what is about to happen in the Holy Spirit is that the community itself becomes the temple, the place of God’s presence. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Nick reads the one-minute Firestarter.

Ascension Sunday, Year B
Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from
The Revised Common Lectionary.

This Week’s Version for Children and Families

We Belong to the Lord.

Nick — Fri, 18 May 2012 18:00:29 +0000

Leviticus 25:29—26:2

Principles are outlined about the transfer of land as a possession. In 25:23 God declares:”The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is mine: for you are stranger and sojourners with me.” Reflect upon this principle and its connection to private property.

Everything we have comes from the Lord and belongs to God. The Gospel parables about stewardship further develop this understanding. Keep this in mind as you read about slavery from verse 39. While our understanding of slavery has grown over the centuries to be completely excluded, still, masters in Biblical times were enjoined “not to rule over them [slaves] with rigor, but you shall fear your God.” The master for right living is the Holy Spirit who will teach us all things, always prompting us to the law of universal love and equality which Jesus held up for us the night before he was crucified.

The Sabbath Torah Portion — Behar (On the Mount) The entire portion is Leviticus 25:1—26:2

The Bible Through the Seasons follows those Jewish traditions that divide the portion into thirds. This year, we read Part 2. Leviticus 25:29—26:2

Nick reads the one-minute Firestarter.

The First Torah Portion for Today

This year two Torah portions are read.

The Second Sabbath Torah Portion — Behukkotai (My Commandment) The entire portion is Leviticus 26:3—27:34

The Bible Through the Seasons follows those Jewish traditions that divide the portion into thirds. This year, we read Part 2: Leviticus 26:3—27:15.

Nick reads the one-minute Firestarter.

Here are the blessings that come from obedience and the curses that result from disobedience. When you read about the curses, focus not on the Lord who is punishing, but on the issue of not walking in God’s ways.

We don’t like to hear about a God who punishes. However, God will forgive where there is repentance. God will be faithful to the Covenant God established with our ancestors.

A difficulty we have with a God who punishes out of justice, is the projection of our unholy anger. Harboring resentments, dwelling on thoughts of revenge and wanting to punish those who have wronged us: this is our sin. The Lord is pure love, with justice. It is comforting to know that ultimate justice will take place. The Covenant is the Lord’s. It is ultimately God’s responsibility to reward or punish—not ours.

The Second Torah Portion for Today

Saturdays are dedicated to the Sabbath Torah portions
read in synagogues throughout the world.

Version for Children and Families for this week

The Firestarters and readings are posted in the timezone UTC+12, so that they are available in New Zealand and other regions near the International Date Line.

In a Little While—Joy

Nick — Thu, 17 May 2012 18:00:42 +0000

Friday of the Sixth Week in Easter, Year B John 16:16-33

Nick reads the one-minute Firestarter.

Verses of great promise are here that we need to commit to memory. “Whatever you ask the Father in my name He will give you.”

This will happen because ironically, Jesus is going away. He plays on the notion of a “little while.” He is going to be taken away in the coming crucifixion, but soon after, he is coming again in the Holy Spirit, bringing a joy that no one can take away.

Think of it: no one can take away the joy that Jesus longs to give you in the Holy Spirit! You and I will go through various mood swings from those sinful tendencies of selfishness and fear that still lurk about, but they need not last very long. “In a little while” joy can return. Joy is to be the continual state of our lives as Christians.

Fridays in the Easter Season are dedicated to the Gospel of John.

Stirring the People

Nick — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:06:32 +0000

Thursday of the Sixth Week in Easter, Year B Acts 17

Nick reads the one-minute Firestarter.

I draw your attention to a Greek word that occurs only two times in the New Testament. In verse 6, the word anastenazo is used for the accusation that Paul and Silas are “stirring up” the people. The only other time this word is used is in Mark 8:12 where Jesus “sighs deeply” at the demand of the Pharisees for a sign from Jesus. The word connotes a welling up of intense emotion. May the Spirit do the same to you, loosening, and freeing you to be wholly dedicated to God.

The journeys of Paul and Silas continue. They reach Athens, center of pagan religion in the Roman Empire. You will read the sermon that Paul delivered on the Areopagus located on the famous Parthenon. However, no faith comes from Athens. Its pride in being the center of philosophical thought in the ancient world prevents it from being stirred up to faith. There would be no subsequent “Letter of Paul to the Athenians!”

Thursdays in the Easter Season are dedicated to the Book of Acts.