Read Mark 11:27-33. The problem, as I see it, is one of a very small imagination. I began volunteering at my children’s elementary school and somehow got myself in charge of the costumes for the school play. The dragon had to head butt the hero, thus stabbing her in...

Read Jeremiah 1:4-10. It is both a terrifying and wonderful thing to be known. For someone to see the capital-A-All of us. For another to peer at our insides – the things we cannot change or control. It is through this knowing that we are able to be loved. To pull...

Read 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10.  There’s power in “the work of faith and the labor of love” about which Paul writes, but it’s the words “steadfastness of hope” that are grabbing my attention. I’ve always considered myself a hopeful person, even amid inevitable...

Read Luke 21:34-38. Our reading for today actually marks the end of Jesus’ public ministry in Luke, and it is part of a larger apocalyptic discourse. In the preceding verses, Jesus describes earth- shattering events that will bring forth the promised kingdom of God....

Read Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13. The Psalmist writes, “let me hear what the Lord God says.” God speaks in many ways, through many voices. According to Luke’s Gospel, after Jesus’s birth, it is the shepherds – a lowly profession in biblical times – who go forth, spreading the...

Read Micah 4:1-5. Awaken Me In these days all I see is war: pain, suffering, deepening darkness. All I want to do is crawl back into bed. Hide under the covers. Yet your Word calls to me. Bringing HOPE. I step out in faith once more, making my way to you. In you I...

Psalm 63:1-11 1   O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2   So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3   Because your steadfast love...

Matthew 20:17-28 17While Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to them on the way, 18“See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will...

Psalm 130:1-8 1   Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. 2       Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! 3   If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? 4   But there is forgiveness with you, so that you...

1 Peter 2:1-10 1Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander. 2Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation — 3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4Come...

Psalm 146:1-10 1   Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul! 2   I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long. 3   Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. 4   When their breath departs,...

I Peter 1:2-9 (CEV) I pray that God will be kind to you and will keep on giving you peace! 3 Praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is so good, and by raising Jesus from death, he has given us new life and a hope that lives on. 4  God has something...

Luke 19:11-27 (NRSV) 11As they were listening to this, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately. 12So he said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to get royal power for...

Psalm 100 (NRSV) 1   Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth. 2        Worship the LORD with gladness; come into his presence with singing. 3   Know that the LORD is God. It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture....

Matthew 18:12-18 (NRSV) 12What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over...

Matthew 18:1-7 (NRSV) 1At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2He called a child, whom he put among them, 3and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the...

Psalm 147:1-6 (NRSV) 1   Praise the Lord! How good it is to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting. 2   The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. 3   He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds....

Revelation 21:1-8 (NRSV) 1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her...

Psalm 145:8-18 (NRSV) 8  The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9   The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made. 10  All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your faithful shall...

Psalm 46:1-11 1   God is our refuge and strength,           a very present help in trouble. 2   Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,           though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 3   though its waters roar and foam,          ...

Psalm 118:1-9 1   O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;           his steadfast love endures forever! 2   Let Israel say,           “His steadfast love endures forever.” 3   Let the house of Aaron say,           “His steadfast love endures forever.” 4   Let those...

Psalm 139:1-18 1   O LORD, you have searched me and known me.  2   You know when I sit down and when I rise up;           you discern my thoughts from far away. 3   You search out my path and my lying down,           and are acquainted with all my ways. 4   Even...

Psalm 27:1-14 1   The LORD is my light and my salvation;           whom shall I fear?     The LORD is the stronghold of my life;           of whom shall I be afraid? 2   When evildoers assail me           to devour my flesh —     my adversaries and foes —          ...

Matthew 15:29-39 29After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. 30Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his...

Psalm 86:1-17 1   Incline your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. 2   Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God; 3 be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all day long. 4   Gladden the soul...

Nehemiah 2:1-8 1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before. 2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not...

Wisdom of Solomon 6:12-16  12 Wisdom is radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her, and is found by those who seek her. 13 She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her. 14 One who rises early to seek her will have no...

Matthew 24:1-14 24 As Jesus came out of the temple and was going away, his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple. 2 Then he asked them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be...

Joshua 8:30-35 (NRSV) 30 Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, 31 just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, “an altar of unhewn stones, on which no iron tool...

Matthew 15:1-9 (NRSV) 15 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands before they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God...

Psalm 5:1-12 (NRSV) 1 Listen to my words, O Lord; attend to my sighing. 2 Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I pray. 3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you and watch. 4 For you are not a God who...

1 Thessalonians 2:13-20 (NRSV) 13 We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers. 14 For...

Acts 20:7-12 7 On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight. 8 There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. 9 A...

Matthew 13:31-35 31 He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32 it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the...

Psalm 148:1-14 1   Praise the Lord!      Praise the Lord from the heavens;           praise him in the heights! 2   Praise him, all his angels;           praise him, all his host! 3   Praise him, sun and moon;           praise him, all you shining stars! 4   Praise...

Psalm 130:1-8 1   Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. 2       Lord, hear my voice!      Let your ears be attentive           to the voice of my supplications! 3   If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,           Lord, who could stand? 4   But there is forgiveness...

Psalm 134:1-3 1   Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD,           who stand by night in the house of the LORD! 2   Lift up your hands to the holy place,           and bless the LORD. 3   May the LORD, maker of heaven and earth,           bless you from...

Matthew 13:1-9 1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A...

Psalm 62:1-12 1   For God alone my soul waits in silence;           from him comes my salvation. 2   He alone is my rock and my salvation,           my fortress; I shall never be shaken. 3   How long will you assail a person,           will you batter your victim, all...

Luke 10:25-37 25Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and...

Psalm 122:1-9 1   I was glad when they said to me,           “Let us go to the house of the LORD!” 2   Our feet are standing           within your gates, O Jerusalem. 3   Jerusalem — built as a city           that is bound firmly together. 4   To it the tribes go up,...

Matthew 12:22-32 22Then they brought to him a demoniac who was blind and mute; and he cured him, so that the one who had been mute could speak and see. 23All the crowds were amazed and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24But when the Pharisees heard it, they said,...

Matthew 12:15-21 15 When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, 16and he ordered them not to make him known. 17This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 18  “Here is my servant, whom I...

Lamentations 2:8-15 8   The LORD determined to lay in ruins           the wall of daughter Zion;     he stretched the line;           he did not withhold his hand from destroying;     he caused rampart and wall to lament;           they languish together. 9   Her...

Psalm 146: 1-10 1   Praise the LORD!     Praise the LORD, O my soul! 2   I will praise the LORD as long as I live;           I will sing praises to my God all my life long.   3   Do not put your trust in princes,           in mortals, in whom there is no help. 4...

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-14 (NRSV) 1These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to...

Psalm 150:1-6 1   Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! 2   Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness!   3   Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!...

Psalm 118:1-9 1   O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!   2   Let Israel say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” 3   Let the house of Aaron say, “His steadfast love endures forever.” 4   Let those who fear the LORD say,...

Matthew 11:1-6 1Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and proclaim his message in their cities.2When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples 3and said to him, “Are you the...

Psalm 27:1-14 1   The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2   When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh — my adversaries and foes — they shall stumble and fall. 3   Though an army...

Psalm 30: 1-12 1   I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up, and did not let my foes rejoice over me. 2   O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. 3   O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone...

Corinthians 13:4-13 (NRSVUE) 1If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove...

Philippians 4:4-9 (CEB) 4 Be glad in the Lord always! Again I say, be glad! 5 Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. 6 Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions,...

Mark 2:18-22 (MSG) 18 The disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees made a practice of fasting. Some people confronted Jesus: “Why do the followers of John and the Pharisees take on the discipline of fasting, but your followers don’t?” 19-20 Jesus said,...

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23 (CEB) 1 Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord because he is good, because his faithful love endures forever. 2 Who could possibly repeat all of the Lord’s mighty acts or publicly recount all his praise? 3 The people who uphold justice, who...

Psalm 23 (NRSVUE) 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; 3  he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no...

John 11:45-53 (CEB) 45 Therefore, many of the Jews who came with Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and Pharisees called together the council and said,...

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NRSVUE) 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of...

Deuteronomy 5:1-21 (NRSVUE) 5 Moses convened all Israel and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I am addressing to you today; you shall learn them and observe them diligently. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 Not with...

 Psalm 150 1   Praise the Lord! Praise God in God’s sanctuary; praise God in the mighty firmament! 2   Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness! 3   Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! 4   Praise him...

Psalm 90: 1-8 1   Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2   Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 3   You turn us back to dust, and say, “Turn back,...

Matthew 8:1-13 (NRSV) When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him, 2 and there was a man with a skin disease who came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 He stretched out his hand and...

Psalm 130 (The Message) 1-2 Help, God—I’ve hit rock bottom!     Master, hear my cry for help! Listen hard! Open your ears!     Listen to my cries for mercy. 3-4 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings,     who would stand a chance? As it turns out, forgiveness is...

Psalm 147:1-11 1 Praise the Lord!How good it is to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting. 2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. 3 He heals the broken-hearted, and binds up their wounds. 4 He...

Matthew 6:25-34 25 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor...