I know I've been saying the Sundays are not included in Lent — and that is true.  But How could I let Easter go by without a devotion?  First, our scripture for the day:Scripture Lesson John 20:1-18Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disci...  Read More

NRSV JOHN 19:38-42, THE BURIALAfter these things, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though a secret one because of his fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and removed his body.  Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pound...  Read More

NRSV GENESIS 22:1-14, THE TESTING OF ABRAHAMAfter these things God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”  He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”  So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young...  Read More

NRSV JEREMIAH 31:31-34 A NEW COVENANTThe days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD.  But this is the covenant that I...  Read More

Mark 14:3 NRSV   While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head.  4 But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way?  5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred d...  Read More

“Even the wind & the waves obey,Why can’t I?  Why can’t I?Where is my faith - is it lost at sea?Lord help me be like the wind and the waves”[Lyrics from the song Wind and the Waves by David Phelps] Matt. 14:22 NRSV  Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.  23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain...  Read More

Luke 18:18   A certain ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  19 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.  20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.’”  21 He replied, “I have kept all these since my youth...  Read More

Psa. 125:0   A Song of Ascents.1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people,
from this time on and forevermore.
3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land allotted to the righteous,
so that the righteous might not stretch out
their hands to do wrong.
4 Do good, O...  Read More

Psalm 126 — A Song of Ascents.1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,we were like those who dream.2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,and our tongue with shouts of joy;then it was said among the nations,“The Lord has done great things for them.”3 The Lord has done great things for us,and we rejoiced. Psa. 126:4    Restore our fortunes, O Lord,like the watercourses in the Negeb.5 May t...  Read More

Psa. 131:0   A Song of Ascents. Of David.1 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,my eyes are not raised too high;I do not occupy myself with thingstoo great and too marvelous for me.2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,like a weaned child with its mother;my soul is like the weaned child that is with me. Psa. 131:3    O Israel, hope in the Lordfrom this time on and forevermore.Once again, I find the...  Read More

In the late fall of 2017 and through the start of 2018 I wrote a series of blog-posts about the “Psalms of Ascent,”  a collection of Psalms which have traditionally been associated with pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  I will be recycling a few of those posts as devotions in the next few days.  I hope that these explorations of the Psalms will be a blessing to you.Psa. 133   A Song of Ascents. [altered s...  Read More

Ours is a wordy world. With text-messaging, phone calls, radio, TV, YouTube, Twitter, & Facebook — our lives are immersed in words written, received, spoken, & heard. During a recent day of air-travel I began to notice how I was surrounded by words. Monitors everywhere declaring arrivals & departures; TVs blaring the latest cable-news; my phone dutifully alerting me to push-notifications from a do...  Read More

As we make our way ever-closer to the events of Holy Week I want to begin reflecting on our journey of faith more broadly using the metaphor of pilgrimage to explore discipleship.  Pilgrimage is characterized by tidal shifts between orientation, disorientation, and reorientation. These moments happen daily (sometimes hourly) as we phase between living our faith on the solid ground of certitude, th...  Read More

As we make our way through the weeks of Lent, and practice the disciplines which help us to “keep a Holy Lent,” we keep alert to the possibility that we will encounter the God we follow in the course of our journey.  There are places which become saturated with the worship of God and the prayers of the faithful.  They are not magical.  We cannot conjure God by visiting them and praying in any cert...  Read More

If you have been in the Pastor’s Class at Cary Presbyterian Church, or actually in any lesson I have taught in recent years you will know that the question of what is “true” is one I have pondered at great length over the last decade.  I will save my more convoluted discourse on epistemology for some day you take me out for a cup of coffee.  It is enough here in a Lenten devotion to acknowledge th...  Read More

The mission statement for The Pilgrimage ministry is:“For Christians hearing the call to go deeper —The Pilgrimage creates a community and provides toolsand experiences through which we learn to hear the call of Godand respond in faith, journeying together with friendson the path to a Spirit-led and joyful life.”What we are aiming for, in the end, is a community of friends on the path to a Spirit-...  Read More

When I think about remaining steadfast and loyal, my thoughts turn to Jesus’ disciples.  In particular, I think of Peter who boasts confidently that we will never deny Christ, and then before the cock-crows he has denied knowing Jesus not once, but three times.  It is easy to profess loyalty when there is no costs for our allegiance.  But how soon that loyalty fades when times get risky!  After Je...  Read More

We are told to “remember” more than 200 times in the Bible.  Perhaps we are reminded in scripture to remember because we are so often prone to forget:  to forget who we are; whose we are; and what God wants from/for us.  As pilgrims in the season of Lent there is another aspect of this remembering which we might see.  Lent, historically, was a time for catechesis.  Those wishing to enter fully int...  Read More

I have spent a fair amount of time in airports lately and I love to people-watch when I’m in the terminal.  Amid the chaos of people coming and going there are also the moments of loving connection — particularly when a plane arrives and its occupants make their way to baggage-claim.  Almost always there are loved ones waiting eagerly to embrace those who have come home.  Only seldom do you see so...  Read More

My favorite singer-songwriter, David Wilcox, has a song which begins, “I know that compassion is all out of fashion and anger is all the rage. . .”  It is sadly true that anger and rage keeps many of us separated from one another into ideological camps of partisanship on both the left and the right.  Compassion is a virtue that is  in short supply.  It is even sadder to realize that the refusal to...  Read More

At First Presbyterian Church in Fargo we are entering into a two year focus on generosity.  That focus will connect to our generosity in offering our gifts back to God: financially, our time, and our talents too.  We want to learn to be more generous because it is easy to see how generous God is.  Beyond time, talent, and money, there is another aspect of generosity which is essential to faithful ...  Read More

Living in a posture of gratitude may be the single-most elemental thing a person can do not only to relate well to God, but also to find the peace and joy which God desires to give you.  Moving from grace to gratitude is a natural progression.  Once we have experienced the depth of God’s grace, we turn in glad admiration, wonder, and gratitude to our Creator in order to “Praise God from whom all b...  Read More

Though the life of someone who recognizes their calling to be a pilgrim each day is a life ordered by a number of spiritual disciplines (prayer, study, worship, service, and holy listening to name only a few), it is nevertheless true that everything good which is worth having comes fundamentally by means of grace.  Our disciplines can (and do) help us, but all of the most beautiful and transformin...  Read More

Perhaps one of the poems of Saint John of the Cross will serve as a segue between yesterday’s devotion about the hope of finding our true home and today’s wonderment — the yearning of a hungry heart.“On a dark nightKindled in love with yearningsOh, happy chance!I went forth unobserved,My house being now at rest.”-Saint John of the CrossFor Saint John of the Cross, having his house “at rest” is the...  Read More