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Stumbling Block
We are all pretty obsessed with sin. Whether or not we believe that’s true, we are. Sin inspires us. It inspires us to believe remarkable things about GOD and nature and all of creation. For some that it is all depraved and drenched in showers of evil. For some, it is to see creation through…
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Afraid to Ask
Afraid to Ask (Day 29 of A Simple Lent) | Monday I grew up in the rise of standardized testing to creative and artsy parents who read a lot. It means I can be either a model student or a pain in the butt, depending on your teaching style. A good student too busy trying…
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I Will Be With You
I AM and the presence of GOD with us. I Will Be With You (Day 28 of A Simple Lent) | Saturday We take for granted that GOD is everywhere. But until GOD tells Moses to take a message to the people, to Pharaoh, to share the good news of liberation to the captive Israelites, and…
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The Beloved
Before diving into the Transfiguration, we have to back up just a little. The Transfiguration is part 2. First, we have to discuss part 1. The Beloved (Day 27 of A Simple Lent) | Friday The second half of chapter 8 is the most important part of the gospel we call Mark. It is the great…
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Did Not Know Joseph
How forgetting church history can mutate the future Did Not Know Joseph (Day 26 of A Simple Lent) | Thursday To understand our church history, we should look no further than the move from Genesis to Exodus. While it certainly doesn’t explain the history itself, it reveals that human tendency to lose sight of who we are and…
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No One Can Say
No One Can Say (Day 25 of A Simple Lent) | Wednesday In a most compelling turn, Paul leaves behind the abuse which bothered him yesterday to speak instead of what the blessed community should look like–how it should behave. But he centers it around being able to say “Jesus is Lord.” Therefore I want…
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Unworthy
Unworthy (Day 24 of A Simple Lent) | Tuesday Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the body and blood of the Lord. What does Paul mean by “unworthy manner” and what does that have to do with Communion? I had never given…
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Ephphatha – Be Opened
Ephphatha (Day 23 of A Simple Lent) Monday Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ The daily lectionary actually carved up one of the most challenging moments in Jesus’s ministry, in which, giving us the conclusion today before moving on to one of the seemingly most typical. In…