A Simple Lent
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The Beloved
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4 min read
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
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6 min read
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
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5 min read
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
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6 min read
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
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4 min read
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…
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Defile a Person
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4 min read
Defile a Person (Day 22 of A Simple Lent) Saturday I’m becoming increasingly conscious of the presence and absence of a single letter in worship. Such a small thing, almost imperceptible. It shows up and completely changes our intentions. Most of us don’t even see it. A radical transformation of intention and expectation comes from a single…