death ⁽¹⁷¹⁾

Luke 2:21–39, Ephesians 2:11–14, Philippians 2:5–11 (read online ⧉) The “rush” of a newborn child and all the angst that went along this particular child’s birth should have settled down a little. The day of Jesus’ circumcision was a day of fulfilled law and ritual.

2 Chronicles 24:17–22, Matthew 10:17–22, Acts 6:8–15, Acts 7:51–59 (read online ⧉) Yesterday was only Christmas and here we are back into the darkness of the world. How true to life that is. A baby is born and a family feels joy. In the midst…

Deuteronomy 7:7–12, Deuteronomy 8:5–6, 2 Samuel 7:11–16, Hebrews 12:3–11 (read online ⧉) The way Deuteronomy 7:10 is often interpreted is as “…[God]…destroys those who hate him…” However, אָבַד (“awbad”) is also translated elsewhere in the Scriptures as broken or unmade. The concept of unmade or…

1 Samuel 1:12–20, 2 Kings 4:8–17, Hebrews 11:32–40 (read online ⧉) For many people having a child is the deepest yearning that they have. Not everyone is able to have children. Some have gone through miscarriages. Many more have gone through stillbirths. Still more lose…

Isaiah 4:2–6, Romans 6:1–11 (read online ⧉) If you have been steeped in Christian thinking you can read this passage as an obvious foreshadowing of the Messiah (Jesus). Let’s set aside our Christian thinking, and look at this from a beaten and downtrodden people. This…