Forward Day By Day – August 9, 2019

Friday, August 9, 2019

Today we hear the prophetic version of Just wait until your Father gets home. Nathan is so angry he is practically sputtering and tells the king a tale of injustice concerning two men and an ewe lamb. David declares the act of injustice to be punishable by death....

Forward Day By Day – August 8, 2019

Thursday, August 8, 2019

The last sentence in today’s framing verse is one of the great biblical understatements of all time. David has perpetrated a complicated, power-abusing plot upon Bathsheba and her husband Uriah—because he desired Bathsheba. The greatest king in the history of Israel,...

Forward Day By Day – August 7, 2019

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

It feels a little out of character for Jesus to sound so darkly apocalyptic, so cryptic. “Some of you,” he says pointedly, “will still be alive when the kingdom of God has come.” And Christians have argued ever since: What? Which of us?When? ….(View this reading...

Forward Day By Day – August 6, 2019

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Human babies love faces. When babies see joy and delight in those who love them, they learn how to be joyful and delighted. The way my parents’ faces reflected their love for me when they gazed at my babyself taught me the life-truth that I am loved. The light in...

Forward Day By Day – August 5, 2019

Monday, August 5, 2019

Today’s passage from the life of King David speaks to the close, familial relationship David has with God. Remember a couple of days ago when we started reading about David declining to host the Ark of the Covenant? David feels it is unseemly for the Ark of the...

Forward Day By Day – August 4, 2019

Sunday, August 4, 2019

All things pass away, and our priorities change over time. As we grow older, we realize that the toy at Christmas, the crush on that person, or the effort to make more money matter less than they used to. Not that those things weren’t or aren’t important—it’s just...

Forward Day By Day – August 3, 2019

Saturday, August 3, 2019

For the next few days, we will read about King David returning from a military triumph and some of the decisions he makes in setting up his reign. He has named the new capital after himself and come into possession of the Ark of the Covenant—the most important...

Forward Day By Day – August 2, 2019

Friday, August 2, 2019

Just a bit ago, Jesus was talking about sewers. And today we have one of the most infamous episodes in Jesus’ ministry: the day he calls a Gentile woman a dog. Go ahead and read all of our gospel reading for today. This is an actual conversation between Jesus and...

Forward Day By Day – August 1, 2019

Thursday, August 1, 2019

One of the great failings of Christianity is the way we domesticate Jesus. We would do well to remember that Jesus is a guy who has a tantrum in the temple, curses a fig tree, and uses human bodily functions as object lessons. It’s tempting to gloss over this side of...

Forward Day By Day – July 31, 2019

Wednesday, July 31, 2019

I read Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved in my early twenties. Reading that I was precious in God’s eyes simply because God made me and I am God’s was revolutionary, even for someone who had grown up in church. I guess I had gotten stuck in some alternative...

Forward Day By Day – July 30, 2019

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

The Avett Brothers sing a song that makes me think about the miracle of the loaves and fish. The song seems to be about trying to run from sin and shortcomings by moving from town to town. But every time I hear one particular lyric, it conjures the image of Jesus...

Forward Day By Day – July 29, 2019

Monday, July 29, 2019

One of the many summer camp traditions at Shrine Mont is the morning wakeup call. I have witnessed several iterations of this practice: a large bell, brass instruments, (and perhaps most dramatically) a speaker system that blasted whatever music the program director...

Forward Day By Day – July 28, 2019

Sunday, July 28, 2019

Driving back to college in southern Virginia was a soul-grounding experience for me. As I passed familiar landmarks and whizzed by the trees that grew more abundant with each mile, the first glimpse of the Blue Ridge Mountains would make my wandering heart feel rooted...

Forward Day By Day – July 27, 2019

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Both my mother and I are communication directors for two different Episcopal parishes. It is a joy to share this experience and to support one another. In my own wrestling with the challenges of this work, I gain renewed appreciation for my mother and just how good...

Forward Day By Day – July 26, 2019

Friday, July 26, 2019

Cheryl Strayed’s book, Wild tells the story of her journey along the Pacific Crest Trail. Strayed searches for truth and meaning, for something to put her faith in: “I’d finally come to understand what it had been: a yearning for a way out, when actually what I had...