Forward Day By Day – November 14, 2020

Saturday, November 14, 2020

This verse from Luke sticks with me, always. I’m not sure where along the path of my childhood I first heard it, but the attendant conviction that a person could go directly from using the office printer for personal copies to devouring widows’ houses is branded on my...

Forward Day By Day – November 13, 2020

Friday, November 13, 2020

In ancient times, the first fruits of the fields were given as a tithe—the finest and choicest produce was delivered as a tribute to God and for the sustenance of those who served in the temple. If you garden, you know that the first harvest is usually the prettiest....

Forward Day By Day – November 12, 2020

Thursday, November 12, 2020

From the Archives: December 5, 1955Before we learn to read, we begin to get ideas about God. Our parents and friends, our teachers and neighbors are painting little pictures in our minds. One very h….(View this reading and more resources for prayer at Daily...

Forward Day By Day – November 11, 2020

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

A local homeless man froze to death on a cold winter night, huddled in a parking garage. Our community rose up and declared that this would not happen again. A group of churches and synagogues collaborated to provide dinners and a safe place to sleep for all who...

Forward Day By Day – November 10, 2020

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

One of my favorite spiritual memoirs is The Supper of the Lamb by Robert Farrar Capon. A priest and amateur chef, Capon wrote of his faith through an extended exploration of the alchemy that takes place in a kitchen, where foods are transformed into something magical...

Forward Day By Day – November 9, 2020

Monday, November 9, 2020

I struggle with Luke’s parable of the wedding banquet every time I read it. There is no satisfying resolution for me. When the guest is cast out for not wearing a suitable wedding robe, the reason so many declined an invitation to this banquet seems clear. Would you...

Forward Day By Day – November 8, 2020

Sunday, November 8, 2020

When was the last time you talked about your faith outside of church? We often feel awkward about this kind of sharing. What if the person who hears me is a follower of a different religion? What if they are offended or think that I’m proselytizing? Even worse, what...

Forward Day By Day – November 7, 2020

Saturday, November 7, 2020

We love rules. There is great safety in rules. The lawyers and the Pharisees in this gospel passage were not evil or sadistic people; they were faithful followers of the rules—just like you and me. Rules make our world orderly and safe: Think of traffic a….(View...

Forward Day By Day – November 6, 2020

Friday, November 6, 2020

Luke’s image of Jesus as a mother hen is the one I most cherish. As a mother, I feel viscerally the desire to draw the beloved bodies of my children into the safety of my arms—to hide under the shadow of my wings those warm precious bodies to whom my own body has...