"The Uprising"   SCRIPTURE “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen.” —Luke 24:5 DEVOTIONAL Often, when we talk about the resurrection, we might think of the flesh and body coming out of the ground like an old Michael Jackson...

"Silence" PRAYER God, you’re my last chance of the day. I spend the night on my knees before you. Put me on your salvation agenda; take notes on the trouble I’m in. I’ve had my fill of trouble; I’m camped on the edge of hell. I’m written off as a lost cause, one more...

"Death" SCRIPTURE It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, while the sun was darkened and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my...

"Darkness" SCRIPTURE Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt.” So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was dense darkness in all the land of...

"Prayer" SCRIPTURE “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” —Luke 22:42 DEVOTIONAL There is a story from the Sufi tradition about a man who cried, “Allah! Allah!” until his lips became sweet with the sound. A skeptic who...

"Holy Patience" SCRIPTURE But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.  —Isaiah 40:30 DEVOTIONAL Fraternal twins, a brother and a sister, are in...

"Absence" SCRIPTURE Jesus said to his disciples, “I must tell you the truth. It is for your own good that I am going, because unless I go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I do go, I will send him to you. I shall ask the Father and he will give you the Spirit...

“Living in Faithfulness" SCRIPTURE Why then did you not put my money into the bank? Then when I returned, I could have collected it with interest.” He said to the bystanders, “Take the pound from him and give it to the one who has ten pounds.” (And they said to him,...

"Celebration" SCRIPTURE Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume...

"Community" SCRIPTURE For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many...

"Rootlessness" SCRIPTURE The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with...

"Vision" SCRIPTURE They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of...

"Idols" SCRIPTURE When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not...

"Institutionalized" SCRIPTURE Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw...

"Sacrifice" SCRIPTURE Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume...

"Die to Self" SCRIPTURE Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this...

"Ashes" SCRIPTURE But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. —Isaiah 43:1 DEVOTIONAL In 1974, 26-year-old director, Steven Spielberg, was working on...

"The Cross" SCRIPTURE Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for...

"Compassion" SCRIPTURE Jesus began to weep. —John 11:35 (read John 11:17-44 for context) DEVOTIONAL When Jesus approached the home of Mary and Martha shortly after their brother, Lazarus, died, Martha was first to meet him. She said to him, “Lord, if you had been...

"Suffering" SCRIPTURE And not only that, but we also boast in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts...

"Kinship" SCRIPTURE How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls...

"Accepting Grace" SCRIPTURE So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he...

"Following" SCRIPTURE And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man...

"The Image of God" . SCRIPTURE And God created the human in God’s image, in the image of God they were created, male and female God created them. —Genesis 1:27 DEVOTIONAL The Hebrew word for, “image” was never to be translated as a physical appearance – but more like...

"Love Your Enemy" SCRIPTURE “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise...

"Letting Go" SCRIPTURE Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and...

"Accepted" SCRIPTURE See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. —1 John 3:1 DEVOTIONAL One of the most influential theologians of the 20th Century, Paul Tillich writes, “Sometimes…a wave of light breaks...

"Division" SCRIPTURE So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all...

"Changing While There's Time" SCRIPTURE Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree,...

"Discipleship" SCRIPTURE Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you...