Tag: spiritual discipline
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prayer, obedience, and growth
Biblical Text: Mark 6.44-52 Today’s lectionary reading comes from Mark’s Gospel, a text that barely pauses to take a breath as it describes Jesus’s ministry. Mark doesn’t give us any birth narrative, but starts with John the Baptist proclaiming Jesus, and then wham, Jesus is here. Baptised, tempted, and beginning his ministry. Miracle follows miracle,…
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when temptation comes…
Biblical Text: Matthew 4.1-11 The spiritual life is not a string of mountaintop experiences. Anyone who tells you that is lying or in a cult…or perhaps both. You don’t need to read much scripture to realise this, but it is tempting to believe it nonetheless. Our faith points us to Jesus, the Son of God…
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choose life
Biblical Texts: Deuteronomy 30v15-20; Psalm 1; Luke 14v25-33; Philemon 1-21 You may remember when the first Matrix film came out. At the time it was groundbreaking. A movie with an intriguing plot coupled with mind-bending special effects, the legacy of which we still see in films today. But aside from the effects, one part of…
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persisting in prayer…
Biblical Texts: Genesis 18v20-32, Luke 11v1-13 Jesus prays. That might seem like an odd statement, but throughout Luke’s gospel, he tells us repeatedly that Jesus withdraws from everything that’s going on, and he prays. We don’t know how long it took, but after a while his disciples asked him to teach them to do the…
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a foundational prayer
Biblical Texts: Psalm 117, Luke 11v1-4 Today’s passage in Luke is so familiar it can easily go by unnoticed. For those of us in church regularly, we say this prayer so often it can become automatic. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s good to know things by heart, but sometimes it pays to slow…
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solitude for service
Reading: Luke 4v38-44 As with most readings in the churches lectionary, our gospel reading today is not meant to be read simply as one brief story. It’s from Luke’s gospel, and where Luke places it is important. It needs to be read in context. Chapter 4 of Luke begins with Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness,…
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impulsive discipline
Biblical Texts: Matthew 13:44-46, 2 Timothy 1:6. The church today (July 31, 2024) commemorates the life of St. Ignatius, founder of the Jesuit order. Ignatius was born to a wealthy family, and was grievously injured while fighting a war. During his time of recovery, he asked for a book to read. The only book available…