Our Father, who art in heaven

Aug 31, 2020

  Over the last three weeks I’ve written about the three petitions in the middle of the Lord’s Prayer, “give us today our daily bread, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Today I want to talk about the beginning and the […]

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

Aug 24, 2020

The third petition in the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one,” [Matt 6:13 NIV] asks God to keep us safe from harm, challenge, distraction and the devil. The first part of the petition in the NSRV reads: “And do not bring us to the time of trial.” […]

Fruit of the Spirit

Aug 19, 2020

            I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years thinking about the fruit of the Spirit, the qualities that are ours to express in this world when we truly follow Jesus. The first three: peace, joy and love are the essentials in the life of the Spirit. Peace takes us out of […]

Forgive Us Our Debts

Aug 17, 2020

  The second petition in the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:12, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” has two main interpretations in our churches today: 1) as I just quoted and 2)” forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” There is another version of Jesus’ teaching in […]

Our Daily Bread

Aug 10, 2020

  As often as we say the Lord’s Prayer, we repeat the line that says “Give us this day our daily bread.” Bread is a common reference in the Old and New Testaments from the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Exodus to Isaiah 30:20 “The Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water […]

Captive To Our Culture

Aug 03, 2020

We are born of God, in His image, into this world, into this country, where we are raised in its cultural standards and goals. Even if we are raised in the church, we are very much indoctrinated into the norms and standards of our culture through our parents, our friends, our schools. Here in the […]