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In: Blogroll, Prayer and Devotions

In honor of Holy Week, here’s a collection of interesting posts relevant to the spiritual meaning of Easter from my friends and from others who show up in my social media news feeds. Donna Fletcher Crow has posted at her blog an excerpt from A Darkly Hidden Truth, The Monastery Murders 2, providing us a glimpse of the holy week her heroine, Felicity, is having. If you are also a curious low-churcher, here is: Five things to know about Maundy Thursday: What does ‘Maundy’ mean? If you’re in a hurry, the article’s short answer to that is, “Maundy is derived from the Latin word forRead More →

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In: God's love, Prayer and Devotions

While preparing to write “Enough” last week, I did a word study at biblegateway.com For the uninitiated, I mean I looked up Bible verses containing the word “enough.” Something struck me about the use of the word “enough” in the Bible. Things were enough. “It” was enough. People had enough, but nowhere was “enough” applied to a person, either positively or negatively. So why do some of us apply “enough” to ourselves? I also looked up “enough” at: m-w.com The short definition of the adjective, the part of speech that modifies nouns, is “equal to what is needed.” The long definition is, “occurring in suchRead More →

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In: abuse, Bible and Theology, Faith, Fear and Anxiety, God's love, Gospel, Grace, Prayer and Devotions

  For Christian women who struggle with feeling like we’re not enough. Warning: I cried. Are you enough? With God, you don’t have to be. He has enough. His love can make you enough. The poised, young professional woman in white came boldly before the throne of God, dragging alongside her a battered, bruised little girl in filthy rags. “Lord, I’m surrendering this to you, my broken, wounded heart. I caught her running away from you and thinking wrong things again, so I’ve taken her captive, brought her back, and am presenting her to you again. I know she’s not much, but she’s all IRead More →

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In: Idols, Post-Modernism, Prayer and Devotions, Sin and Holiness

“If you feel someone is judging you, feel free to judge them back and punish them until your wrath has been fully satisfied.” These words do not appear anywhere in the Bible. Yet how often do we, God’s people, behave like God said that? Who among us has never responded tit for perceived tat? We may do this based on assumptions founded on past experience or based on how we felt in response to something someone said. To begin with, the past isn’t a reliable predictor of the present and future, and the hurt we feel in response to someone’s words isn’t an innately reliableRead More →

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In: Bible and Theology, Lament, Prayer and Devotions, Suffering

O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, Happy the one who repays you as you have served us! Happy the one who takes and dashes Your little ones against the rock! Psalm 137:8-9, NKJV These shocking words are more likely to be quoted by atheists than Christians. Most with even a cursory knowledge of the faith knows this flies in the face of our teachings on revenge. If you’re reading it in a version that renders “Happy” as “Blessed,” understand why the NKJV turned “Blessed” into “Happy.” Too many verses–many of them right in the Psalms–describe God as gracious, loving, and full of compassionRead More →