From asimpledesire.wordpress.com, emu.edu, thirdcway.com and biblegateway.com:
Daily Readings/Devotionals:
A Sip of Scripture
Daily Scripture:
LOVE
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Reference: John 13:35
John 13:35 (New King James Version)
35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
<< Scripture for 1/1/2011
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Pondering at the Well
Carole Boshart invites you to ponder with her about faith and spirituality in a twice-monthly column.
A Sip of Scripture
Pondering at the Well
As Jesus was in conversation with the woman at the well, let us also be in conversation about faith and spirituality. Ponder with me ...
A New Year - A New Columnist
From the producers: Our thanks to Carole Boshart for writing “Pondering at the Well” for Third Way Café from 2006-2010. We have appreciated her insights and wish her the best as she moves on to other endeavors in the coming year. We are pleased to welcome Carol Honderich as our new writer with a new column. We are still working on a name for this column, but we do know it will focus on women of the Bible. Here’s what Carol says about what she will write:
Together we will consider how God provided for these women in their difficult circumstances and consider what lessons for today God may have for each of us.
In January 2000 I began what I anticipated to be a one-year journey with the Women of the Bible. Ten years later the journey continues. After traveling eight cycles through the Old and New Testament, meeting and re-encountering these women, hearing their stories, and discovering over and over lessons from their lives, I am thrilled to begin this journey again with you here at Third Way Café.
Twice a month I will share with you the story of a woman of the Bible, beginning on January 8 with the story of Eve. Together we will consider how God provided for these women in their difficult circumstances and consider what lessons for today God may have for each of us. All through the Bible these stories provide glimpses of God’s hand in the lives of women who were often the poor, the marginalized, the powerless. And yet God provided in amazing and miraculous ways as he invited these women to become part of his redeeming work. I believe you will find these stories to be a great encouragement and challenge.
I am honored to follow in Carole Boshart’s footsteps here, and look forward, as Carole did, to the discipline of study, reflection and writing in this format.
About Carol Honderich
In addition to working as an event facilitator for Mennonite Church USA, Carol enjoys combining her love of Bible study with quilting, speaking, teaching, designing faith-based quilts and finding ways to build community around quilt activities and Bible study. Her quilting adventures include leading annual quilt/spiritual retreats at Amigo Centre in Sturgis, Michigan, and in 2008 traveling to Mongolia to teach quilting at a women’s center there. Several of Carol’s quilts have been published in books and magazines and her Women of the Bible Quilt was juried into the American Quilt Society competition in Paducah, Kentucky in 2005.
Carol is mother to three young adults and lives in Goshen, Indiana with her husband Martin.
Posted 1/1/2011 7:00:00 AM
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A Simple Desire
The weblog "a simple desire" provides brief commentaries on "A Sip of Scripture" from a Mennonite perspective, The commentaries are written by Carole Boshart, of Oregon; Will Fitzgerald, of Michigan; and others on occasion.
It’s who we are
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“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. “ ( John 13:35 )
One of the other tenets of mission that McPhee has put forth is that mission is not done out of obligation to God but as a result of our identity as followers of God. Being a missional people is more a description of us and not a command from our God. If being missional was a command, we would have the option of declining it or disobeying it. Or we might fail at it; that is, not spread the word of God and bring others into the circle of faith. But as an identity, it means that what we do is being seen and noted. This is why the verse from John 13 (and others like it) is important.
As missional people, our compassion for other (or lack of it) says a lot about it means to be followers of God. We are not nice to others because that is how to win people to our mission; we are nice because God and Christ is the embodiment of love, and we are living out that identity.
May you missional reader take on the identity of love and compassion as our Lord was love and compassion. Selah!
Written by Carole
January 2, 2011 at 12:04 am
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Related Website
Soul Space
You are invited to take some time each day for "Soul Space," written by Wendy Miller and posted on the Eastern Mennonite University website. Each day's guidance centers around a theme for reflection and prayer drawn from the lectionary readings for the week.
Coming
Loving God,
Bringing light—epiphany–
Awaken my soul.
Open my eyes to see,
Help me to hear
Jesus among and within us.
Amen
Silence
Be still.
Open your awareness to God’s presence
Within and all around.
“Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)
Being With- Epiphany
Epiphany of the Lord: God shows up among us
Season of Epiphany: Baptism of Jesus
In this season of Epiphany—the time of God showing up among us—the lectionary guide leads us into the narrative in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 2:1-12. We find ourselves led to a far-away place, in the east, where wise men–magi–who gaze at the stars and study their movement, become aware of a new and bright star arising in the heavens. They discern that this star signals the birth of “the child who has been born king of the Jews”. Their discovery erupts into a deep desire to see this child, to worship him, and to offer him gifts worthy of a king: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. This deep desire means charting a way to travel, and along with the things they pack they also carry a question: How would they find this child who has been born king?
They follow the starry sign given in the night sky—this heavenly GPS– as it offers direction west for hundreds of miles, to Israel/Palestine.
I remember as a teenager feeling a longing to meet God, to know God. The longing drew me to listen deeply to lessons taught in a weekly Bible class, and made me aware of the deeper conversation God was having with me. Like the magi I needed guidance from the scriptures and welcomed direction as to where to read in the gospels. Guidance from helpful teachers and the scriptures shed light on my path as I searched. Many people long for God, to know and to be known by God; to come home to God. Often the desire is buried underneath a pile of activity and things which we hold on to, somehow thinking that they will satisfy the longing of our soul. But of course, they don’t. The star of God’s making still draws us in the night of our searching.
For the magi it is the pronouncement from the prophet Micah which gives them direction for their journey:
“But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” (Micah 5:2)
This one, born to be king, signals the shining of the light of God, light that beams into every dark corner of the nation, and of the human heart. (Isaiah 60:1-6) Now the magi know where to go: to Bethlehem, to find the child. Overwhelmed with joy and wonder the magi enter the dwelling and kneel before the child Jesus to give him homage, and to offer him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
However, warned in a dream of Herod’s secret plan to kill this newborn baby, they return home to the east another way.
Like the magi I was overwhelmed with joy and wonder at the in-breaking of this love and grace in my life and, like them, I began to take another road, a road leading home for my life and soul. This encounter with Jesus began to change my life.
Matthew’s gospel leads us into the wilderness now, and prepares us to listen for this new road. A voice sounds in the silence, the voice of John, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth. He now lives in this barren wilderness, owning the call of God on his life spoken by his father at his birth:
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High:
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins.” Luke 1:76-77
Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Zechariah had also spoken of the new day that was about to dawn with the coming of Jesus:
“By the tender mercy of our God,
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:78-79
As we follow John, he leads us the banks of the River Jordan, the river which threads its way south from the high mountain ranges north of Galilee to the Dead Sea south of Jerusalem. When Jesus arrives at the River Jordan, Matthew invites us to sit on the river bank and to notice how he comes, receiving from John, receiving from God: Abba and Holy Spirit. John is surprised, but moves with the invitation of Jesus. Jesus himself, led by the Spirit, moves with Abba’s way of bringing the gracious Rule of God near. This is the road for us to walk.
Enter into this baptismal narrative. Sit on the bank. Watch. Listen. Notice what draws your attention, how the Spirit of God speaks to you.
Prayer before reading:
Lord Jesus Christ,
You come to us.
Help me to see as you see,
To recognize your presence,
To receive the gift of your Spirit
Who guides us as we walk in your way.
Read slowly. Listen deeply. Indwell the scripture.
Scripture Guide:
Season of Epiphany: First Sunday after Epiphany
» 1/3 Monday: Matthew 2:1-12
» 1/4 Tuesday: Matthew 3:13-17
» 1/5 Wednesday: Psalm 29; 72:1-7,10-14
» 1/6 Thursday, Epiphany: Isaiah 42:1-19; 60:1-6
» 1/7 Friday: Ephesians 3:1-12; Acts 10:34-43
» 1/8 Saturday: Matthew 2:1-12
» 1/9 Sunday: Matthew 3:13-17
Morning- Week Four
Opening the day with prayer.
As darkness fades and dawn awakens
Lord, give me the joy of your saving help
And sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
In the tender light of morning
Help me as I pray.
In the name of Jesus, bright and morning star. Amen.
Morning by morning God wakens–
wakens my ear
to listen
as those who are taught. Isaiah 50:5
Evening- Week Four
Closing the day with gratefulness.
It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing praises to your Name, O Most High;
To tell of your loving-kindness early in the morning
And of your faithfulness in the night season.
Psalm 92:1,2
As I come to the end of this day,
For what am I thankful?
How have I known God’s faithfulness this day?
What do bring to God . . .?
For confession . . .
For forgiveness . . .
For help . . .
For God’s holding.
Reading
The psalm for this week’s lectionary readings.
Silence
Closing Prayer
Living God,
In you there is no darkness;
Shed upon us through this night the light of your forgiveness,
Your healing and your peace.
Cover us with the blanket of your protection.
When we wake from sleep
May we know once more the light of your presence,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
Amen.
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