Journey to Wholeness
God’s promise blooms eternally: restoring the Garden of Eden, where justice and praise spring forth in fragrant abundance.
… Read the restAs the earth brings forth its shoots,
and a garden makes its seeds spring up,
So will the Lord God make justice spring up,
and praise before all the nations.
From ashes to a diadem: God crowns mourning with the oil of gladness, clothing sorrow in a mantle of everlasting praise.
… Read the restTo comfort all who mourn;
to place on those who mourn in Zion
a diadem instead of ashes,
To give them oil of gladness instead of mourning,
a glorious mantle instead of a faint spirit.
In the peaceable kingdom, a little child leads lion and lamb, restoring Eden’s glory to humankind.
… Read the restThe calf and the young lion shall browse together,
with a little child to guide them.
In the Kingdom of Shalom, wolf and lamb lie down together—glimpsed today in saints who befriend the wild.
… Read the restThen the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat.
What does it mean to love beyond consanguinity and place Christ above all earthly ties?
… Read the restGreat crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and addressed them, “If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
Ash Wednesday begins with the sober remembrance of our expulsion from the Garden of Eden. “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” the Lord God pronounced after Adam’s transgression (Genesis 3:19).… Read the rest
Fifth Week of Lent, Wednesday
Daniel 3
Iconic images and words in the Bible interconnect to form a constellation that radiates to the “edges” of infinity. The episode of the three Jews thrown into a fiery furnace for refusing to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image summons iconic connections from Genesis to Revelation.… Read the rest
First Week of Lent, Saturday
… Read the rest“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, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
… Read the restBut during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a sabbath for the Lord, when you may neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. The aftergrowth of your harvest you shall not reap, nor shall you pick the grapes of your untrimmed vines.
Thursday of the Third Week of Easter
John 6:44-51
… Read the restThe Jews murmured about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?