Reading Luke 10:25-37 Reflection The story of the Good Samaritan is one of the most well-known and loved Bible stories. Many children learn it in Sunday school as a wonderful example of how to be kind and caring to others. And indeed, in the story we see the priest and temple helper fail to show…
Reading Luke 10:17-24 Reflection When the 72 disciples return they are ecstatic. As they walked in freedom, giving and receiving peace, and investing in relationships, they saw the Kingdom of God break in. In simple trust, they obeyed Jesus and discovered that they were used to heal people and to cast out demons. Jesus is…
Reading Luke 10:1-16 Reflection The sending out of the seventy-two is a beautiful model of sharing the love and life of Jesus with a neighborhood. Jesus equips his followers with some key guidelines. The first is freedom. He instructs them to go without the trappings of self-sufficiency. While to our ears it might be scary…
Reading John 10:11-21 Reflection Jesus continues with this lavish affirmation that we can rest in the confidence that he knows us. Jesus’ commitment to us has no limits. We have been invited into the very center of his life. And not only that, but his life is in the center of the life of the…
Reading John 10:1-10 Reflection Have you ever heard the audible voice of God? I haven’t. I have asked for it. Sometimes when I’m faced with a great dilemma, I wish that God would just speak really clearly so that I would know for sure what to do. Maybe you have heard very spiritual people talk…
Reading John 9:35-41 Reflection We’ve been reflecting on the story of Jesus healing a man born blind. And we’ve seen several ways that Jesus reveals the blindness of those around him. First of all, the disciples are blind when they focus on placing blame rather than seeking the meaning of the man’s dilemma. Then we…
Reading John 9:24-34 Reflection The Jewish leaders were beginning to get frustrated. News of Jesus’ miraculous restoration of sight to the man born blind had everyone buzzing. They had to figure out how to get on top of this before things got completely out of hand.
Reading John 9:13-23 Reflection Jesus has helped his disciples move from laying blame to discovering the meaning of God’s purposes through healing a man born blind. But the story doesn’t end there. The Jewish leaders come onto the scene with some very clear blinders in place. Rather than being able to enter the demonstration of…
Reading John 9:1-12 Reflection We human beings inevitably look for someone to blame when we encounter difficult or undesirable things. You see it already in young children. “He did it!” “No, SHE did it!” Of course, most of us don’t like to get into trouble. So, we look for a scapegoat. Jesus’ disciples had grown…
First of all, let me say a big, “Congratulations!” to Sandy and to Wes who have worked so hard on our new website! If you normally see these blog posts on “Bridging the Gap” then welcome to the brand, spanking, totally awesome, new New Direction website. It is all super integrated and lovely – and…