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Psalm 118 The stone the builders rejected Has become the capstone The Lord has done this And it is marvelous in our eyes Worst childhood memory? For me, one of them has to be gym class. I wasn’t athletic or coordinated, so it was miserable. That misery peaked into a nightmare when the class wouldContinue reading “Advent – December 21st, 2018”

Luke 1:57-80 What does this mean, to prepare His ways? John the Baptist is the prep for Jesus, we get that, but what does it mean to prepare folks? I’ve put aside some emergency stuff for an earthquake. They call it a “go bag” with all the survival basics you might need in an emergency.Continue reading “Advent – December 20th, 2018”

Psalm 41 My wife posed a question to me one day. What’s worse, physical or emotional pain? I never really thought to compare them, but I think she’s dead on – emotional pain is worse. So I did some reading on it and discovered something fascinating. We only have one nerve network, our physical one.Continue reading “Advent – December 19th, 2018”

Luke 1:39-56 Mary’s praise is a wonder. It’s something that shows a depth of thought and reflection, an understanding you wouldn’t expect from a teen. It’s possible she fully composed it later – the story doesn’t say she made it up spontaneously. What I love is how she takes her own blessing and her ownContinue reading “Advent – December 18th, 2018”

Psalm 40 …in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I was doing a spin class lately, and the instructor was a great cheerleader. It was just a canned video to motivate me, but it worked. One of the funny turns of phrase she kept saying, as my legs were cramping and my lungs were wheezing, wasContinue reading “Advent – December 17th, 2018”

Psalm 16 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let Your holy one see corruption. How does David know this?As I read this poem, and as you look at its structure, you can see how it builds. It’s a very simple beginning, but as the poem progresses it gets fuller and fuller.Continue reading “Advent – December 14th, 2018”

John 1:5 The birth stories of Jesus can come off a bit dry. There’s a plainness to the story, a narrative simplicity that can be quite charming…or quite boring. They are not flowery stories. The virgin birth is announced matter-of-factly. No one locally significant makes a big deal about it, it’s just business as usualContinue reading “Advent – December 13th, 2018”

Psalm 8 This poem balances itself on this question: What does it mean to be human? You can see David’s questions about humanity sit in the middle of his poem (I indented them so you could easily see them in the translation). Remember, Hebrew poetry is different: it reaches its climactic moment in the middle.Continue reading “Advent – December 12th, 2018”