Devotion
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Reflecting on morning devotions – 8/6/2014
Sometimes when I do my morning devotions, I read through them hurriedly and barely pay attention because I want to get on to other things. This morning, I really read them (see Scriptures below). Two words stuck out for me in relation to the “new creation” from 2 Corinthians 5:17. Those words are “realities” and…
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Living the Third Testament – Part of the Vine & Bearing Fruit
It’s been a while since I’ve written, but I’ve been so moved personally by the fruit of my time in sermon preparation and the direction of our worship services since we completed our year using The Story. For a few weeks, we’re using Scriptures that help us live the “Third Testament” (we’ve studied God’s faithfulness and heard…
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Devotion: C’mon out! The water’s getting hot!
You’ve heard the story about how to boil a frog … if you try to put a frog into boiling water, it will immediately jump out because it realizes that the water is too hot for it. However, if you put a frog in lukewarm water and gradually raise the temperature, by the time the…
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Devotion: Moving On After Sin
Sin is not a great topic. To talk about sin is to necessarily raise our awareness of our own faults, where we have hurt people, and where we fall short. The reality is we all sin – we all fall short. It is our faith that makes a difference because it describes how we react…
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Devotion: Extravagant Generosity
Vacation is not a luxury, but a necessity. Many of us keep such busy schedules that it’s hard to keep track of everything and hard to keep up. Rest and doing things that feed our souls can be pushed aside in favor of those more pressing things. As you may know, my family and I…
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Devotion : Advent – Horizontal Relationships with Neighbors
Is our faith just about getting myself to heaven at the end of my life? Is it just about being “good enough” or being a “good person”? In the Adult Forum on Sunday, we were reviewing chapters 7-11 of The Story and got talking about heaven and salvation. We said that, in Lutheran theology, we…
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Devotion: Advent – Vertical Relationship with God – part 2
I find images such as this one helpful not only for teaching about our relationship with God, but also as a way to remind me and direct my own relationship with God and the world. Last week, I wrote about the downward facing arrows – that they remind us that God has made the first…
Epicurious Lutheran 