Our Lenten study book, Max Vincent’s, “Because of This I Rejoice,” provides us with opportunities to read and reflect on Scripture every day of the week. The Scripture passages listed below are the suggested readings for the week following the Sixth Sunday in Lent (Palm Sunday). I will list each day below, and fill in my thoughts as the week goes on…hoping to be a day or two ahead. Lenten blessings throughout this week and during your daily reflections.
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Our Lenten study book, Max Vincent’s, “Because of This I Rejoice,” provides us with opportunities to read and reflect on Scripture every day of the week. The Scripture passages listed below are the suggested readings for the week following the Fifth Sunday in Lent. I will list each day below, and fill in my thoughts as the week goes on…hoping to be a day or two ahead. Lenten blessings throughout this week and during your daily reflections.
Continue readingOur Lenten study book, Max Vincent’s, “Because of This I Rejoice,” provides us with opportunities to read and reflect on Scripture every day of the week. The Scripture passages listed below are the suggested readings for the week following the Fourth Sunday in Lent. I will list each day below, and fill in my thoughts as the week goes on…hoping to be a day or two ahead. Lenten blessings throughout this week and during your daily reflections.
Continue reading
Our Lenten study book, Max Vincent’s, “Because of This I Rejoice,” provides us with opportunities to read and reflect on Scripture every day of the week. The Scripture passages listed below are the suggested readings for the week following the Third Sunday in Lent. I will list each day below, and fill in my thoughts as the week goes on…hoping to be a day or two ahead. Lenten blessings throughout this week and during your daily reflections.
Continue reading
Our Lenten study book, Max Vincent’s, “Because of This I Rejoice,” provides us with opportunities to read and reflect on Scripture every day of the week. I will list each day below, and fill in my thoughts as the week goes on…hoping to be a day or two ahead. The picture of snow & leaves is simply an invitation to pick a simple image of natural beauty of your own to use in your reflections. Lenten blessings for this week after the Second Sunday in Lent.
Continue readingOur Lenten study book, Max Vincent’s, “Because of This I Rejoice,” provides us with opportunities to read and reflect on Scripture every day of the week. My hope is to provide some initial thoughts and maybe a reflection question or two, should you choose to take Vincent up on his offer to engage in daily reading and reflection of the Scripture passages he provides. I will list each day below, and fill in my thoughts as the week goes on…hoping to be a day or two ahead…at least, that’s my hope. The picture of snow & leaves is simply an invitation to pick a simple image of natural beauty of your own to use in your reflections. Lenten blessings for this week after the First Sunday in Lent.
Continue readingIt’s been quite some time since my last post…nearly three years! That’s pretty long, by any measure, and especially long for a blog that is supposed to be focused on daily living. So, there’s the title: “weeding the garden” and it’s “again” because I’ve been here before. But, that’s OK, because we begin again, and we’ve learned and changed since the last time.
Continue readingI promised I would write a few essays about our summer season of giving, and I hope this is simply the first thought I will share! I just returned from a few days away on silent retreat, followed by a few days of vacation. We had the opportunity to spend a few days in the amazing city of Chicago…and it was sunny and in the 70’s the entire trip, pretty amazing for late June…a random act of kindness from God, no doubt! We had many great moments in the Windy City, including one evening of dinner at a delicious sushi restaurant (Yuzu Sushi if you’re in the neighborhood). While eating an excellent dinner, two of Chicago’s finest walked in to the restaurant and eventually were seated several tables away from us. The police officers were taking a mid-shift dinner break, and remembering the many challenges of serving their community, especially in the summer, and remembering our theme of “A Summer of Giving,” I asked our server if it would be possible to pay for the officers’ dinner and also not be identified as doing so. She was very happy to help us give this gift to the officers and it was fun for us to watch them leave the restaurant, glancing around, wondering who kindly provided them dinner. The chef came by and thanked us, and told us the police officers were very thankful too. Our server was so happy to be part of the random act of kindness that she gave us a special dessert, on the house…her random act of kindness to us!
After returning from vacation, I saw an interesting news piece on the evening news – a man who has been cutting people’s lawns throughout the United States. He has successfully helped people in all 50 states! Now, that’s an incredible series of acts of kindness!! If you would like to see the video of his story, click this link: Video Story.
I hope you are enjoying your summer and I hope you have been inspired to participate in our “Summer of Giving.” I know you will have fun sharing your time and gifts with others and will enjoy sharing your stories just as much!
Advent reflection: this week during Advent we encounter John the Baptist, proclaiming the coming of the Lord as he courageously stands in the wilderness, clothed in camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. Make straight the paths for the coming of the Lord. In the reflection offered below from Stan Purdum’s Advent study book, we consider the paths of our lives, the obstacles, roundabouts, and narrow ways of those paths; and, finally, reflect on how we might begin to uncover our obstacles to God and smooth the way for the coming of the Lord. Continue reading
Welcome to Advent! The season of Advent is one of my favorite times of the year…I wish it was a little bit longer, and perhaps it could be a bit longer if we are able to devote ourselves to the season until the Magi arrive on the feast of the Epiphany. Advent asks much from us – Advent asks us to patiently wait while the world urges us to hurry up; Advent directs our attention to the hope filled future while grounding us in the now while the world tempts us to focus our energy on the here and now (as the catch phrase “You only live once” YOLO promises); Advent points toward holy ground while the world calls us to the shopping malls. Advent is an invitation to spend time in reflection of God’s many gifts of grace: the grace of Christ’s presence among us, the grace of the earliest Christians’ courageous devotion and faith, and the grace of our gifts as God’s children. These gifts of grace can be challenging to discover in our “noisy” world, and I invite you to consider taking up a few practices to quiet the noise and discover God’s grace among you. Throughout this season there will be many opportunities for corporate worship, study and reflection, but these are just a few among the many ways to find God’s grace in this holy season. Throughout this season, I will try to offer a few thoughts for prayer and reflection…an Advent discipline I hope to keep!
“May He whose second Coming in power and great glory we await, make you steadfast in faith, joyful in hope, and constant in love. Amen.” (Advent blessing from Book of Occasional Services, p. 22)
Padre Ryder's Journal 