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Spiritual Resources

Study guide: Mercy and addiction

More than 64,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2016, government figures show, and the number is rising due to the opioid crisis. And much more numerous are the people…

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Lectionary Blog

Lectionary blog: Growing toward the light of God

Lectionary blog for April 29 The Fifth Sunday of Easter Acts 8:26-40; Psalm 22:25-31; 1 John 4:7-21; John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine, and my father is the vine-grower”…

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Lectionary Blog

Lectionary blog: Following the shepherd

Lectionary blog for April 22 The Fourth Sunday of Easter Acts 4:5-12; Psalm 23; 1 John 3:11-24; John 10:11-18 Today is the time for us to look up and follow…

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Mission & Ministry

Waves of faith

Rolling, sun-kissed waves on the Pacific Ocean provide Jerry Phillips, a fourth-year undergraduate at the University of California–Santa Barbara (UCSB) more than a stage on which to improve his surfing…

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Lectionary Blog

Lectionary blog: ‘Filled with joy and doubt’

Lectionary blog for April 15 The Third Sunday of Easter Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48 “While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering.” (Luke…

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Spiritual Resources

Lectionary blog: Cleaning house

Lectionary blog for March 4 The third Sunday in Lent Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22 One Saturday after breakfast, Mama announced it was our family’s turn…

Study guide: God revealed through people with disabilities
Spiritual Resources

Study guide: God revealed through people with disabilities

Our culture has changed significantly in the last 50 years in both its awareness of the needs of people with disabilities and its willingness to accommodate those needs. Of course,…

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Spiritual Resources

Lectionary blog: Going nowhere fast

Lectionary blog for Feb. 4 The fifth Sunday after the Epiphany Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-11; 20c; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39 In the morning, while it was still very dark,…

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Spiritual Resources

Lectionary blog: The good destroyer

Lectionary blog for Jan. 28 The fourth Sunday after the Epiphany Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28 Jesus came to destroy. But, he came to destroy in…

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Lectionary Blog

Lectionary blog: God means now!

Lectionary blog for Jan. 21 The Third Sunday after the Epiphany Jonah 3:1-5; Psalm 62:5-12; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20 When I was about 12 years old, I found an…

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Spiritual Resources

Study guide: Past experience not necessary

“Give a man a fish,” the old saying goes, “and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Congregations that…