Living by the Word - January, 2013

Living by the Word

Ash Wednesday

Isaiah 58:1–12; 2 Corinthians 5:20b–6:10; Matthew 6:1–6, 16–21

Jan 29, 2013 by James Alison

Why do we humans so love to fake goodness? Year after year Lent brings another shout-out to the soul. Year after year we find ourselves dragged forward against the grain of our pretensions of religiosity, through the vulnerability of hearts tender with shames and fears, so that God may find us and make of us transmitters of a light other than our own.

Living by the Word

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Luke 4:21–30

Jan 22, 2013 by Matthew Myer Boulton and Elizabeth Myer Boulton

Indiana’s fiery love affair with basketball began just a few years after James Naismith taught his Massachusetts gym class to toss a soccer ball into an elevated peach basket. After he got a taste of Hoosier Hysteria in 1925, Naismith wrote that basketball seemed to have its “origin in Indiana.”

Living by the Word

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Luke 4:14–21

Jan 15, 2013 by Matthew Myer Boulton and Elizabeth Myer Boulton

Breast-feeding is quiet and holy work—rocking, comforting, studying each other’s face and skin-to-skin bonding. When it goes well (and God knows, it doesn’t always go well!) nursing is a sweet and beautiful thing. It’s sweeter than honey, the psalmist might say, sweeter than the drippings of the honeycomb.

Living by the Word

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Isaiah 43:1–7; Acts 8:14–17; Luke 3:15–17, 21–22

Jan 02, 2013 by Lawrence M. Stratton

I was ordained last February, and since then I’ve been invited to preach at more than a dozen churches as a supply preacher. It’s always an adventure to pack up my minister’s gown and stole and drive to a new church. Last summer I found myself preaching at the opening worship service for a local fair.