The start of something new!

Revelation 21:6-7; John 6:32-35; Exodus 3:1-15; Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45; Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28; John 4:7-15; Exodus 17:1-7

I know! I know!!! Too many scriptures! And where is Matthew! As a neurotic pattern-lover myself, I sympathize with any concerns over my change from the Gospel of Matthew to something entirely different.As part of my seminary training, I have decided to switch over for a while to prayer and devotionals based on the lectionary (a series of scriptures and themes that rotate through the Christian calendar). Thus, scriptures will be appropriate to the current season and will hopefully flow with the theme of the week.

We have just finished the Sermon on the Mount, an excellent foundation to this devotional blog. From here, we enter the lectionary starting with the theme "Living Water". This week's readings and reflections will all revolve around that idea, and often here will be multiple readings per day. Hopefully this will not be overly burdensome, but rather life-giving. Feel free to read what you will (not like I am gonna force you to read everything).

Today, I catch up on three days absence from posting. Living water is a FANTASTIC theme (in my opinion) because it relates directly to one of my favorite bible stories: Jesus and the woman at the well (John 4). I love the idea of water as a living substance that gives life, I mean who would disagree with the necessity of water? The Bible returns to this image frequently: Moses bringing forth water from the rock (symbolic of living water from THE Rock: Jesus), the woman at the well, the Psalms, and references to life-giving rivers in Eden and the New Jerusalem (to name some really interesting ones). It is hard to explain the joy of life that comes from such water. Jesus promises eternal life welling from a spring in our hearts. May we accept this amazing gift and the image that has been so powerful for so many!