February 28: Psalm 27:11 Teach me your way, O Lord.

Show me your ways, instruct me in your ways, teach me your ways, over and over we hear the cry of the psalmist. This is a simple request, but it carries quite a punch. Once we learn the way of our Lord, we pretty much have to follow it!

February 27: Mark 2:27 Then Jesus said to them, ”The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath.”

God has given his people the gift of Sabbath—the recognition that as human beings we must have time for rest, time free of responsibility in order to worship and think rightly. It loses all meaning if we make it something MORE of a burden. Sabbath was intended for us, as a gift.

February 26: Genesis 40:8 They said to Joseph, “We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, ...

... “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”

The officers of Pharoah are baffled by their dreams, and this is the moment when God will lift Joseph up out of prison and will give him a place of influence in Pharoah’s household. The tribe of Jacob will be saved because one of Jacob’s sons can interpret dreams, and because he never forgets that the gift of interpretation comes from God alone.

February 25: Psalm 50:11 I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine.

God is the one speaking here, through the Psalmist, and he has just finished describing all the cattle on a thousand hills that are at his disposal. I think the point is that he doesn’t really need the things we offer him, they are his in the first place, but he does need our willing hearts.

February 24 John 15:12 Jesus said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

We can usually name most of the 10 Commandments, and we can usually spit out the summary of those 10—love God and love you neighbor. Jesus has further boiled it down to one! If we really did the one thing—really loved one another as he has loved us, all the laws and commandments in the world would be fulfilled, wouldn’t they?

February 23: Mark 1:15 Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the Good News.”

These are the very first words of Jesus recorded in Mark’s Gospel, his very first preaching to be written down. Repent and believe—this seems to be the heart of all that will come. It is still the heart of the Kingdom in our own day.

February 22: 1Corinthians 1:4 I give thanks to my God always for you, because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus.

Paul writes the letters to all his friends in all his churches, and he never fails to tell them that his prayers for them are constant. (always, without ceasing, at all times, etc…) He is always thanking God for the house church in Corinth, because he knows that they are uniquely graced and blessed. They have their issues, but he nonetheless is ALWAYS giving thanks for them.

February 21: Deuteronomy 26:5 A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and ...

... lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.

The Hebrew Scriptures are full of singular and plural switching. The one ancestor was actually a tribe of significant size, it’s just that he was a much, much bigger tribe at the end of the Egyptian period than he had been at the beginning! Back then he was a wanderer, and so he would continue.

February 20: Psalm 30:11 You have turned my mourning into dancing, you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.

We have all been told, at one time or another, that time heals all wounds. We recognize that mourning runs its own course. I would say, rather, that God heals all wounds—time has no magic quality of its own. A desire for healing, a willingness to grieve and to call out to God—these are the things that find sack-cloth in the trash bag and dancing shoes back in the front of our closets.

February 19: John 17:11 Jesus prayed, “Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one.”

As Jesus prays for us on the last night of his life, he asks that we might be one as he and the father are one. Surely this is impossible, since he and the father are totally one—one will, one mind, one plan, one love for all. But if it were impossible, why would Jesus have asked? And why would St. John have included it for our learning? And so we pray, father make us one.

February 18: Philippians 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Whatever place we claim to be citizens of, we follow the laws of that place. We carry a passport with the name of that place on it, and wherever we travel people know our home location and loyalty. Here in this world we are resident aliens, working on a green card, and looking forward to the day of our return home—the day our visa runs out. In the meantime, may we serve joyfully and work faithfully and love the people of our transplanted country.

February 17 (Ash Wednesday): Luke 18:14 Jesus said, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Jesus humbled himself in such a way that he was “exalted” on the cross. Then, he invited all who were brave enough or crazy enough to follow along behind him, each carrying their own cross. The long road of Lent that looms before us is road of humility and a road of following that one who died for us. The long road is also the road of life.

February 16: Psalm 28:9 O save your people and bless your heritage; be their shepherd and carry them forever.

The ancient people of Israel understood that their God was their shepherd, and that they were his flock forever. They relied on him to care for them and protect them as a good shepherd cares for his lambs, even risking his life for their well-being and safety. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture, even now.

February 15: Philippians 2:5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.

Amazingly, Paul goes on to describe what kind of mind that was—the mind of one who gave up a lofty place in heaven to come among us and die, even to die on a cross. He is now highly exalted, and we are called to bow before him. And to have that kind of self-giving, self-emptying mind. The mind of Christ.

February 14: 2Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

This text of Scripture forms half of a Camp Allen song that many of the kids sing over and over. The name of the song is “Holy Freedom,” and they echo that phrase over and over. Where he is, there is freedom…holy freedom….holy freedom…holy freedom.

February 13: John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, before Abraham was, I Am.”

When Jesus refers to himself as “I Am,” he is claiming for himself the ancient name of God. In his encounter with Moses, the Living God first told one of us that He Is Who He Is, and was known by that name thereafter. Jesus was before the beginning and will be after the end—our Lord and our God.

February 12: Genesis 28:16 Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.”

Jacob had the vision in his sleep of the famous ladder, with angels coming and going in and out of heaven. It would sustain him in many trials and tribulations, and would continue to sustain all who put their trust in God. The Spiritual sings of OUR climbing the ladder, children of the Lord.

February 11: Psalm 146:7-8 The Lord sets the prisoners free, the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those that are bowed down; ...

... the Lord loves the righteous.

Many centuries after the Psalmist described God in these poignant words, Jesus walked among us doing the very things he described. Even now, at this very moment, he stands among us to lift all who are bowed down by burdens or blinded to his grace or held captive by bonds that seem unbreakable. He loves us, and he still sets us free. Give him the burden.

February 10 Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what ...

... is good and acceptable and perfect.

We are capable of feeding our minds the kind of food that will renew it, or the kind of food that will not! Paul encourages us to chose carefully, and to renew our minds for service to God alone.

February 9: Genesis 26:4 I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and will give to your offspring all these lands.

Here, God is talking to Isaac, letting him know that the same promise he had made to his father Abraham still stood for him as well. Isaac knew God as the One who provides, saves, redeems. Now he knows him as the One who keeps his word in every generation.

February 8: John 7:38 Jesus said, “Let the one who believes in me drink. As the Scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall ...

... flow rivers of living water.’ ”

Once, beside a well in Samaria, Jesus described himself as living water that forever quenches thirst. Here, then, it seems like Jesus himself will flow out of the believer’s heart to quench the thirst of all who are in need. The world is a thirsty place.

February 7: Mark 10:14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom ...

... of God belongs.”

I wonder what exactly were the child-like qualities that made Jesus say this? We can imagine—the wonder, the willingness to believe in what we can’t exactly understand, the knowledge that we sometimes need help and the willingness to ask for it. May we all become more childlike in these ways.

February 6: Hebrews 12:14 Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

We have an obligation to live with others as peacefully as we possibly can, to be peacemakers and reconcilers so far as it depends on us. But, holiness is also our obligation, and we should not veer away from the life God intends for us because that only leads to false peace.

February 5: Psalm 69:1 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.

We all have our own version of swirling flood waters!! It doesn’t have to be actual water or a visible rising tide to put right in line behind this anxious psalmist. He knows where to look for deliverance, where to look for help. Our help is in the name of the Lord, maker of heaven and earth, and maker of us.

February 4: Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, ...

... and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.

The author of this sermon remembers many famous champions of the faith, and also remembers that some of the faithful who surround us are not so famous. They all gather together into the great cloud of witnesses that cheer us on as we run. We breathe them in, and we breathe in strength. Who are the ones surrounding you that might not be so famous or dramatic in their witness? We give thanks for them today.

February 3: Psalm 72:4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor.

This is the psalmist’s prayer for the king of Israel. He asks God for victory and success for the king, and also that the king might never forget the poor. God’s kings are meant to be kings of righteousness and mercy, kings who reflect His heart--the heart of the Living God.

February 2: John 6:48 I am the bread of life.

Jesus reminds the crowd that had gathered around him that their ancestors had eaten the manna in the wilderness, and they had eventually died. Those who eat of this bread—Jesus—the bread of life--will never die. They begin to imagine that he is more than a teacher or prophet or leader. He Is.

February 1: Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

If we see the thing that we are hoping for, then it’s not really hope, is it? It’s just waiting. If we cannot see the thing that we hope for, but we know that God has given it to us, then that is hope, and that is faith. God is faithful, and we are called to be faithful.