Category Archives: Luke

That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:8-12

Dear God, what a message! The Messiah is here and he couldn’t be born into a much more lowly state. He’s in a trough in a barn. What exactly will this child’s path be and how will he become the Messiah? I know these shepherd will later go around telling everyone what they saw, but I wonder what was going on with them a week later. A year later. 10 years later. Did they remember? If they had made it the full 33 years of Jesus’ earthly life, how would they have responded to the crucifixion knowing what they knew from this night? Would they have been disillusioned?

And what if Mary’s and Joseph’s feelings that night. They had been told who Jesus was. Did they feel like they were failing you? Right out of the box, did Joseph feel like he was letting you and this baby down?

My point in all of this is that even when things might appear bad they can be part of your plan. Herod chased the young family out of Israel. They were poor. Jesus was rejected by the established church. He was ultimately killed by then. Poverty. Death. Rejection. Anger. Fear. It all combined to result in me being able to sit here this morning and worship you. And the story is Still told 2,000 years later.

Father, help me to NOT try to read the tea leaves and interpret what is going on by evaluating the physical world around me. Help me to simply embrace you, worship you, and trust you. That’s it, really. That’s the most important thing I can do today.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.

Luke 2:1-5

Dear God, I read this passage and can’t help but feel relieved that there’s some failsafe in your plan to keep me from messing up your will too badly. Why? Because Augustus was sitting in Rome, thought he himself was god (at least, he made others treat him that way), and yet he was fulfilling prophecy. So did you cause him to do it or did you just know in advance that he would do it? I believe it’s the latter. But my point is, you know everything I have done and will do and yet Jesus came for me anyway.

Father, help me to live within the peace of knowing that I just need to stay in the moment, worship you in the moment, love in the moment, serve in the moment, and lead in the moment. I offer you all of that for your will’s sake and for your glory.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

He has been merciful to our ancestors by remembering his sacred covenant— the covenant he swore with an oath to our ancestor Abraham.

Luke 1:72-73

Dear God, I’m guessing that in the midst of suffering under Rome the Israelites talked about your covenant with Abraham a lot. This is the second time I’ve seen it show up in the Christmas story with the first time being the Magnificat when Mary greeted Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth in their home.

I suppose that there are times when I am suffering that I look to your promises. But what exactly are your promises? Much like even the people in this story who were thinking you were there to physically rescue them from Rome, I think I sometimes mistakenly expect you to remove a burden or a yoke. But sometimes your plan includes the burden—either for my good or for someone else’s. So in this case your plan wasn’t to overthrow Rome with Jesus, but to create a new covenant that called people into deeper love, forgiveness and peace than they had ever known or considered. In fact, now that o think about it, I can’t really think of an Old Testament prophet or character who spoke of love and forgiveness the way Jesus did. This was a brand new message.

Father, help me to sink into your peace. Help me to have energy that is fueled by your Holy Spirit, by love, and by grace. And help me to spread and encourage that peace in others.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

Then his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy: “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people. He has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David, just as he promised through his holy prophets long ago.

Luke 1:67-70

Dear God, the theme for my morning seems to be gratitude. I am grateful for the different things you are doing in my life. I am grateful for the prayers to which I’m starting to see some answers. Especially after seeing how some people in our community are living, I am grateful for my home and my income. There are a lot of things for which I should be grateful—too man even more me to realize. I take so much for granted.

So what is my calling in this bounty? What would you have me do when you say yes to my prayers? What can I do to glorify you and spread your blessing to others? Those are the questions that are resonating with me this morning. If “to whom much is given much is required,” then I owe everyone a lot.

Father, help me to be your servant in every moment of this day. Love others through me. Be glorified through me. Make our community better through my faithful work to you. Help me to do all of this with one goal—to bring others into your presence and worship you.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you! ”

Luke 1:26-28

Dear God, worshipping with Catholics every week has made me think about Mary a little more intentionally. It’s not that I personally believe anything about her that I didn’t before. I think my personal beliefs are still pretty standard for Protestants. But it has made me consciously consider what I do believe and how I feel about the role she played in my Salvation.

I would say the biggest thing is that as much as we say that our military lays down their lives for our freedom, both Mary and Joseph ended up sacrificing the rest of their lives, plans, and dreams to accept the responsibility of Jesus’ birth and childhood. They had to deal with pregnancy in Bethlehem (that census would have been a lot easier without that little wrinkle). They had to deal with shame in their society. They had to flee for Egypt in the middle of the night and start new lives there. They had to abandon those lives to move again, eventually ending up in Nazareth. They had the trauma of having lost the boy Jesus for a few days around Passover. And then Mary had a tough three-year stretch where she just didn’t fully understand what was going on with her grown son and eventually had to watch him be tragically killed. No, the mission (Baptists would call it a calling) that Gabriel gives her in this passage might not have been so readily accepted if she had known how hard it would be, but then again, you often obscure the pain of the path in front of us because if we knew then we might miss your glory that you have for us to experience on that path. And I’m sure, in retrospect, Mary and Jospeh wouldn’t trade the path for anything.

Father, thank you for what you did through those two simple people. Thank you for doing things through me. Thank you for keeping me on a need-to-know basis, and thank you for operating under the policy that I very rarely need to know. Help me to glorify you in all that I do, and let it be done to me as you will it.

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

Luke 22:24 Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. 

Dear God, I wonder what this argument sounded like: 

“I’m going to be sitting at His right hand!” 

“He called me the rock upon which he would build his church!” 

“Are you crazy? He also called you Satan!” 

“I’m more humble than all of you, and I love kids! You’ve seen how He values that!” 

“If you’ve walked with Him on water, raise your hand! Ha! I thought so!”

“If you got out there and then sank like a stone, raise your hand!”

I guess the question that comes to mind is why? Why were they arguing about this? Did they think they were paying it forward and there were glorious times ahead? Much like picking a replacement for Judas, which they didn’t need and they seemingly picked the wrong guy, everything was going to sort itself out. You had your plan. They just needed to be patient as it unfolded. 

Father, when I’m looking for opportunities to grow or to increase the work that is done for your kingdom, help me to be completely focused on your glory and not mine. Help me to listen to your still, small voice. Help me to give my utmost for YOUR highest. 

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen

Luke 18:22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 

Dear God, as a fundraiser who works with people of wealth, I guess one of my desires is to help them receive your blessing as they give to the poor. When people decide to donate to our patients through our work–to give to the poor–then I want them to feel your smile. 

I’ll admit that there are times when I lose sight of this. There are also times when I lose sight of giving away my own possessions for the benefit of others. I start to hold on tightly. I start to get fearful about the future. About retirement. Will I have enough? Am I being responsible for my wife and myself? Am I doing the right thing?

Father, as I try to move through these thoughts and decisions, help me to spend even more time just contemplating your Word. I think I need to be more about hearing from you through scripture right now. I have fears with family, with work, and with the world in general. There are actions I can take and actions I should skip. I guess it goes back to the “Serenity Prayer.” God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. 

In Jesus’ name I pray,

Amen 

Luke 12:1-7 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. 
Dear God, this passage from Bible Gateway’s verse of the day started with the last two verses. I decided to try to figure out the context and realized that Jesus’ attitudes towards the Pharisees were the subject of this talk. It was about hypocrisy. It was about fearing the right thing. “Don’t fear what they can do to you physically. Fear becoming hypocrites like them. Like yeast, their example will lead you to something that is much worse than you body dying. 

Hypocrisy. As I think about it, it’s something that children love to call out in their parents. It’s also something that Non-Christians love to call out in Christians. For children, it’s normally because the parent is trying to hold the child to a standard and the child is trying to fight back. For Non-Christians, I think a lot of it is anger over feeling judged instead of loved. 

Father, help me to love more and judge less. Help me to not get in the way of you trying to draw someone to yourself, but instead to help pave that path for someone. I have a couple of relationships specifically on my mind right now. Help me to be who you need me to be. 

I pray this in the name of Jesus, the savior I need,

Amen