The Forward Day by Day Archives
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THURSDAY, July 29 Mary and Martha of Bethany
I’ve been learning a lot about the history of the church, and I’ve been thinking a lot about Jesus’ words to the Pharisees. So often, the Pharisees completely miss the point of scripture and hinder people from experiencing the love of God. If Jesus returned today, I wonder: would we welcome hi....WEDNESDAY, July 28 [Johann Sebastian Bach]
One of my friends is going through a difficult break-up. Several of his friends and I have been listening to him, reminding him that God is close to the brokenhearted and is compassionate. But my friend insists, “I’ve never been ‘compassion-ed’ by God.” He feels like he’s waiting on God ....TUESDAY, July 27 William Reed Huntington
I recently read that our brains think four times faster than we speak, meaning our minds are narrating messages at the speed of six-hundred words per minute! No wonder quieting my mind and soul into a place of silence and stillness seems impossible. My head is often jammering with worries and nonsen....MONDAY, July 26 Saint James, tr
I’ve noticed within myself a form of vanity that comes from doing “Christian” things: donating extra money to charity, knowing the names of the homeless people I buy meals for, going out of my way to help friends in need (especially if they are moving—that alone ought to be reason for sainth....- In 1806, a group of five Williams College students gathered to think about and pray for the spiritual needs of people around the world, particularly in Asian countries. They were meeting on a field in Massachusetts to pray when a sudden thunderstorm rolled in, forcing them to take shelter under a ha....
SATURDAY, July 24 Thomas a Kempis
For many years my preferred method of dealing with problems was to flee from them—sometimes to another state, sometimes across the world. Like David, who wrote this psalm after his companion—his friend—turned against him, I too feel this impulse when I am brokenhearted.FRIDAY, July 23 [John Cassian]
On the way to Jairus’s house, Jesus is intercepted by a woman in the crowd who has suffered from bleeding for twelve years. This woman believes if only she can touch Jesus’ cloak, she will be healed. And indeed, her bleeding stops immediately.For twelve....
THURSDAY, July 22 Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene is one of Jesus’ most faithful disciples. Even when the Twelve get it completely wrong, Mary can be found with Jesus, sitting at his feet. Mary is one of the women who provides for Jesus out of her resources. When the disciples abandon Jesus at the cross, Mary is with him.WEDNESDAY, July 21 [Maria Skobtsoba]
A few centuries before this, another man is in a boat, getting thrashed by the wind and waves of a storm, asleep in the hull of a ship. He, too, is awakened by a frightened crew. This man is Jonah, and his story unfolds very differently than Jesus’.Jonah ....
TUESDAY, July 20 Stanton, Bloomer, Truth, and Tubman
Inspired by this parable, my friend got a tattoo of a mustard flower on her foot. She explained to me that it’s her favorite image of the kingdom of God.Jesus’ audience would have been familiar with the promise in Ezekiel 17:22-24, that a branch from a ....
MONDAY, July 19 Macrina of Caesarea
Poor David. He does everything right. And yet his friend turns on him anyway.David plays the lyre for Saul whenever the evil spirit torments him, and for a while, this gives Saul peace. In fact, only a few short chapters before today’s reading, it is not....
My mother comes from a long line of Jewish ancestors. In fact, according to Ancestry.com, 90 percent of her bloodline is “Eastern European Jew.” Since Judaism is passed down the matrilineal line, I have always held a sense of pride in the fact that I am, technically, Jewish.....
SATURDAY, July 17 William White
It’s been a long time since I’ve read C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, but I imagine the book’s senior demon, Screwtape, giving this advice to his nephew and apprentice demon:Get people riled up, make them afraid of each other. Use ....
When the Pharisees accuse Jesus and his disciples of not honoring the sabbath, Jesus responds by citing this passage from 1 Samuel. Jesus says to the Pharisees, “Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?” (Matthew 12:3).I ....
First-century Jews needed to hear the second half of Jesus’ statement: people are not made for the sabbath. The sabbath had been turned into a set of legalistic rules, and Jesus was constantly battling the Scribes and Pharisees because of it.But ....
WEDNESDAY, July 14 [Argula von Grumbach]
I remember the first time I heard “New Wine” by the band Hillsong United. I had just come out of a long and difficult season of repentance and transformation, and the lyrics struck me as distressingly autobiographical. They describe the process of making new wine, how it involves pressing and cr....I visited my neighbors’ house to play with a toy they had created for today’s gospel reading: a little house, made of cardboard with a movable square in the ceiling that could be lowered down in front of (a pretend) Jesus. This toy solidified my love for this story.<....
When I was a teenager, my family and I visited the island of Molokai, Hawaii, where people with leprosy had been exiled, the place where they went to die. Here, the name Father Damien is recognized and honored, recalling the man who came to dwell among the lepers (those who suffered from Hansen’s ....The Ark of the Covenant was handcrafted from acacia wood, with the wings of two golden cherubim surrounding the mercy seat from which God would speak. Poles were placed through golden rings in order to carry the ark.In today’s lesson, it’s mentioned twi....
Father Roman Braga was a survivor of the Pitești Prison in Romania. He spent his first year there in solitary confinement being “reeducated” by the Communist party. “In that situation,” he said, “the only place to go was inside. There I discovered an inner universe—God and myself.”Subscribe to Forward Day By Day
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