This past week included a variety of wonderful posts delivered via email. What a blessing! Two in particular are highlighted next…

“The Power of Stillness” from Center for Action and Contemplation is HERE. It’s well worth the read, including quotes like this one:

Inaction sometimes is the greatest action we can take. Stillness is sometimes the most important move we can make. ~ Charles Lattimore Howard, Pond River Ocean Rain 

That same post continues on with Howard Thurman’s suggestions on stillness practices, moving towards “creative lassitude” (what a great phrase!) That section concludes with this:

Such periods may be snatched from the greedy demands of one’s day’s work; they may be islanded in a sea of other human beings; they may come only at the end of the day, or in the quiet hush of the early morning. We must, each one of us, find [our] own time and develop [our] own peculiar art of being quiet.

A key for stillness success? There is no “right” way – we must make it our own!

While being quiet, does a voice ever resonate “Do Not Be Afraid?”  The Henri Nouwen Foundation post HERE includes that phrase and goes on to say…

The voice uttering these words sounds all through history as the voice of God’s holy messengers, be they angels or saints. It is the voice that announces a whole new way of being, a being in the house of love, the house of the Lord

It’s a wonderful reminder of the song Be Not Afraid (a version HERE.)

Let us go out, willing to be quiet and unafraid, strengthened and spurred by the Spirit!

P.S. The photo below is of a Myanmar evening several years ago. Prayers of strength and support plus loads of lovingkindness are with those in Myanmar as recovery efforts continue…

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, April 6, 2025:

• Isaiah 43:16-21
• Psalm 126
• Philippians 3:4b-14
• John 12:1-8

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

• share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
• check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
• volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
• find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
• accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

As Christians, we periodically enjoy a reawakening and/or recharging. Many in SW Cincinnati, OH, experienced that with the pastorate of Rev. Dr. LP Jones.

Regular DP readers will recognize this Lenten Prayer as a typical element of this season’s postings. In the early 2010s, Rev. Dr. LP Jones prepared and shared a Holy Week prayer with the MWPC community as part of his weekly newsletter column [read or listen to the entire Lenten Prayer HERE]

Focusing on the Lenten Prayer lines relating to confession:

…We know our sins are many, but why must we confess them so often? Remind us, gracious God, that you call us to confession not to burden us, but to free us. Help us to offer you every fear, failure, and sin, so that your forgiveness can calm and cleanse us and your steadfast love can draw us to new beginnings…

The first two sentences feel like part of the human experience – confessing sins AGAIN this week. Really? It’s easy to get that burdened feeling relating to confession.

LP brings it to a great spot just like the song Amazing Grace does for many – “to free us.” Though making plenty of mistakes, we can be inspired by the forgiveness of our Creator!

Let us go out, willing to make a suitable number of mistakes – strengthened and spurred by the Spirit!

[author note: The book Help, Thanks, WOW by Anne Lamott comes to mind in such situations – HELP (us take these words into our lives.) THANKS (for the inspirational aspects that LP’s ministry shared with MWPC, and for other inspirational message-sharers to various communities in the past, present and future.) WOW (let these words surround and inspire us to love and good works.) ]

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, March 23, 2025:

• Isaiah 55:1-9
• Psalm 63:1-8
• 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
• Luke 13:1-9

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

• share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
• check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
• volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
• find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
• accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

“Pruning season occurs primarily during the winter months…The vinedresser typically pulls out his shears just before bud break…The branch is very much alive and never more poised for fruitfulness than in the wake of winter. We know how the grapevine feels…You can taste the breakthrough…But just before it comes to fruition – faith made sight – your breakthrough ends up looking suspiciously more like a breakdown.” Chasing Vines, Beth Moore, p. 148-149.

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, February 16, 2025:

• Jeremiah 17:5-10
• Psalm 1
• 1 Corinthians 15:12-20
• Luke 6:17-26

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

• share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
• check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
• volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
• find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
• accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

• “ ‘Two pressed flowers,’ beauty off the bloom, memories of past good days, remain in memory and heart long after the event has ended.”
• “ ‘letters from our friends,’ touch us so that we might eventually learn to touch others.”
• ” ‘Notes in the margins of our scriptures’ lift us above the mundane and make us look again at what we are, at what we are called to be.”

• which Bible? Good News? Life Application? Bible in a Year? Inspire? King James from confirmation?…  Each has meaning and writing in the margins depending on the time and purpose of use
• the note might be from a dear loved one, jail ministry participant, ministry partner, picture of a stranger on the street or ???
• pressed flowers might take the natural form or visual form like picture(s) – of people, places, creatures, of sky, …

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, February 2, 2025:

• Jeremiah 1:4-10
• Psalm 71:1-6
• 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
• Luke 4:21-30

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

• share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
• check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
• volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
• find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
• accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, February 2, 2025:

• Jeremiah 1:4-10
• Psalm 71:1-6
• 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
• Luke 4:21-30

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

• share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
• check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
• volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
• find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
• accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, January 26, 2025:

• Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10
• Psalm 19
• 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
• Luke 4:14-21

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

• share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
• check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
• volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
• find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
• accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

This Advent and Christmastide season has been made even better by reading the book The Mood of Christmas & Other Celebrations by Howard Thurman. Powerful prose!

Thurman’s book includes commentary on the end of a year and the beginning of a new year. It’s well worth the read at some point, and while the title suggests Christmas-time reading, one need not wait until that time of year to appreciate the commentaries! 🙂

We’re further blessed that A Prayer for the New Year by Howard Thurman is available on the internet HERE. It brings with it a Spirit-led “make a suitable number of mistakes” approach which resonates for many Christ-followers, and it includes these lines:

let my spirit be free
so that You may take it
and redeem my moments
in all the ways my needs reveal.

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit and those redeeming moments along the way…

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, January 12, 2025:

• Isaiah 43:1-7
• Psalm 29
• Acts 8:14-17
• Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

• share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
• check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
• volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
• find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
• accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

This explanation of Epiphany (link HERE) provides good context for our Christmastide and beyond, including these compelling sentences:

“But the joy of Christmas isn’t over yet because we can choose to recognize the mercy of God in the everyday stuff. With open hearts and expectant outlooks, believers can have epiphany moments any day.”

On this 2025 Epiphany and in future days,

may we find “aha” moments to energize our ways!

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, January 12, 2025:

• Isaiah 43:1-7
• Psalm 29
• Acts 8:14-17
• Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

• share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
• check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
• volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
• find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
• accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

WOW – an inspirational and aspirational Henri Nouwen Society post from January 3 is HERE!

Now, to figure out how to TRULY make Jesus the Center of One’s Life… This line is heavy with opportunity:

The thousands of people, events, ideas, and plans that occupy my inner life must become all one in the one and only name: Jesus.

How to do this?

• Henri Nouwen provides some thought along these lines in his book Finding Our Sacred Center. Perhaps it’ll find its way on the reading list?
• Short of that, the summary HERE of Nouwen’s book In the Name of Jesus probably provides some key nuggets?

Thanks to Henri Nouwen Society for their continued sharing of inspiration!

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit and continuing the experiences of Christmastide season!

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, January 5, 2025:

• Jeremiah 31:7-14 or Sirach 24:1-12
• Psalm 147:12-20 or Wisdom of Solomon 10:15-21
• Ephesians 1:3-14
• John 1:(1-9), 10-18

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

• share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
• check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
• volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
• find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
• accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE

The poem by Howard Thurman HERE is a nice reminder that Christ-followers have plenty of activity available after Christmas including

“…To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.”

An upbeat song using these words is HERE.

POTENTIAL ACTION:  Does one or more of the possible actions resonate with you for focus in 2025?

Enjoy the day, filled with the Spirit and music of the Christmas season!

Lectionary Texts for Sunday, December 29, 2024:

• 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
• Psalm 148
• Colossians 3:12-17
• Luke 2:41-52

Know someone who might like receiving messages like this?**  If so, forward this message to them and they can sign up HERE

POTENTIAL ACTIONS – FOOD INSECURITY: This season will likely find increasing numbers of folks looking for food, presenting opportunities to

• share financial and/or food offerings with a local food pantry
• check with your faith community about upcoming opportunities to feed community members
• volunteer to help with a local mobile food pantry or community dinner
• find a Little Pantry in your area and help stock it with shelf-stable food items
• accept a Call to Action item from Season of Peace devotional posting

NOTE: for those in the Cinci region, some food organizations are listed HERE

DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK HUMOR – click HERE for MORE humor, updated periodically. Included now is a grin-inducing New Bible Reading Plan (Pearls Before Swine)

STREAMING WORSHIP SERVICES – Cincinnati, Bowling Green and more!

CLICK ON ICONS BELOW FOR LINKS TO DISCIPLE PLAYBOOK PAGES ON DEVOTIONALS, PRAYERS, MUSIC, STUDY AND LOVE