Category Archives: Daily Bread Devotional

Be Open to God’s Kingdom
Linda Booth of Lee’s Summit, MO, USA

Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. -John 3:5

The kingdom of God that Jesus announced is present in life’s joys and challenges. On April 6, 2015, I received a call from my doctor as I was driving home from work. He said, “I have good and bad news. The bad news is that you have endometrial cancer. The good news is that I think we’ve caught it early.” I drove home in shock. My husband, Doug, was in the kitchen. I took his hands in mine, and for the first time said, “I have cancer.” Those words were surreal and terrifying.

That was on Monday. On Friday morning, I flew to Florida for a mission center conference to set apart new mission center leaders, preach, teach, and ordain four people. It was hard preparing for that weekend because I kept thinking about surgery, possible treatments, and what cancer might mean for my future and our family. My mind was in a tumultuous fog.

At the Kansas City airport, a woman approached me and said, “You don’t know me, but you know my mother. Her cancer has returned. If I call her, will you pray for her?” “Of course,” I said. I felt the kingdom as I provided words of blessing for the woman on the phone.

In the Dallas airport as I was running to make my connecting flight, I suddenly stopped as a warm bubble seemed to encase my body. I felt the kingdom as I realized that whether I lived or died, God’s grace was sufficient for me and my family. I was able to bring the ministry needed that weekend.

Following surgery and test results, the doctor shared that I was cancer free. That sense of being encased in the kingdom continues to bless me no matter what the future holds.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us.  It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Meet God in the Wilderness, Part 6
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin, Spiritual Formation Ministries

The desert is a place of truth, where men and women can find the truth about God and the truth about themselves. The immensity of the desert removes the pretensions of life. The barrenness of the desert prepares the way for the things that can only be accomplished by God. -John Moses, The Desert: An Anthology for Lent, pp. 15-16

What way is being prepared in you, in us, in these wilderness times? We have too often confused comfort and success with God’s presence. God is wherever we are, even here, even in the places we never thought we would be. God is waiting to meet us in this wilderness.

Maybe this is a time to hunker down in your “cell” and embrace a simpler way for a while, to get to know the rhythms of a new landscape, to breathe relief in what is being naturally uncluttered and uncrowded. Perhaps this is an opportunity to reclaim the essence of our Christhood, to recover that something essential that often gets lost in the busyness of church and life as usual. What if this is actually what people are spiritually hungry for?

Did you know that there are over 2,000 plant species and 700 animal species in the Mojave Desert? What else may be thriving in unexpected places that we are just now learning to see?

Lenten Reflection Questions:

• What way is being prepared in you, in us, in these wilderness times?
• How is God waiting to meet you, here and now?
• What else may be thriving in unexpected places that we are just now learning to see?

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us.  It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Meet God in the Wilderness, Part 5
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin, Spiritual Formation Ministries

Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, in order that they may see the food with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.'” -Exodus 16:32

If we look at our history, we can notice a pattern. Every time our spiritual ancestors were in the wilderness, it felt hard, there can be no doubt; but it was always a precursor to some infusion of clarity, integrity, hope, calling that changed their trajectory and deepened their faith. We, too, can wander and lament about what appears to be sparse conditions, or we can choose to see what is here and imagine what thriving even in these conditions might look like.

In fact, some of our ancestors chose the desert, on purpose, as the place to live their spiritual callings. The desert mothers and fathers in fourth-century Egypt moved to the desert when Christianity became the religion of the empire. They were concerned that something essential and transformative might be lost as Christians got more comfortable. They moved into “cells” and lived disciplined lives of radical simplicity. Craving the substance of this simple way, crowds of people began to move into the desert to join them. This was the birthplace of early monasticism and most contemplative prayer forms (including centering prayer and lectio divina) that are still shaping us today.

Lenten Reflection Questions:

• How does the pattern of our spiritual ancestors speak to our own time? What can we learn?
• How might the simple way of the desert be transformational for you or your community?
• What does the witness of the early desert mothers and fathers say to you about the power of faithfulness even in challenging conditions?

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us.  It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today‘s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Meet God in the Wilderness, Part 4
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin, Spiritual Formation Ministries

When one of us says, “Look, there’s nothing out there,” what we are really saying is, “I cannot see.” -Terry Tempest Williams, Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert, p.69

Did you know there are over 2,000 plant species and 700 animal species in the Mojave Desert? Encounters with this seemingly barren desert wilderness might have you guessing otherwise. The conditions can be harsh. The habitat is exposed. But sit atop a rock for a while, and you may be surprised at what you see. What at first appears uninhabitable is actually teeming with life that knows how to be sustained in precisely these conditions.

It certainly feels like a desert time for many individuals and communities of faith. Much has gone dry in us. There is a strong urge in the desert moments of our lives to avoid this uncomfortable spiritual terrain for the lush green of familiar experience and cool water plentiful for quenching our thirst. And yet, here we are. However much we may wish for a return to what was, we cannot be other than where we are right now. The wisdom of the spiritual journey would even say to us-growth comes from moving through what is actually happening, not by trying to evade it.

Lenten Reflection Questions:

• What feels dry in you or in your community right now?
• What landscape currently describes the spiritual journey of your own life or of your community?
• How have you experienced growth by moving through what is actually happening?

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us.  It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Meet God in the Wilderness, Part 3
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin, Spiritual Formation Ministries

The church’s future is related directly to our willingness to go where the Spirit is calling us to go. -Stephen M. Veazey, “Time to Act!”

Lenten Reflection Questions:

• What currently impedes your willingness to go where the Spirit is calling us to go?
• How might the Lenten season be a time to let go of what restricts our free and faithful response to God?
• Spend a few minutes prayerfully imagining what it might look like if your community felt free enough to follow the Spirit wherever you were called to go.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us.  It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Meet God in the Wilderness, Part 2
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin, Spiritual Formation Ministries

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. -Luke 4:1-2

Lenten Reflection Questions:

• When have you been “led by the Spirit in wilderness”?
• The story of Jesus in the wilderness immediately precedes his missional proclamation in Luke 4:18-19. Read the text below and the text above. How do you think Jesus’ time being “tested” in the wilderness clarified his sense of call to mission?

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. -Luke 4:18-19

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us.  It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Meet God in the Wilderness
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin, Spiritual Formation Ministries

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. -Luke 4:1-2

The church’s future is related directly to our willingness to go where the Spirit is calling us to go. -Stephen M. Veazey, “Time to Act!”

When one of us says, “Look, there\’s nothing out there,” what we are really saying is, “I cannot see.” -Terry Tempest Williams, Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert, p. 69

Did you know there are over 2,000 plant species and 700 animal species in the Mojave Desert? Encounters with this seemingly barren desert wilderness might have you guessing otherwise. The conditions can be harsh. The habitat is exposed. But sit atop a rock for a while and you may be surprised at what you see. What at first appears uninhabitable is actually teeming with life that knows how to be sustained in precisely these conditions.

It certainly feels like a desert time for many individuals and communities of faith. Much has gone dry in us. There is a strong urge in the desert moments of our lives to avoid this uncomfortable spiritual terrain for the lush green of familiar experience and cool water plentiful for quenching our thirst. And yet, here we are. However much we may wish for a return to what was, we cannot be other than where we are right now. The wisdom of the spiritual journey would even say to us-growth comes from moving through what is actually happening, not trying to evade it.

If we look at our history, we can notice a pattern. Every time our spiritual ancestors were in the wilderness, it felt hard, there can be no doubt; but it was always a precursor to some infusion of clarity, integrity, hope, calling that changed their trajectory and deepened their faith. We, too, can wander and lament about what appears to be sparse conditions, or we can choose to see what is here and imagine what thriving even in these conditions might look like.

In fact, some of our ancestors chose the desert, on purpose, as the place to live their spiritual callings. The desert mothers and fathers in fourth-century Egypt moved to the desert when Christianity became the religion of the empire. They were concerned that something essential and transformative might be lost as Christians got more comfortable. They moved into “cells” and lived disciplined lives of radical simplicity. Craving the substance of this simple way, crowds of people began to move into the desert to join them. This was the birthplace of early monasticism and most contemplative prayer forms (including centering prayer and lectio divina) that are still shaping us today.

John Moses writes, “The desert is a place of truth, where men and women can find the truth about God and the truth about themselves. The immensity of the desert removes the pretensions of life. The barrenness of the desert prepares the way for the things that can only be accomplished by God” (The Desert: An Anthology for Lent, pp. 15-16). What way is being prepared in you, in us, in these wilderness times? We have too often confused comfort and success with God’s presence. God is wherever we are, even here, even in the places we never thought we would be. God is waiting to meet us in this wilderness.

Maybe this is a time to hunker down in your “cell” and embrace a simpler way for a while, to get to know the rhythms of a new landscape, to breathe relief in what is being naturally uncluttered and uncrowded. Perhaps this is an opportunity to reclaim the essence of our Christhood, to recover that something essential that often gets lost in the busyness of church and life as usual. What if this is actually what people are spiritually hungry for?

Did you know there are over 2,000 plant species and 700 animal species in the Mojave Desert? What else may be thriving in unexpected places that we are just now learning to see?

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us.  It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Strength in Vulnerability
Scott Murphy, First Presidency

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. -Matthew 4:1-2

If you are like me, there are times in the busyness of life when I would like to skip over the season of Lent and get right to the joyful celebration of Easter. The journey between Lent and Easter requires something of us that is not always easy or comfortable.

Our theme this first Sunday in Lent highlights what I’m suggesting-Strength in Vulnerability. Being vulnerable is not an attribute most people strive to achieve. Vulnerability requires a willingness to let down our guard and to be open to see life-our life-in different ways. Yet, being vulnerable, as uncomfortable as it may be, is precisely what we need to explore the kind of new life God is inviting us to experience. This is what we encounter in the story of Jesus’ time in the wilderness.

At the heart of this story, the Gospel writer encourages us to see the human side of Jesus and his willingness to be vulnerable. Jesus does not achieve this by seizing power for himself, by testing or negotiating with God, or by finding an easier way to skip the cross and jump right to Easter morning. This story is about what Jesus discovered when he was willing to be vulnerable to the divine love that journeyed with him.

This is why we need this time of Lent. There is no skipping the journey to jump immediately to Easter. The new life that awaits us takes on deeper meaning when we are willing to be vulnerable in our own “wilderness-time” of self-examination and reflection.

May your Lenten journey be filled with new discoveries of life as you choose to be vulnerable in your own wilderness. There you will discover the person God is calling you to be and find the strength to live out that calling.

Prayer Phrase

Are we moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One?

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us.  It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Discover What Is Enough
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin of Independence, MO, USA

And ye will not have a mind to injure one another, but to live peaceably and to render to every [person] according to that which [he or she] is…due. -Mosiah 2:24, adapted

During Lent, we will share a story to dwell on throughout the week with questions for reflection. This slow, repeated practice of sacred reading and reflection is an invitation to simplicity and deepening during the Lenten season.

The poet Wendell Berry proclaims, “What we need is here.” This is my Lenten prayer this year. I am going to take a break from being on my way to somewhere better and rest a while in an unknown land. Appreciating where I am for what it is, I echo Berry’s invitation, “…and we pray, not for new earth or heaven, but to be quiet in heart, and in eye, clear. What we need is here.”

Sit for a while in this wilderness place and join me. Take in the expansive view and let your soul settle in. Rest your gaze into what is unfamiliar and find delight in unexpected beauty. Notice the creatures, plants, flowers that call this place home. Ask yourself what you really need. Take delight in discovering what is enough. Find life in the Lenten wilderness.

Lenten Reflection Questions:

1. What do you really need? What is enough?
2. What surprising life is waiting to be discovered even in unknown or unfamiliar spiritual territory?

Prayer Phrase

I surrender into your love, O God.

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us.  It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

The Sacred in the Unfamiliar
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin of Independence, MO, USA

Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace-
    in peace because they trust in you. -Isaiah 26:3

During Lent, we will share a story to dwell on throughout the week with questions for reflection. This slow, repeated practice of sacred reading and reflection is an invitation to simplicity and deepening during the Lenten season.

We are quick to resist what we do not know, but there are gifts to discover here. We remember that the season of Lent is a critical formational opportunity to be steeped in the wisdom, depth, and integrity of Jesus that leads to new life. We try to bypass the wilderness places in our spiritual journey to get to the “good parts” like resurrection, but good things happen here, too! The Israelites receive enough manna for each day, the prophet Isaiah envisions a desert in full bloom, and after Jesus resists the temptations, he is comforted and cared for.

What if this Lent we rested for a while in this wilderness place to take a look around and appreciate what is here? What if we stopped trying to get through the wilderness to somewhere else and began to recognize the sacred abundance in unfamiliar places? What if being formed in the rhythm of Christ isn’t just about enduring the parts of the journey we’d rather avoid, but entering them deeply with an open and willing heart? Moving toward Jesus, the peaceful one, entails following him through the whole journey of transformation-and discovering in what we resist the deepest invitations to new life we have been seeking.

Lenten Reflection Questions:

1. What gifts may be waiting in what you resist?
2. Where do you sense the Spirit’s presence when you pay attention to what is instead of trying to be somewhere else?

Prayer Phrase

I surrender into your love, O God.

Lenten Spiritual Practices

Moving Toward the Peaceful One

As Jesus was nearing the final days of his life, he wept over the city and proclaimed, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41-42).What are the things that make for peace in our lives, communities, and around the world? During the Lenten season, spend time in silent refection or journaling each day to notice: Am I moving toward Jesus, the peaceful One? Pay attention to your attitudes, actions, and relationships this day. When did you most embody the peaceful One in your daily living? When were your thoughts or actions contrary to the peace of Jesus Christ? How might Jesus, the peaceful One, who is always near to you, be inviting you to draw nearer to him through your daily living?

Fasting and Giving-$40 in 40 Days

A Lenten fast gives us an opportunity to make space in our lives so that God can live in and through us.  It’s a time to evaluate what we hunger for most and what we consume. This year, we’ve been invited to tithe as a spiritual practice by setting aside $40 during the 40 days of Lent. If you are participating, pay attention today to the dollar you have given. What might you have done with that dollar otherwise? How does Lenten generosity invite you to reflect on what is “enough” in your life? Who might you invite to join you in this practice? How might your gift be magnified by the many others responding to the same call?

You can make your $40 offering anytime during the Lenten season online or through your offering envelope for Worldwide Mission Tithes.

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.