The Thursday After

Riffing off Sundays at WMB

Recent Posts (excerpts)

March 26 – Before we Judge

Today at WMB (service, notes) Jeff talked about Romans 2. Remember, in chapter 1, Paul calls out “sin”. He probably anticipated the churchy types feeling superior, and quickly straightens that out with an individual personal you : You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no… Read more ….
March 19: Lead Me to the Cross – Braving the Climb

WMB’s Sunday service (notes, service) today was a continuation of the sin and wrath discussion started last week. If you haven’t read last week’s post, start there. I took my own advice and spent some time this past week going down the “Character of God” rabbit hole. Totally worth it. The series uses Exodus 34:6,7… Read more ….
A Sabbath Prayer

I usually begin my day with Lectio-365 and I’ve found the Lent Sunday’s special. I thought it a wonderful symmetry to share the Sabbath prayer on a Thursday : The commandment to rest on the Sabbath was given to the children of Israel – a people God delivered from slavery, a life of unrelenting toil.… Read more ….
March 12: Lead Me to the Cross – Sin and Wrath

Today at WMB (notes, service) the message focused on Romans 1:18-23. I always get hung up on words like wrath and sin (or in this case godlessness and unrighteousness). They don’t land for me and give me cartoon images of the cosmos (“God is good, I am bad, he is mad, I need to feel… Read more ….
Day 70 – Who you gonna listen to?

Day 70 of the 180 Challenge (2 Chronicles 32) is a fascinating read. By now in the story, we know that Hezekiah is one of the good kings and the regional bully superpower (why does each age have one?) has run amok. Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians lets it be known that he is coming… Read more ….
March 05 Lead me to the cross

Today’s service is here and the notes are here, the beginning of a 5 part series on the book of Romans. I’ve experienced Romans as dense, long run-on sentences spawning arcane theological debates (ok, slightly unfair), or at least filled with words I don’t use elsewhere like righteousness, justification and sanctification. Lets see if that’s… Read more ….
180 Challenge – Extended Edition

I’ve really enjoyed following along with the 180 Challenge. I’ve used it as an opportunity to plug in with relevant Bible Project resources. And the language of the NLT (with the wonderful tag line “Understanding the Bible changes everything”) really connects. I’ve put together an “extended edition” which combines all this information in one place.… Read more ….
The Chosen

I’m so thankful The Chosen has been produced. Its had a profound impact on me and I don’t understand why its not showing up in my conversations with people. One way of reading scripture is to place yourself at the scene and imagine the smell, the noise, the emotion, the hue of the light. In… Read more ….
2023-02-26 Big Rocks for Spiritual Health

Today Ken Esau spoke about spiritual health (video, notes). I really appreciated the focus on 3 big rocks (translated so I can remember them): This resonates. The bible’s big story is that God insists on partnering with humans to bring about the new earth. The one he had in mind when he created Eden and… Read more ….
2023-02-19 Hello & Between the last lines

First post! I often spend time after the Sunday service at WMB Church preparing to lead a home group. A blog is a better way to share those musings than the email I have been using … which is so 20th century. I usually attend the Waterloo site (which is also posted online), so that’s… Read more ….