1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Sometimes, I am asked this question when I meet certain people, ‘‘Are you a Korean or […]

1 Peter 2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Much attention recently has been given to people who have been marginalized in American society. While we call ourselves “the land of the free and the home of […]

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The very first word in this reading stops me in my tracks. Beloved. I want to respond, “Who, me?” It’s not a word that I usually apply to myself, and I […]

James 1:5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. I laughed out loud when I saw the list assigning my name to this reading. Here’s how I read it: “Amy Aitken, you are lacking in wisdom, but ask God, […]

Ephesians 2:10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. My father was a general contractor. Growing up as a child, I would often work with him during the summer on a variety of jobs. I learned painting, […]

Ephesians 1:22-23 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. The preschool director stood in my office doorway and said that she would like to introduce me to a […]

Colossians 3:4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. Many Israelites died by the bites of snakes in the wilderness. God told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole so anyone bitten by a snake could look at […]

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is a gift of God. It is true. If I depended on my own faith to carry me, I would have been lost years ago. The dark night of my soul might taste like salty, ruffled […]

Colossians 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. In this letter to the Colossians the word the apostle Paul used for mystery is sometimes translated as secret in reference to the Good News of Jesus […]