‘Lord if you choose you can make me clean.’ I’m sometimes a little annoyed with the Jesus we meet at the end of this passage. He seems to disappear into selfishness, leaving behind the hurting; choosing not to heal them. Perhaps this is Jesus showing a bit of his humanity and, when I am stressed […]
URC Daily Devotion 10th January 2019
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the […]
URC Daily Devotion 9th January 2019
“Not for ever in green pasturesdo we ask our way to be;but the steep and rugged pathwaymay we tread rejoicingly.” Perhaps we mean the words of Rejoice & Sing 495 as we sing them, but how enthusiastic are we to act upon them? Jesus had felt at home in Capernaum, a far more welcoming, interesting […]
URC Daily Devotion 8th January 2018
After leaving the synagogue he entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her. Then he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and began to serve them. As the sun was setting, all those who had any […]
URC Daily Devotion 7th January 2019
He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath. They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Let us alone! What have […]
URC Daily Devotion 6th January 2019
1 Hear us, O Israel’s Shepherd, Joseph’s guide,The one enthroned between the cherubim.2 Show forth your splendour to the threatened tribes,Manasseh, Benjamin and Ephraim.Come to our aid, O God, stir up your might;3 Restore and save us! Shed on us your light! 4 LORD God of hosts, when will your anger ceaseTo burn against the […]
URC Daily Devotion 5th January 2019
Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, […]
URC Daily Devotion 4th January 2019
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. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son […]
URC Daily Devotion 3 January 2019
Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work. He was the son (as was thought) of Joseph son of Heli, son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai, son of Joseph, son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai, son of […]
URC Daily Devotion 2nd January 2019
Gregory and Basil were two friends bound together by their desire to promote and defend the divinity of Christ as proclaimed in the Nicene Creed. This was against the seemingly overwhelming pressure from both Church and State for the establishment of Arianism, which denied Christ’s divinity and thus the whole Christian doctrine of the Trinity. […]