George Love, Pastor of Hebron Presbyterian Church, will be sharing his thoughts on the Daily Lectionary Series of Bible readings. You will find his most recent comments at the top, with earlier ones below.
We have also added daily links to Presbyterian Church (USA) website where you will find the Scripture readings for that day. We hope you will find this a helpful way to join us in seeking God's message for our daily lives.
January 7
First Reading:
Deuteronomy 8:1-3
Psalm: Psalm 46
Second Reading:
Colossians 1:1-14
Gospel:
John 6:30-33, 48-51
"Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness…." - Deuteronomy 8:2a
The book of Deuteronomy is the culmination of the journey from Egypt to the promised land. Before the people enter the promised land there is basically a review session of what has gone before and brought them to this point. There is a reminder that it is only through God's provision and care that any of the journey has been accomplished. Forty years has passed. Forty years. "Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you."
If we have had to wait forty years for something our natural tendency may not be to look for reasons why we should be thankful. We would be far more likely to be convening meetings to assign blame for whatever has held us back from getting where we are going. We are not a people who want to wait for a week, let alone forty years. When we are in a posture of waiting for a particular thing, life is still going forward, things are still happening, God is still walking with us. It is good at times to pause and reflect and simply notice the ways in which God has nurtured and sustained us each day along the way.
January 6
The Day of Epiphany
First Reading:
Isaiah 49:1-7
Psalm: Psalm 72
Second Reading:
Revelation 21:22-27
Gospel: Matthew 12:14-21
"'I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the gentiles.'" - Matthew 12:18b
There is a thread that runs through each of these readings that is consistent in pointing to God reaching towards the ends of the earth that all may experience God's grace and glory. Today is Epiphany, when the church remembers the visit of the Magi from the East - perhaps Persia - to visit Christ.
When we think about the ends of the earth we usually don't imagine us being there. We are here. We are close. We are at the center. The further things get from us the more they are towards the ends of the earth. That makes sense. How else should we imagine the ends of the earth then in the distance away it is from our location.
For someone though, we are the ends of the earth. For someone there is no one farther away than us. And when they consider God reaching towards the ends of the earth, they are thinking of how fortunate we are that God was willing to reach so far as to find us.
We are, all of us, blessed to have a God who hangs stars in the sky and even more to call us and beckon us home.
January 5
First Reading : Jonah 2:2-9
Eve of Epiphany Reading:
Isaiah 66:18-23
Psalm: Psalm 99
Second Reading:
Ephesians 6:10-20
Eve of Epiphany Reading: Romans 15:7-13
Gospel: John 11:17-27, 38-44
"I am coming to gather all nations and tongues and they shall come and shall see my glory and I will set a sign among them." - Isaiah 66:18
The Day of Epiphany is tomorrow, January 6, hence the two Eve of Epiphany readings. Both the Old Testament prophet Isaiah and the prolific New Testament apostle Paul point to the reality that any boundaries placed on God's grace and love are not real. God's love is expansive and for all. God's interest is in "gathering all nations and tongues." God's desire, going back to ancient times is for all to know God's glory. This continues to be a valuable lesson for the people of God. There is a danger if we ever imagine the story of God to be a story of insiders and outsiders with us in the insiders camp. We are all outsiders in the sense that we are all in need of God's redemptive love in Christ. We are all insiders in the sense that God's love is for each of us. The great good news is that God will never have to be convinced to love you. The other great good news, which is sometimes our stumbling block is that God will never have to be convinced to love any of the other folks with whom we are sharing the planet.
On communion Sundays I will sometimes say, that the table is not a Presbyterian table - it is the Lord's table. The same is true of God's love. There is no group that can say God's love is exclusively focused on that group. God's love is for everyone. Thanks be to God.
January 4
First Reading: 1 Kings 3:5-14
Psalm: Psalm 20
Second Reading:
Colossians 3:12-17
Gospel: John 6:41-47
"Give your servant therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil, for who can govern this great people of yours." - 1 Kings 3:9
Solomon is a newly minted king, preparing to follow in the long and storied footsteps of his father David. God comes to Solomon in a dream and invites him to "Ask what I should give you." (3:5) Solomon, displaying the the presence of some of the quality he asks for, requests wisdom. God is pleased with the request and grants him that and more.
When we arrive at a passage it is valuable to listen for what we believe the intent of the passage is in the story being told. It is fair also though to ask why we are encountering this passage now and how it might inform our present. If you happen to be a person who makes resolutions at the beginning of the new year, perhaps a story like this on the fourth day of January is an encouragement to use discernment in making those resolutions. Borrow a bit from Solomon and consider how our aims for the new year can help us to be more faithful followers of Jesus. It seems to please God, when our thoughts aim us towards seeking to turn our hearts more fully in the direction of God's will.
January 3
First Reading: 1 Kings 19:9-18
Psalm: Psalm 111
Second Reading:
Ephesians 4:17-32
Gospel: John 6:15-27
"Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God, in Christ has forgiven you." - Ephesians 4:31-32
Julie and I went on a trip this past fall where a portion of one of our days was spent walking the Roman road in ancient Ephesus. It's a massive archaeological site. So much work has been done that it is easy to visualize it alive and flourishing and teeming with people. Partially because it is teeming with people. The Roman road was packed with tourists at least some of whom were there because Paul wrote a letter to the church in Ephesus and it found its way into our New Testament.
There were shops, homes, a library, a theater, government buildings - the things necessary for what was then a port city with maybe 300,000 inhabitants. There would be a lot that would probably be unfamiliar to us in the mechanics of their everyday lives. But also a lot that would make perfect sense, a lot that is simply a part of our humanity. Paul tries to encourage them away from bitterness, wrath, and anger. He aims to guide them towards kindness, being tenderhearted, practicing forgiveness.
We are still reading a two thousand year old letter to a city that exists as an excavated tourist destination largely because humans have changed a great deal and not at all. We have been forgiven by Christ and our lives can be so much more fulfilling if we live out of gratitude for that truth. Then and now.
January 2
First Reading: 1 Kings 19:1-8
Psalm: Psalm 48
Second Reading:
Ephesians 4:1-16
Gospel Reading: John 6:1-14
"One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 'There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?'" - Matthew 6:8-9
Today we read John's telling of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. The story is set up, a large crowd, nothing to eat, Jesus wondering out loud what they are going to do with the hungry crowd. The passage tells us that Jesus knew what he was going to do, but he hadn't made it clear to his followers just yet, so they are initially put off by the impossibility of the task.
Except Andrew. Andrew is helpful here is giving us a glimpse of the way our faith sometimes works out difficult situations. Andrew tells Jesus there is a boy present with five loaves of bread and two fish. If you think about it, that's an odd thing to say if you are having a strategy meeting about feeding five thousand people. It's not enough. It's never going to be enough. Five thousand people and Andrew is talking about a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish. Useless. And he knows it. As soon as he says it he knows it. "But what are they among so many people," is his sheepish answer to his own suggestion.
But he said it. He said it because something within him had been around Jesus enough to know that it wasn't an irrelevant detail. Even as the group rolled their eyes at his non-solution, there was something in Andrew that understood that this was something with which Jesus could work.
We are regularly invited to follow Andrew's lead. We may appear to be woefully lacking in resources. We may feel overwhelmed by the task or the need before us. Andrew's example encourages us to simply start. Begin somewhere. We could go on for days about what we don't have, but what do we have? Some bread, some fish. And Jesus.
January 1
First Reading:
Ecclesiastes 3:1-13
Psalm: Psalm 8
Second Reading:
Revelation 21:1-6a
Gospel: Matthew 25:31-46
"He has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end." - Ecclesiastes 3:11
As the new year was coming into view, just beyond the great behemoth of Christmas, I felt drawn to renew a discipline of being more predictably in scripture. It has been several years since I have utilized the daily lectionary readings in my devotional time and as 2026 I am thinking that this is the direction for me for now. There is always an allure to reading through the entire Bible over the course of a years time and I am a big believer that such a practice is valuable, but for this year, the more diverse approach of the lectionary seems the way. Most days there is a reading from the Hebrew Bible, one specifically from the Psalms, one from the New Testament, and one from the Gospels. I have always been fascinated by how regularly such a seemingly arbitrary and set approach to reading scripture leads to a needed word from God at the time just right.
It has also been some time since I've made the effort to write in a regular, disciplined manner. Which is pretty much the only way I write. If I don't have a plan and a discipline to commit to, I too easily lose focus. Writing as a reflection on what I'm reading and where those readings lead me is a helpful way for me to wade through what I am reading and what is happening in life and search for places where scripture and life are intersecting. I plan, then, to write and reflect, and invite you to join me.
This morning of January 1, Ecclesiastes 3:11 is calling for my attention. God has put a "sense of past and future" into our minds. Many of us have been actively exercising our capacity to contemplate past and future as one year ends and another begins. We look back - wistfully, joyfully, maybe regretfully. We look ahead - with anticipation, perhaps some foreboding, ideally with hope. My overall impression from this collection of scriptures for this day is that God is not an idea for us to figure out, because that is an impossibility. First, God is not a puzzle. Second, if God was a puzzle, it's not one we'd solve and explain. God did not make us to solve God. God made us to glorify God and enjoy God forever (thanks Westminster Confession).
Every year on January 1, I post the final installment of Calvin and Hobbes on my Facebook page. It has snowed and the two of them are heading out into the snow full of optimism about the snow blanketed world holds for them. "It's like having a big white sheet of paper to draw on," says Hobbes. "A day full of possibilities!" responds Calvin, "It's a magical world Hobbes, ol' buddy. Let's go exploring!"
The truth, of course, is that it's a magical world and a soul crushing world depending on who you are, where you are, what the circumstances of your life happen to be right at this moment, and how wide our eyes are opened to all the reality unfolding around us. But on January 1 especially I allow myself to hope and to root and to pray for the magical.
Let's go exploring.