The Mothering God gives birth to us and gives us life. The Mothering God nurtures us and provides shelter when we need it. Luke 13:34 says, “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” As a hen gathering her brood, the Mothering God protects us under her wings. When we feel alone and broken, God provides shelter for our brokenness, loss, and suffering. Those who suffer from the effects of sexual violence can turn to the Mothering God to wrap us in her arms to provide everlasting love…
more1 When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him. 2 Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him. 3 Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it…
more“Then go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come,” the master said, “so that my house will be full” Luke 14:12-23.
Jesus once had [a conversation] with a group of religious leaders at the home of a prominent Pharisee. “When you give a banquet,” Jesus said to his host, “invite the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.” He told them a parable about a man who prepared a banquet and invited many guests. When those on the guest list declined to attend, the man instructed his servant to go into the streets and alleyways in town…
more12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.
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13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the…https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-04-30-up-the-lane-r25
14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 …
more- Beware of thinking “It’s not fair” https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2024-10-16-a-tale-of-two-sons-r3 25 “Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on. 27 He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’ 28 But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him. 29… more
https://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-03-19-the-prodigal-and-the-proud-r25
28 ‘The elder brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 …
morehttps://www.thefuelcast.com/library/2025-03-21-hungry-r25
19 ‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores…
moreThe kingdom of God is in your midst (Luke 17:21)
Human history is one giant wave of unearned grace, and each of us is now another wave crashing onto the sands of time, edged forward by the many waves behind us. We are fully loved and adopted children in God’s one eternal family which is open to all. To accept such an objective truth is the best and deepest understanding of how the Risen Christ spreads his forgiving heart through history. It is Love that we are passing from age to age—even the very love of God.
Our only holiness is by participation and surrender to the…
more‘But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
‘I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who hum ble themselves will be exalted.’ LUKE 18:13-14‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ (Repeat this slowly, several times, matching it to your breathing.)
One way that…
more5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 ‘As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.’
more39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’ 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, …
moreJesus Prays on the Mount of Olives & is arrested
39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed…
more“Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing.” —Luke 23:34
Author Megan McKenna considers Jesus’ ability to forgive and how we are called to the same:
We were created to be the friends of Jesus, the friends of God, friends with one another…. And so, we begin this journey of becoming, this way of being in the world guided by Jesus’s own words and actions that we will repeat over and over again in all our relationships and in so many moments of our lives.
And the journey of becoming—of liberation—is the journey…
moreFather forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.
Many of us pray similar words of Jesus when we say, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”
When we pray this when we meet for Gathered Worship and in our personal prayers, sometimes we are not challenged by these words, but at other times we are struck how hard it is to forgive someone who has deeply offended and hurt us…. It is difficult to let go of the past and be present now to the other person and to all that it triggered in us….
It is hard for us to let go of…
moreIn the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. —Mark 1:35
If the desert is a place of renewal, transformation, and freedom, and if the heat and isolation served as a nurturing incubator …, one wonders if a desert experience is necessary to reclaim this legacy.
One need not wonder long when there are so many deserts within reach. Today’s wilderness can be found in bustling suburban and urban centers, on death row, in homeless shelters in the middle of the night, in the eyes of a…
moreA leper came to him begging…, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!” —Mark 1:40–41
Walter Brueggemann emphasizes that we are all in need of Jesus’ healing touch:
Jesus touched him. He put his strong hand into the sore skin. He risked touching the contagious skin and thereby making himself, as well, socially unacceptable and ritually impure. He risked all of that in his compassion. And the narrator says, “Immediately! The leprosy left him, and he was made…
more35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side.’ 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. …
moreJesus woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased and there was a dead calm. He said to the disciples, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
—Mark 4:39–40In the midst of uncertainty and swift transition, in the midst of personal and institutional upheaval, and amid the “fightings within and fears without” that separate peoples, races, and nations, we desperately need to hear a little good news. And this passage from the fourth chapter of Mark’s Gospel, which relates how Jesus calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee, is…
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Daily Bible Verses
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