Daily & Weekly Devotionals (Page 4)
Daily & Weekly Devotionals and reflections by The Rev. Dr. Richard Miles and The Rev. Rob Banse
UPDATED July 2020 – The Rev. Rob Banse will send a weekly devotional on Mondays to share thoughts and reflections on Biblical passages. The Daily Devotionals were suspended after June 26 to allow the staff and lay leaders to focus on the return to in-person gatherings and worship.
March – June 2020: During the COVID-19 shutdown, the Interim Rector The Rev. Dr. Rick Miles (Mon. – Thurs.) and The Rev. Rob Banse (on Fridays beginning April 3) will be creating a daily devotion with their reflections which will be added to this website. Additional resources are included in the links below. The text of weekly sermons and video of virtual worship services are included in the Sermon and Video Archives section of the website.
Monday, June 1, 2020
Dear Christ Church Family, Is it possible to know joy in these times of social unrest, tragic death, and human hate? Jesus tells us today that there is such a thing as an unassailable joy. He even tells us how to find it. Peace,Rick+ Monday, June 1, 2020 RCL Daily Office Readings, Year 2 AM Psalm 41, 52PM Psalm 44Eccles. 2:1-15Gal. 1:1-17Matt. 13:44-52 Saints Days Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (transferred):AM Psalm 72; 1 Samuel 1:1-20; Hebrews 3:1-6PM Psalm 146, 147; Zechariah 2:10-13; John 3:25-30 Matthew 13:…
Friday, May 29, 2020
Good morning, Christ Church! I am happy to report that the Banse household has expanded our horizons in this time of sheltering in place. Specifically, we have discovered the art of “binge watching.” (Actually, I am not sure that it qualifies as an art form. It’s not like cooking or fly-fishing where you have to work on improving your skills. You just hit a couple of buttons on your remote control and off you go, racing through a whole television…
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Dear Christ Church Family, Anger is everywhere we look these days. It’s not just the political sphere, we also see it in those socially-distanced lines we all have to stand in for everything. For some, the compression of bodies in our homes has even caused it to flair there. But what if anger could be harnessed to accomplish something good? That’s what is proposed in our Ephesians passage today. Is that a shocking thought? Sure! Check it out. Peace,Rick+ Thursday,…
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Dear Christ Church Family, With the increasingly hotter weather approaching, it’s hard not to think thoughts of summertime and getaways. Whether it will be possible to do all that we’d like, or even part of what we’d like, given the current health requirements and social conditions, there is one journey that we can all still make this summer: indeed it is the journey of life for life. Peace,Rick+ Wednesday, May 27, 2020 RCL Daily Office Readings, Year 2 AM Psalm…
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Dear Christ Church Family, Being enclosed at home so much lately, you may find that you’ve long ago run out of good things to watch on TV. You may even have had to resort to checking out “reality” TV. The hard part for me with this scripted form of “reality,” is watching folks who are basically famous for being famous (or infamous), for whom image is everything. But, in looking at our Scripture passage from the Old Testament today, maybe…
Friday, May 22, 2020
Good morning, Christ Church! One of my side gigs over the last month has been assisting the first and third graders at Highland School in Warrenton, Virginia. Janie is the Head Librarian there and asked if I would do some online reading with these students. I was happy to volunteer. Suffice it to say that it has been a blast. The children have been attentive, polite, and have made some incredible observations about these classic stories. Thus far, “Dragon Was…
Thursday, May 21, 2020
Dear Christ Church Family, Today is Ascension Day, the day that Jesus dramatically exited his human existence to rejoin his Deity. We are told that as he left the Disciples’ sight, they still stayed on gazing up into the Heavens for quite a while. Our Psalmist, in Psalm 8 today, does something similar by gazing up into the Heavens. In both cases their perspectives are changed for the better. Perhaps some Heaven-ward gazing would help our perspectives too. Take a…
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Dear Christ Church Family, Well, it’s back! I mean Psalm 119. It’s the really long one that’s hard to read and even harder to understand. It has something amazing to tell us, though, so hang in there and have a look at what the Psalmist is trying to tell us. If we do, we just might gain a deeper understanding of Jesus too. Peace,Rick+ Wednesday, May 20, 2020 RCL Daily Office Readings, Year 2 AM Psalm 119:97-120PM Psalm 81, 82Lev. 26:27-42Eph.…
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
Dear Christ Church Family, Sometimes we can wonder if the seeds of life that we plant in others, or the good fruit we share to nurture and sustain them, has any lasting positive consequence. I was reminded today that such actions can and do condition the soil in those lives. Here’s a bit about that fourth soil type: The Open-to-Life Person trait. Peace,Rick+ Tuesday, May 19, 2020 RCL Daily Office Readings, Year 2 AM Psalm 78:1-39 PM Psalm 78:40-72Lev. 26:1-201 Tim.…
Monday, May 18, 2020
Dear Christ Church Family, Have you ever wondered why some people aren’t the way they ought to be? In Jesus’ Parable of the Sower today, it might seem like he is answering that question. But watch out, he’s actually answering a deeper question about you and me. Peace,Rick+ Monday, May 18, 2020 RCL Daily Office Readings, Year 2 AM Psalm 80 PM Psalm 77, [79]Lev. 25:35-55 Col. 1:9-14 Matt. 13:1-16 Matthew 13: The “Soils” within us. This parable of Jesus is…