Psalm 142 – A prayer for God’s help. To Him I bring all my complaints, all my despair. No one seems to care for me, so I cry to God, “you are all I want in this life” (142:5). I hear David's cry for help from his enemies, but it is his cry for freedom from distress that can relate to more.

Psalm 143 – Do not put me on trial, Lord, “for no one is innocent in your sight” (143:2).

He has suffered a defeat from his enemies and is in a dark prison. He…

Colin Saxton gave a farewell sermon to us, his faith community for the last several years, before he left to take the job as the General Secretary of Friends United Meeting.

We miss you already, Colin!

There's a song that says everyone has to walk that lonesome valley, they have to walk it by themselves.  It's easy to disagree with that but there is truth in it.  No one can possibly share the leadings they get; no one can logically explain why they are following this path rather than that one.  Our friends, loved ones and brothers and sisters in the Lord can support our attempts to follow God's path for our lives by affirming us, by holding us in the light and sometimes by…

Psalm 137 – “By the rivers of Babylon we sat down; there we wept when we remembered Zion” (137:1). How many times have I sung these words? In Zion, the Babylonians forced the Jews to sing, to entertain them. And then the psalm ends with a horrendous plea for vengeance – “Happy are those who pay you [Babylon] back for what you have done to us – who take your babies and smash them against a rock” (137:8-9). It is very hard to read these words and know how truly they…

You have all heard that old adage; Sticks

and stones may break my bones but words

will never hurt me.

Do not believe it; it is the lie of all lies.

Words do hurt; they hurt worse than a

barrage of sticks and stones ever could.

Ask any girl whose ever been called hippo,

any boy whose ever been called fag, Any

poor person who has ever been asked in

front of everyone; where do you get your

cloths from; a garbage…

Psalm 135 – Praise the Lord for He is good; He is kind and greater than all the gods. He move the clouds, makes the lightning flash and the wind blow. In Egypt, God “performed miracles and wonders.” It is God who brings down nations and opens space for His people. The God of the Jews, creator of nature and the power behind all history is not like the “gods of the nations,” gods made of silver or gold. Those who worship such gods – may they all become like these gods - ineffectual.…

Watch/listen on video: http://youtu.be/EA9v1pYcFWk

In a recent Bible study, I could not keep myself from asking, "What, exactly, is the Holy Spirit?" when the group sped through (well, at least I thought so) a discussion of the Trinity. You could have heard a pin drop. I had anticipated the reaction, but could not help myself. I've never really been able to understand it. I know the intellectual…

The Bridge Film Festival is happy to announce the first Judges' Choice Awards show. The show will be streamed live, 2PM (EST) Tuesday April 24, 2012, and presented in the…

The Bridge Film Festival is happy to announce the first Judges' Choice Awards show. The show will be streamed live, 2PM (EST) Tuesday April 24, 2012, and presented in the…

Sticking to a fairly demanding schedule of scripture readings can seem a bit challenging. I am trying to stick to a schedule that has worked for me over the years since I discovered it. It was first published in 1952 and is published by the Liturgical Press of St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. I am not a scripture literalist, but I have found over the years that the advice given by the "cloud of witnesses" that have gone before us - from the earliest years to the present day - is…

Psalm 120 – Save me Lord from liars and deceivers. David speaks of the people around him as people who hate peace. Just imagine what it would be like to be a ruler in these days with attacks coming from all sides and having to deal with them. If you loved God and wanted to live in peace, how torturous would that be.

Psalm 121 – Famous words: “I look to the mountains where will my help come from? My help will come from the Lord who made heaven and…

Psalm 119:89-176 - The word of the Lord, His faithfulness, His law - while never experienced without sufferings and doubts - are the most precious things the psalmist - thought by many to have been King David - has in his life. God is our teacher, and "how sweet is the taste" of all He imparts to us. Again, as I said yesterday, this psalm sounds to me as if it were really written by a king or political leader who wants so badly to be faithful, obedient and appreciative of…

Psalm 118 - "Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good, and his love is eternal" (118:1). Everyone should have these words on their lips. "It is better to trust in the Lord than to depend on people. . . on human leaders" (118:8-9). The very famous words that Jesus repeats in Matthew are here: "The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all"(118:22).



I wasn't sure what the psalmist was talking about here, so I…

I was driving along when I heard an all too familiar noise.  Pulling off the road as soon as I could I checked my tires and sure enough I had a flat.  This has become a regular part of my life now that I no longer lease cars every two years and it was only a few months ago I missed a meeting because I got a flat on the infamous LIE.  When I was younger I didn't have much trouble changing flats but as I get closer to the end of my earthly journey I am clearly overmatched.  No cell phone, no…

Listen to this post: http://www.turtleboxstories.com/audio/whenthehatches.mp3

So many ideas, thoughts and concepts are converging in my head, all mixed up and crying for attention. I'm uncertain where to turn…

Psalm 114 - The liberation of God's people from slavery and their dedication to Him made all of nature change - the sea "ran" from them, the river stopped flowing, the mountains "skipped like goats." Transformative - that is a word that captures what commitment to God's "leadings" in one's soul is like.

Psalm 115 - Trust in the Lord - trust. Do not be afraid of anything. That is not a problem for me, mostly. There are times when I go through turmoil,…

Things have gotten a little too complicated trying to do a scripture blog on Quaker Quaker AND  a separate one on my Catholic-Quaker blog AND on the one I do for our Westbury Monthly Meeting blog, which I call the Narrative of Scripture. I'm on blog overload. Plus there is the Thursday Bible Study my husband and I have going on here at home. We will probably start doing some extra-biblical readings from the early church "fathers" or other more contemporary commentaries. Too many going in too…

A New Year and new thoughts crowd out the pattern of itching to busy myself after a long holiday season. That's a good thing.

My family witnessed my whirlwind-organizing-and-pitching campaign over the past week. They, mostly, stayed out of my way. I have had rare weeks of good, solid sleep. As a result, I would bound out of bed ahead of anyone else and not stop until my head hit the pillow at night. I have been so productive…

If you would like to have some organized schedule for reading scripture, I found this years ago and it has been a great resource. It will take three posts to get it all up but I hope some find it useful. This is OT - Year One.

Old Testament Readings

Year One [You can jump to January]

December:

1  – Isaiah 1

2  – Isaiah 2-4

3  – Isaiah 5

4  – Isaiah 6-7

5  – Isaiah 8-9

6  – Isaiah 10

7  – Isaiah…

Old Testament Readings - 

Year Two

December:

1  – Psalms 1-5

2  – Psalms 6-8

3  – Psalms 9-11

4  – Psalms 12-16

5  – Psalms 17-18

6  – Psalms 19-22

7  – Psalms 23-25

8  – Psalms 26-29

9  – Psalms 30-32

10 – Psalms 33-34

11 – Psalms 35-36

12 – Psalms 37-39

13 – Psalms 40-42

14 – Psalms 43-45

15 – Psalms 46-49

16 – Psalms 50-53

17 – Psalms…