Daily Thoughts from the Bible

I have failed.

Each year I make a commitment to read the Bible in a systematic way and each year, around February, my reading tapers off into random proof-texting and sermon preparation.

Hence this new blog. I hope it will accomplish a little bit of what my other blog, The Country Parson, does, but in a more regular and systematic way.

Here's how it will work: Using the daily lectionary from the Book of Common Prayer of the Reformed Episcopal Church, I will share a few perspectives on one of the day's texts. If I were to follow this as I envision it, the whole process could take up to six years with the different passages available... one year each in the Psalms, First and Second Lessons for both Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer.

I've chosen the name "Piety and Devotion" for this blog from the Preface of the BCP, that it should "[excite] piety and devotion in the publick worship of God."

My spiritual perspectives?
I would call myself a "classical Protestant." I appreciate and understand the roots of Protestantism, however, I see the movement as part of the larger Church. The Church of Luther, Calvin, and Huss is also the Church of St. Francis, St. John Chrysostom, and St. Anthony of the Desert. The Church of Wittenberg, Canterbury, and Geneva is integrally joined to the Church of Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexandria, in the power of the Holy Ghost, if not in structure and organization.

Spiritually, I am somthing of a mutt. I was reared an Episcopalian, went to an evangelical college, worked for two para-Church organizations, served as a denominational staffer for the Religious Society of Friends and as a Quaker pastor, and I am now employed in a Church of the Brethren retirement community and I am pastor of a non-denominational Church that used to be United Methodist. I try to keep my perspectives balanced with the Bible in one hand and the Church Fathers and tradition in the other, using the brain the good Lord gave me to parse things out.

I am most influenced by St. Francis of Assisi when it comes to lifestyle and world view, although I am neither poor nor ascetic, neither Catholic nor celibate. I read theology and devotions that pre-dates the rise of higher criticism of the late 19th century and I have little to do with what I call "pulp theology" of the mid to late 20th century. I am not a liberal.

I hope my thoughts inspire you. And I hope they inspire me enough to keep this up daily - past February, at least! :-)