Well, 1.23 is kind of a whimsical date, but the days end up being kind of serious and somber.  A couple of accidents with the space program, and the sinking of a military transport ship with huge loss of life.  So, if I had it to do over, I'd maybe try to pick some lighter days.  There is the birthday of Robert Burns and the possibility of a Burns supper - there's a link on the website for how to do it!  As always, this material is available in printed form at wordstwiceaweek.blogspot.com.

WE look at the scripture lessons for this Sunday - Psalm 19: The Heavens Are Telling the Glory of God; a description of an early worship experience from Nehemiah - it comes after the people finish rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem.  They hope the wall will keep them safe from external threats - Ezra the Priest reads to them how they can be safe from internal threats.  Then the story of Jesus preaching in his hometown.  It sounds like it's going well, but the story is continued to next week - we'll see.  We end with some words from Martin Luther King Jr.

Some days from the church and world calendars - St Anthony, Peter's Confession (that's where he says Jesus is the Christ, not what he might have had to say after the cock crowed!), a couple of martyrs and a couple of musicians!  Thomas A Dorsey who wrote Precious Lord, Take My Hand.  Nice in the week we remember Martin Luthur King Jr.  And a beginning of something I'm calling a thesaurus poem!

Some thoughts about the scripture lessons for this week.  A nice passage from First Corinthians about getting activated as Christians, which resonates nicely with Jesus at the wedding in Cana.  And a prayer to sum it all up.

Bishops, monks, missionaries from the church calendar this week, and some interesting days from the world calendar.  Jan 14 has connections among Churchill, Roosevelt, de Gaull, and Humphery Bogart; and Severus Snape and Lewis Carroll.  Weird day.

Some thoughts on lessons for the Epiphany and for the First Sunday after - the Baptism of Jesus. There's a couple of nice lessons from Isaiah, a rant about Ps 29, and then a few thoughts on The Wise Men/Kings and Jesus' baptism.  A good prayer from 12 years ago...

Kind of re-starting this series after taking a break for a few months.  In this episode we look at some of the days from the church calendar - such as The Epiphany - and some of the days from the earth/world calendar - the birthdays of JRR Tolkien and Elvis for a start.  If you are more into reading than listening, this is also available at wordstwiceaweek.blogspot.com.  And we will hopefully be back on Thursday with a look at the scripture lessons for Sunday.

Job and Jeremiah - usually we think of them as a couple of downers, but we get some of the brighter passages from them both.  And Psalm 126 anticipates the joy of return - from exile? From pandemic?  Blind Bartimaeus brings us to the end of one section of Mark's story.

We start off October with Woody Guthrie, Edgar Allen Poe, St Francis, Bridgit of Sweden, and Peter Muhlenberg - not the Muhlenberg County Muhlenberg - but we end up the first week with John Prine, so we'll sing it anyway!

Man and Woman, Job and his wife, Jesus and the disciples and the children - and a haiku and a prayer.