Northwoods Table Talk

Lection for Sunday after Trinity IV  Joshua 23:1-16       Acts 12:1-25 Some of you came to this blog by way of the devotions I am writing here. You had never visited my blog before. A couple people asked me, “Why do you call in Northwoods Table Talk?” Well, the concept of doing a blog was conceived on my birthday 08/08/08 (Right? I thought so too!) and it took me a couple weeks to write my first blog post, and until I started doing these devotions because of the onset of coronavirus, I had written a grand total of 21. It was not truly something I was motivated to do. But, I did not want to confine myself to any one topic, so I figured the topics I would address would all over the map – from any of the things I truly enjoy talking about, doing, or addressing. So, what to call a blog that would be eclectic, a blog that would not be confined to one topic? Because I do a bit of reading, and one of the things I enjoy reading are the writing of Rev. Dr. Martin Luthe...

Lection for Saturday after Trinity III  Joshua 10:1-25       Acts 11:19-30 Today I am driving home from Oregon, Ohio (I know, I know, but didn't we do this the other day...in this same spot? This time I can answer, for I googled it. No, there is no city in Oregon named Ohio.) As today is the 4th of July, I looked through old sermons to see if I preached one on the 4th of July. You know what? I could not find one. To be fair, I did not really try very hard. But I found this one preached a couple days after - it is for the 6th Sunday after Trinity. I thought I would use it for this devotion because it mentions Independence Day as having happened "this past weekend," and addresses Independence Day in a Christian manner. I remember preaching it back in 2013 and a couple people mentioning that they appreciated how I addressed it then. So, for your meditation today I present (click the text link below to read it before reading the sermon): What Does This Mean? Exo...

Lection for Friday after Trinity III  Joshua 8:1-28        Acts 11:1-18 I am again recycling something I wrote awhile back. Why? Good question! Right now I am in Oregon, Ohio. (Good question, I do not know if there is an Ohio, Oregon - google it!) I am there to as part of the marriage ceremony wedding of Bethie Williams and Christopher Genszler - rejoice with me as these two ask God to bless them with many years together as one flesh. So, like I said, not knowing whether I'd get time to do this yesterday considering I spent the day driving here from Wisconsin or at the rehearsal. (It is really weird trying to write in the past tense, about future events, which might or might not come to pass.) What do you believe?   Does it matter?   Some would say that it doesn’t.   There are those who would have us believe that all the different forms of Christianity are all the same, “We all worship the same Jesus,” they claim.   Personally, I p...

Lection for Thursday after Trinity III  Joshua 7:1-26      Acts 10:34-48 I was moved by a discussion I was having with someone, and it prompted me to look ahead to see what readings from Acts will be coming up. I noticed that a particular chapter was missing. I thought it very unfortunate. So… I have a quick question for you, where is your Bible?   Could you pick it up immediately, or would you have to search for it?   How’s the binding on it, worn and easy to open because you read it regularly - or is it stiff with disuse? For further thought, consider these questions comparing our Bibles to cell phones (these were sent to me in an e-mail from a friend). Ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phone? What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets? What if we flipped through it several time a day? What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it? What if we used it to receive messages fro...

Lection for Wednesday after Trinity III  Joshua 6:6-27      Acts 10:18-33 In the business of the day, I was looking through some things while doing some introspective thinking and came upon this article I wrote for the local paper back in 2011. I thought that it might be appropriate as a devotional thought to fill this space. So, here you go. I was privileged to hear a wonderful Gospel sermon at the funeral of a pastor friend not too long ago.   Unfortunately, the Gospel that had been proclaimed was severely clouded when a church official got up a few moments later and extolled the virtues of this pastor.   By the time he was done, you would have thought that my departed friend could walk on water, still the storm, and heal lepers.   I knew this pastor, and he was not without sin.   I knew how his sin affected his family and how they thrived richly on the grace of God. Their marriage and family life was lived in the forgiveness they e...

Lection for Tuesday after Trinity III  Joshua 5:1-6:5        Acts 10:1-17 Peter, up on Simon’s roof to pray, is given a vision. This vision happens three times, and if you want to pay attention to numbers in the Bible, three is the number of the God, three-in-one Trinity. Peter receives the same vision (1 vision), three times. Peter is informed He is to kill and eat that which has been let down before him in this vision. Peter will not do so, for the animals are unclean, they are unholy. But the voice tells him, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” God is preparing Peter for the visit of Cornelius, a Gentile. This same Cornelius also had a vision which informed him he was go to Peter. Cornelius is a convert to Judaism, formerly a Gentile, one of the unclean. So both are being prepared for the meeting which will take place in tomorrow’s reading from Acts. But there is also something else taking place here. God had given dietary laws to ...

Lection for Monday after Trinity III  Joshua 4:1-24       Acts 9:23-43 Yesterday's sermon elicited a request that I put it up on my blog as a daily devotion. Well, as I failed to get one written in time to publish before early evening today, I thought that might be a good way to get one published for this June 29, 2020. The Scripture lessons for the 3rd Sunday after Trinity are: Micah 7:18-20       1 Peter 5:6-11       Luke 15:1-10 Who Is A God Like You? Micah 7:18-20 Trinity III – 6/28/2020 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Many pagan religions in Micah’s day had what we might consider strange rules. Some required you to sacrifice your firstborn child. In fact, it was not uncommon that children or human sacrifice took place to keep the god’s happy. When calamitous weather struck, pagan religions would say, “we need to do something for we have made the gods angry. ...