DAILY READING Revelation 2:12-17 REFLECTION   Hold Fast By Kim Starr   Pergamum was an ancient city located 15 miles from the Aegean Sea in what we now call Turkey. It was a major cultural arts center and intellectual hub that rivaled Alexandria in being a focus of learning and art. The Library of Pergamon was known for holding the second-largest collection of scrolls in the ancient world. The Pergamon Altar, which is now housed in a museum in Berlin, was a masterpiece of Hellenistic...

DAILY READING John 6:60-71 John 7:1-13 REFLECTION   How do you respond to Jesus? By Kim Starr The people who had been following Jesus were going to have to make a decision about how to respond to him. Jesus had just taught them that they were going to have to eat of his body and drink of his blood. Many of his followers found this not only confusing, but offensive. Many of them left and decided not to follow Jesus any more.   Later, Jesus’ brothers, who were not believers, try to talk him...

DAILY READING Colossians 1:24-29 REFLECTION   What are you doing for the body? By Kim Starr Not many of us have been called to present the Word of God in its fullness like Paul was. Paul is the church’s servant because of what the Lord asked him to do: spread the Word of God to the Lord’s people, both Jews and Gentiles. Paul did not have an easy time doing this. He was beaten, given 39 lashes, stoned, imprisoned, and shipwrecked. He was in danger in the city, in the wilderness, on the sea,...