Life on Planet Earth on Wine

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The Miracle of Wine

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The miracle indeed of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby He made the water into wine, is not marvellous to those who know that it was God's doing. For He who made wine on that day at the marriage feas...

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Author

John Calvin

Keywords

Alcohol

Scripture

1 Corinthians 10:16, Genesis 27:29, Nehemiah 8:10, Isaiah 25:6, Ecclesiastes 9:7, Proverbs 3:10, Psalm 104:15

Wine is God’s special drink. The purpose of good wine is to inspire us to a livelier sense of gratitude to God.

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The Perfect Soil for Winemaking

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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My first call to ministry was in Eastern Washington state. It turned out to be one of the most prolific winemaking regions in the country. One of the things I learned from a local winery was really qu...

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Based on Isaiah 55

Author

Ellen R. Dawson

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Scripture

Isaiah 55:null

“Come,” says the Lord. “All you who are thirsty, come to the waters.” “Come. Here there is bread and wine for your soul.” “Come,” says the Lord, “come be my people, and I will be your God.” We a...

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Adapted from John 13, 1 Corinthians 11, and Exodus 12

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Scripture

John 13:null, 1 Corinthians 11:null, Exodus 12:null

A table is set before us. A feast is prepared for us. A meal of bread and wine, of meat and bitter herbs. The Lord calls us to this supper of remembrance. The Lord calls us to serve and to be serve...

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Gracious and Heavenly Father, In your

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Gracious and Heavenly Father, In your word, you call us to be comforted first and foremost by You. But often, if we are honest, we look for comfort in different places. We look for comfort in our b...

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The World of Wine

Author

Leonard Sweet

Keywords

Alcohol

The world of wine expertise is a world of its own. The number one wine critic in the world, Robert Parker, insures his nose for $1 million. The world’s biggest auction market for top wines is no longe...

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Christian Culture Concerning Alcohol

Author

E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien

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Scripture

Proverbs 20:1, Proverbs 23:31-32, 1 Timothy 5:23

In the excellent book, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes , Brandon J. O’Brien shares a helpful illustration of how different churches deal with alcohol very differently: When I (Brandon) w...

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Author

Henri J. M. Nouwen

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When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become.

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A Toast to a Radically, Perpetually Unnecessary World

Author

Robert Farrar Capon

Keywords

Food

In this short excerpt, Robert Farrar Capon makes a toast to the fact that all of creation, including our food, are in some sense superfluous. That is to say, God did not have to create anything, inclu...

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Author

M.F.K. Fisher

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There is communion of more than our bodies when bread is broken and wine drunk.

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Author

Tim Chester

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Scripture

Luke 22:19-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Matthew 26:26-28, Acts 2:42, Acts 20:7, John 6:35

Every Communion is an embodiment of God’s grace. We hear God’s grace in the words that are spoken. But we also see it, hear it, touch it, and taste it in the bread and wine. God in his kindness, knowi...

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Author

Edward Welch

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Vulnerability

C.S. Lewis indicated that if he wanted something easy and pain-free, he would have chosen a bottle of wine over Jesus. There is no question that biblical love leaves us more vulnerable. But this will ...

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Habit Loops

Author

Shelly Miller

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According to the groundbreaking book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, his research tells us that cravings drive our “habit loops.” Some of us crave escape or relaxation through the habit of a g...

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Fearing to Want

Author

Jen Pollock Michel

Keywords

Scripture

Ephesians 5:18-21, Proverbs 20:1, 1 Corinthians 10:23-24, Colossians 3:5, James 1:12-15, Matthew 6:19-24, Ecclesiastes 6:9

In her thought-provoking book, Teach us to Want , Jen Pollock Michel describes the tension in listening to our deepest desires: some of them these desires are integral to our identity, but they a...

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An Eye for an Eye

Author

James S. Hewett

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Scripture

James 2:13, Matthew 5:7, Zechariah 7:9-10, Proverbs 21:3, Micah 6:8

Zaleusus flourished as king of the ancient Greek Locrians in about 500 B.C. His government over the Locrians was severe but just. In one of his decrees he forbade the use of wine unless it were prescr...

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Living Faith Through Selfless Service

Author

Oscar A. Romero

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Scripture

Isaiah 53:4-5, 1 Samuel 17:, 1 John 12:24-25, Matthew 16:25, Psalm 116:15

Whoever seeks to avoid danger at all costs may ultimately lose the fullness of life, but the one who, out of love for Christ, dedicates themselves to serving others discovers a life that endures. Arch...

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What is the Christian Imagination Deficit? How Do We Fix It?

Author

Brian Brown

Keywords

There Are No Ordinary Things J. R. R. Tolkien tells a short story about an ordinary fellow who just wants to finish a painting. Over time, he is constantly distracted by the requests of his neighbors...

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The Difference between Avoiding Pain and Seeking Comfort?

Author

Mark Scandrette

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What’s the difference between avoiding pain and seeking appropriate comfort? I have a friend who says, “The first episode of my favorite TV show is soothing. But if I’m watching the fifth episode in a...

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Author

Rachel Held Evans

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Millennials aren't looking for a hipper Christianity. We're looking for a truer Christianity, a more authentic Christianity. Like every generation before ours and every generation after, we...

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The Case of Courage

Author

G. K. Chesterton

Keywords

Courage

Scripture

Joshua 1:6-9, Isaiah 41:10, Ephesians 6:10-18, Matthew 10:28-31, Psalm 56:3-4, 2 Corinthians 4:8-12

Take the case of courage. No quality has ever so much addled the brains and tangled the definitions of merely rational sages. Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to li...

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Running Away from our Problems

Author

Seth Haines

Keywords

We tend to spoil any good thing, human as we are. We turn the gifts of God into coping mechanisms, just like I did wine, and we do it with any old gift. Consider my friend Rich, a good and right man w...

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The Fire of Fairy Tales

Author

G. K. Chesterton

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:31, Romans 1:20, Psalm 118:24, Job 38:4, Lamentations 3:23

This elementary wonder, however, is not a mere fancy derived from the fairy tales; on the contrary, all the fire of the fairy tales is derived from this…. We all like astonishing tales because they to...

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The Payoff

Author

Philip Graham Ryken

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 22:19-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, Matthew 26:26-28, Acts 2:42, Acts 20:7, John 6:35

If we are honest with ourselves, for many of us who celebrate the sacraments on a regular basis, at times we take them for granted. We lose sight of their nature to inspire and remind us of our covena...

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Our Bodies Need Silence

Author

Rick Hamlin

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Your body knows about schedules. It gets used to those times of day when it says, Feed me right now. I’m hungry, and those times of night when it says, Get me to bed. I’m exhausted. Your body will spe...

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Jesus & the Common Ventures of Life

Author

Richard J. Foster

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All of us share in what D. Elton Trueblood calls “the common ventures of life”—birth, marriage, work, death. Jesus, in his life and in his teaching, gave sacramental significance to these ordinary exp...

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Describe Your Inner-Critic

Author

Nancy Updike

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NPR’s Nancy Updike got an earful when she asked people about what their inner critic sounded like or communicated to them. Here are some of the answers: As part of a segment on the NPR program This A...

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Holding on to Earth

Author

John Shea

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 19:29, Revelation 21:1-2, 1 Corinthians 2:9, Hebrews 11:16, Philippians 3:20, John 14:2-3, Matthew 6:19-21

There once lived a peasant in Crete who deeply loved his life. He enjoyed tilling the soil, feeling the warm sun on his naked back as he worked the fields, and feeling the soil under his feet. He love...

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What is Life for?

Author

Gary D. Preston

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Scripture

Ecclesiastes 1:1-15, Mark 8:36, James 5:1, 1 John 2:17

Take the great American writer Ernest Hemingway, for example. Born in 1899, he was the epitome of the twentieth-century man. At age 25, he sipped champagne in Paris, and later had well-publicized game...

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The Goodness of the Physical World

Author

Christopher West

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 1:31, 1 Timothy 4:4-5, Colossians 1:16, Romans 1:20, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

God is the author of the physical world, and in his wisdom, he designed physical realities to convey spiritual mysteries. “There is no good trying to be more spiritual than God,” as C. S. Lewis insist...

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