Living on the Plain: The Gospel of Luke

by Mike Stone

Overview

A devotional guide following the Gospel of Luke, for individuals, small group study, or sermon preparation.

The Gospel of Luke is relevant for today's Christian seeking insights on prayer, common humanity, communal equality, and stewardship. Angels, genealogies, miracles, and parables are rendered accessible, and transformed from skimming material to the real heart of the Gospel. This transformation is an invitation for refining one's faith.

In a day-by-day, story-by-story format, Living on the Plain re-tells the Christian journey through fifty-eight reflections for reading the Gospel of Luke that can be used as a daily devotion for personal or group Bible study at any time of the year.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640653306
Publisher:	Church Publishing, Incorporated
Publication date:	10/16/2020
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

MICHAEL STONE is a priest who was found by the Episcopal Church after being nourished by myriad and seemingly unrelated stops along the way: ordained Southern Baptist ministry, participation in almost every mainline Christian denomination and study in five differently confessional seminaries (Roman Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal and United Methodist), preparation for a professorship in Hebrew Bible, teaching high school math, coaching wrestling, teaching speed-reading and comprehensions lessons to students from 3-99, construction, direct-mail marketing, fishing for salmon in Alaska, and being built up by love after having puffed himself up with knowledge. He is the grateful spouse of Rebecca and the proud father of two children, Daniel and Emory, and caretaker of his canine associate, Maggie the goldendoodle. He eccentrically makes soap, competes in long-distance races, mills grain, produces stained glass windows and custom cabinetry, plays the guitar, shops at livestock auctions, and wants to know more about, well, everything.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: Taste and See ix

1 God-Lovers 1

2 Unexpected Messengers 4

3 Grace without Strings 7

4 The Model Mary 9

5 A Real Birth Story 12

6 Holy Recognition 15

7 In God's House 17

8 Repent 20

9 Abundance for All 24

10 Belovedness 27

11 23andWe 30

12 Resistance 33

13 Observance 37

14 Radical Vision 40

15 Unclean Spirits 43

16 Blessed to Bless 45

17 Go Fish 47

18 Catching the Cooties 50

19 Friendship 52

20 New Wineskins 54

21 The Sabbath 56

22 Blessings and Woes 59

23 Accepting Gifts 61

24 Sowing Seeds 64

25 Order in the Chaos 67

26 When Pigs Fly 69

27 The Importance of Touch 71

28 Touch and Nourishment 74

29 Bread for the World 77

30 Take Up Your Cross 80

31 Transformation 82

32 Neighbors 85

33 Purpose and Joy 87

34 The Lord's Prayer 89

35 Do Justly, Love Mercy 93

36 Breathe Life 96

37 The Choices We Make 99

38 Parables of Faith 102

39 Party Invitations 105

40 Taste and Welcome 107

41 Abundant Love 109

42 Master 112

43 Believing Is Seeing 115

44 Flipped Prejudice 118

45 Persistence 121

46 As a Child 124

47 Insight 127

48 Be the Opposition 129

49 Symbolic Resistance 132

50 Authority 135

51 Eternity 137

52 Dignity over Piety 139

53 Fuel for the Journey 142

54 Weapons of Righteousness 145

55 Reptilian Choices 147

56 Extraordinariness 149

57 Idle Tales 152

58 A New Call 155

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Luke’s Gospel, the most inclusive and grace-filled Gospel in the New Testament, has a message of great relevance for our world today. This devotional by Rev. Mike Stone is full of provocative and creative nuggets of wisdom that will inspire, encourage and challenge.”
—Mark L. Strauss, Bethel Seminary of Bethel University

“Living on the Plain is a rare find in Christian spirituality. It takes seriously contemporary historical-critical biblical study and the history of the Church. At the same time it asks the question of how a Gospel written two-thousand years ago can relate to us . . . . This book is a wonderful way to begin one's own meditations on the Gospel of Luke—and on one's own life! I give it five stars!
—Charles D. Hackett, Emory University

Editorial Reviews

Luke’s Gospel, the most inclusive and grace-filled Gospel in the New Testament, has a message of great relevance for our world today. This devotional by Rev. Mike Stone is full of provocative and creative nuggets of wisdom that will inspire, encourage and challenge.”
—Mark L. Strauss, Bethel Seminary of Bethel University

“Living on the Plain is a rare find in Christian spirituality. It takes seriously contemporary historical-critical biblical study and the history of the Church. At the same time it asks the question of how a Gospel written two-thousand years ago can relate to us . . . . This book is a wonderful way to begin one's own meditations on the Gospel of Luke—and on one's own life! I give it five stars!
—Charles D. Hackett, Emory University

From the Publisher