Day by Day - Manna Monday

What Is Manna Monday?

Each week after Sunday's message, this is your invitation to keep the conversation going between you and God. Like manna in the wilderness, it comes one day at a time — a brief recap of where we've been and a gentle nudge toward where we're headed. The practice of Dwelling in the Word isn't Bible study. It's something quieter and more personal. It's showing up to the same passage each day and listening for what God might be saying specifically to you.

A Look Back

This week we sat with Acts 2:42–47 and the picture of the early church living life together — not in one dramatic moment, but day by day. Breaking bread. Sharing resources. Showing up for one another with glad and generous hearts. We talked about how the church isn't a nonprofit to be optimized or a program to be perfected. It's a blended family, slow-cooked by faithfulness and love. And despite never being more connected than ever in human history, we're living in a moment of profound loneliness where that kind of community isn't just meaningful — it's medicine.

The early church didn't set out to grow. They set out to love well. And God did the math.

As Nadia Bolz-Weber reminds us, the church isn't a polished social club — it's a place where your hunger is seen and your name is known. No one controls your access to God here. No one holds your belonging over your head or makes you earn your place. And community isn't something we manufacture or engineer — it's what happens to us when we are busy being faithful to the Gospel.

The invitation we carried out the door: find someone in your ordinary week — a coworker, a neighbor, someone carrying something heavy — and simply be present with them. Pull up a chair. Ask their name and mean it. Because here's what we're learning together: the more we truly see one another, the more of God we get to see. Every person in front of us is carrying the image of God, and when we slow down enough to actually notice them — really notice them — we aren't just doing good. We are encountering the divine. The rest belongs to God.

Dwelling in the Word Fifth Sunday of Easter — May 4, 2026

Next Sunday we step into a week of scriptures about what it means to trust, to be built into something, and to hear the voice of the One who calls us by name. As you dwell this week, let these passages speak to wherever you find yourself — especially if you're in a valley, or struggling to see the way forward.

Instructions Set aside a regular time and place during your week where you can sit quietly with God's Word. It does not need to be long, but it should be intentional. Choose a space where you can slow down and give the text your attention.

Read the passage slowly — once quietly, then once aloud. Pay attention to the word, phrase, or image that stands out. Sit with it. Write it down.

Ask yourself:

• What word or phrase is drawing my attention?

• What is bubbling up in me as I sit with it?

• Why might this part of the passage be standing out today?

Return to the same passage each day and notice what changes. The goal is not to master the text, but to let the Word dwell in you.

Scriptures

Acts 7:55–60 — Stephen, full of the Spirit, sees heaven opened — and forgives even as he dies

Psalm 31:1–5, 15–16 — A prayer of refuge and trust: "Into your hand I commit my spirit"

1 Peter 2:2–10 — We are living stones, being built together into something holy and chosen

John 14:1–14 — Jesus speaks tenderly: "Do not let your hearts be troubled" — He is the way, the truth, and the life

Prayer God of every ordinary day, thank You for meeting us right where we are — not where we think we should be. As we carry this week's word with us, soften the places in us that are still stuck, still grieving, still blind to what You're already doing. Teach us to dwell, to trust, and to love the people right in front of us. We commit our spirits into Your hands. Amen.

Let me know if anything needs tweaking before you post it!