I Peter 4:14-16. 5:6-11
1) Peter is demonstrating that the culture has nothing to fear from good, law-abiding Christians. This, of course, only heightens the irony of persecution for being a christian. It carries an echo of the end of the beatitudes. However, I don't know how it works well with the aliens in their own land theme.

2) Notice that our section follows directly on advice to elders and young men.Do males ask for or handle advice well? why then are we so good at offering it?

3) Humble oneself sounds here as an activity more than a virtue.(It is closer to say be humbled, as in obeisance)  I would like to lift up humility for our consideration. It is not a virtue that gets a lot of respect in our competitive, success-driven culture. yet some of the leadership books not that humility seems to be a virtue in some top CEOs. Humility is of the same root as humus. It is a good reminder that we are of the earth, creatures, not gods. At the same time, self-abnegation can be a sin against the god who made us in the divine image and likeness.
4) Casting anxiety on God is not always easy, is it? this is well-linked ot the God who cares for us.
5) Self-control too has lost some of it s luster in a time of letting one's thoughts and feelings spill out.Authenticity seems more highly valued than self-control.
6) Alert against evil-Peter has a sharp sense of evil prowling around us like a predator ready to strike.
7) Suffering makes yet another appearance in this letter, one which some consider a baptismal homily

 

Ps. 68:1-10, 32-5

1) rider on the clouds has a mythic ring to me. ( See Ps. 104) Baal was called the cloud-rider. it is entirely possible that the writer(s) took a good title and applied it to the god of Israel.

2) Along with the usual protection of the widow and orphan we expand to the desolate, to prisoners. God has power, but god empowers as well.

3) In recounting the deeds of God we go to the theophany at Sinai, then to a portion that sounds similar to Jdg.5:4-5

4) We have in 9-10 a dense set of images of abundance, prosperity, rain etc.

5) We return to the rider image, the phrase ancient heavens attracts me. One could use it as a crux to enter into a discussion of creation and science.

6) At the end, God's awesome power seems to be transmitted, a bit, to Israel. It ends with a stirring, Blessed be God.

 

Acts 1:6-11

1) We get a promise of the Spirit.Notice that this promise deflects the question about the restoration of Israel, almost the exact wording of the 2 disciples on the way to Emmaus.

2) With Ascension day on a Thursday, Protestant churches don't work much with this item of the faith. I remember a storm of protest when it showed up on the Presbyterian ordination theology exam. It may be a good time to work with it. Calvin was critical about Lutheran ubiquity of the presence of Christ, as he insisted that the seated at the right hand had a locative property for Jesus. With that, Calvin is assured that the gaze of God moves from a dreadful one to a graceful one. Christ represents all humanity in heaven. With the incarnate One in heaven, God demonstrates the import of our earthly lives. Jesus continues to intercede for us, to advocate for us in heaven. (See Hebrews,for instance) the ascension certainly brings up questions of presence, as in communion and prayer, but then opens up the issue of return as well.

Second  Cut for Tuesday Morning class
1) A superior way to use the word confession is to tell the truth. as it is in Latin, to really admit the truth or validity of something. would it be a good idea ot call our affirmation of faith, a confession of faith?
2) What would be the impact of heeding the advice of Jas. 5:16?
3) Read Psalms 51, 32, and 130 and discuss what jumps out at you. what does it say about God that we can be candid in our prayers? What prevents us from being candid in our prayers?
Ps. 51 gives 3 senses of sin:transgression is more like rebellion; iniquity/guilty is closer to bent out of shape;sin=miss the target. 3 words for forgiveness:blot=wipe away wash=scrub off;cleanse includes a sense of ritual purity as well as cleaning stains from clothes
4) At pg 2, col.1, the writer speaks of confession being good for the soul In part, we stop hiding from god. Why is this beneficial?
5) The selection of I Kings 8:23-53 is a good selection. Write out you prayer for your congregation. Create a group prayer by coming up with needs for our country.
6)We then move to Ps. 25. the writer calls it balm for the soul of people in pain. Why does lament work this way? What does it say about our spiritual condition that we cut out many laments in worship life? It is written as an acrostic, with a line starting with a letter in the alphabet, in order. In that sense, it is a teaching psalm. What are good and bad ways to teach prayer?
7) John 17's first section was just read on June 5 in many churches.It concludes the long goodbye section of 14-217. What does it mean to you that Jesus prays for you in this prayer?
Of course, one is surprised that the Lord's Prayer is not selected. How does the Lord's Prayer have an impact on your prayer life?
8) Finally 2 sections of Ephesians appear, 1:17-19, 3:16-19 What does it mean to you to pray for wisdom?
9) How do you deal with intercessory prayer not being answered?

May 29-Acts 17:22-31-This remarkable vignette has Paul trying to speak to the sophisticated Athenians through their culture. Paul isn't entirely successful, but some are willing to hear more, and some come to the Christian faith. this strikes me as out task all the time. How do we speak the basic elements of the faith in language, and even style, that can get through to people? Another way to work with this is to ask yourself how you would try to explain something to a child, or if you were a missionary in a different culture.

Memorial Day-Joshua 24-Memorials can be made of many things, but the ones of stone are meant to last. We have all seen too many stone memorials of too many dead from too many wars. Most towns have a WWII memorial, and now we have a large one in the nation's capital.Cemeteries are fields of memorials. Living memorials, such as scholarship endowments, are a wonderful way to honor  memory. When the people of Israel's tribes gathered in a solemn ceremony, Joshua set up a stone to mark the occasion to give a lasting symbol of memory. On this memorial day, what are particularly effective memorials in your view?

May 31-Artwork available on the web-Susie does a great job in finding pictures to complement the theme of children's worship. One of the benefits of the web is instant access to all sorts of great art. As a spiritual exercise click on google images and pick a biblical scene. Then examine 3 painting/pictures that strike you and study them closely for a bit. What attracts you/ what takes you aback? If you did the painting, what would you emphasize? How do the artworks give you to angles to consider o bit of Scripture?

Wednesday-I have a small project for the Reformed Roundtable, a theology group chaired by our presbytery's own Mark Strothmann. I am comparing Calvin's look at some passages in Mark to a book written by the late, lamented William Placher. He is a sharp and careful reader of Scripture and quick ot note rough spots. I would encourage you to read Scripture with care every day, but not as a holy object, too sacred to be a source of questions. Work with it, question it, turn it it the light in different ways. the Spirit will uncover new riches with you.

Thursday-Mk4:35-41- The small boat was an early Christian symbol, a little ark perhaps. In this passage, the boat is in the midst of a terrible storm,but Jesus is asleep in the back, like Jonah in the old story. Like us, the disciples ask if Jesus does not care that they are in danger of perishing. Jesus gets up and tells the storm Peace. Be still. I leave it to your imagination to hear how Jesus sounded and looked when he quieted the waves. Consider using it as a mantra of sorts:peace, be still. let the words echo within.

Friday-Frustration dogs us all. It may be particularly difficult for active, energetic people who want to see more than progress, but something finished or settled. One way to handle it is to watch that our expectations don't outrun reality, especially the reality of delay. Frustration emerges from our desire to be in control, at times. it can also come up when we have a hard time accepting and dealing with our own limits. Sometimes, we are just too hard on ourselves. We learn from successes as well as failures.

Saturday-Spiritual practice of review can be really valuable. Some people do a review at the end of the day with the good and bad. I know one woman who uses a ritual of filling a bowl with water in the morning and emptying it with the cares of the day. I just heard a spiritually adept person say that she goes through the blessings of the day before retiring. That helps settle her for sleep. In some way, our confession in Sunday worship pushes us toward a weekly life review. When you run into good memories, know God celebrates with you. When you run into difficult ones, know that you are forgiven.

May 29   John 14:15-21, I Peter 3:13-22

When I was a boy, I went to Catholic school and was expected to attend daily Mass. As an altar boy, that was part of the rotation. So, i heard a lot of Bible. When we came to this selection, my little boy's ears heard the untranslated paraclete as parakeet, and I wondered why the picture on the wall had what looked like a dove or pigeon and not a parakeet, one of those birds kept in a small cage.

Recently someone was complaining to a group that we don't hear enough about hell, and we hear too much about a God of love. Maybe so, but our passages this morning don't move in that direction. I Peter offers some hope for him as a possible biblical reference for the descent into hell, but here it means the abode of the dead. The descent into hell shows  the upper reaches of sacrificial love(see Barth, von Balthasar, Lauber, and the Alan Lewis book on Holy Saturday) no where too deep, no where and no one too far gone, no where too dark for the light of God's love to penetrate.

Love's communion knows no boundaries. Even time and space fall in its march toward fulfillment. Jesus offers an incredibly thick description of the relationship of love here. The love of Jesus and the Father, indeed a mutual indwelling, is for us as well. Put more starkly, divine love is made available to us through Jesus. The way is open ot us to have a relationship with God that could approach the one Jesus enjoyed. We have a sense of mutual indwelling in the language of romantic love when we say things like you will always be a part of me, or perhaps in the words of theologian Tom Cruise, "you complete me." Jesus invites us to join a divine community of mutual love, not unrequited love, mutual love.

Jesus knows that goodbyes are hard. He will not leave us orphaned-not alone-not bereft of help. We are not alone. We are accompanied with the presence of God. That presence here is pictured as helpful and encouraging for us to make good decisions for our benefit. We get another preview of Pentecost this morning. paraclete=called along side, on your side (CASA) calling in for help,comfort, guidance, counselor. an advocate (doctor, lawyer-interior design help)Instead of those annoying God is my co-pilot bumper stickers we could have God is my attorney. He says another paraclete will come. I would assume that means Jesus himself continues to be a counselor and advocate for us, as he was on earth for us. God and power of attorney. God is on our side. God looks out for our best interest. God takes a fiduciary responsibility toward us. Our Pentecostal sisters and brothers are right about the presence of the Sprint. They are wrong that it is available to all of us in God radical democracy, in ways that we require not imposed on us. Maybe we could use an image from musical accompaniment. it does not overwhelm the singer, but helps to carry the singer along and fortifies their song.

I am convinced the Paraclete accompanies us in worship. Worship makes furrows deep in the soil of the soul. Years ago, we tried to do Bible Study in a mixed group of dementia clients and the infirm in a nursing home. it did not work, as one would expect. I walked in around Christmas and said that we would start with a different prayer this morning. Let's sing Christmas songs. Almost every dementia patient could sing the first verse of a Christmas song. Memory was discovered like a paraclete called alongside of them to fill in Christmas. after all, in a way a counselor is a wise friend. Jesus said we are no longer disciples but friends, yet another word for paraclete.

Tuesday Morning Class May 24th Prayer-First cut-More may come up later, but here's a start for class

 

Patrick Miller has a compendium on biblical prayer in They Cried to the Lord.

OK our writer first has us  considering  praise (toward God's self and attributes)  and thanksgiving (directed at acts of God). Following from last week how would different personality types, intelligences, and sense orientation approach these two types of prayer?

the usual word for thanksgiving is todah, but our writer is correct that it is related to  the word yadah. That word comes from yad for hand. it is connected to prayer in both casting something with the hand but also the position of our hands. It then is a base for any prayer posture praise, thanks, confession, intercession. halal=praise as in hallejuah comes from  a word meaning to be clear (of sound0 but also with sight to shine, like a star and developed a sense of celebrating

1) One writer, Rolf Jacobson, in Theology Today, spoke of the "costly loss of praise" in prayer. what do you think the writer would mean by that?

2) What thoughts and feelings are to be evoked by praise/adoration?  How about thanksgiving?

3) Is it easy/natural for you to praise God and to thank God?

4) I am interested in the addition of music and motion into the prayer list.

5) Please, please do not let me forget to have us discuss some prayer sections form the beloved Presbyterian Book of Order.

6) Did you teach children to pray with praise and thanksgiving?

7) We will use psalms as giving structure to these forms of prayer.

8) Do you ever write your prayers out? do you ever record them?

9) In what areas does creation elicit prayers of praise and thanksgiving from you?

I Peter 3:13-22
1) Many consider this passage (v. 19) a possible source for the doctrine of the descent into hell. Barth extends the work of the reformers with an insistence that hell as utter alienation from God began at Gethsemane. One of the best books for me is Alan Lewis Between Cross and resurrection. von Balthasar does see the descent as a discrete event. Lauber's revised Princeton dissertation collects material from both. It seems fairly clear to me that the doctrine envisions hell in the sense of Hades/Sheol, the abode of the dead, more than the image of everlasting punishment.See later at 4:6.

 

2) It seems many of our sisters and brothers mistake cultural disestablishment for persecution.We have many over the globe who do suffer for their faith. Even if they do good, they suffer. If Jesus would suffer, why should we be immune? Further the suffering had some value, as it brought us to a new way of life.

3) We get a reading of baptism that reaches back into the primordial story of Noah and the great symbol of water. Even thought the primordial flood was so destructive, it seems that all those "spirits in prison" have a chance at release, indeed redemption. If one chose, the spirits in prison could extend to living now imprisoned by various forces, including self-imposition of a sentence of say, guilt. One could speak of the church as an ark, or a little boat.

 

4) The exaltation of Jesus from the depths is a constant theme in the early Christian literature.

Acts 17:22-33
1_ This fascinates me. Paul tries to work into Athens by using some of their own religion as an entry point. How different is this from our wholesale adoption of marketing and American cultural idiom and understandings as a lens for the gospel?
2) Here we are reminded of the Tertullian  question, what has  Athens to do with  Jerusalem? In our time, perhaps more to the point what has Mammon to do with Jerusalem?

3) Paul goes after idolatry and emphasizes the Creator god.

4) v.27 is striking about seeking the one who is near.

5) for those who wish a demarcation of secular and sacred Paul links two quotes into his religious argument from non-Jewish sources.

6) Is it an accident that this reading on fixing a day comes a week after May 21?

7) It is of some comfort for preachers that some scoffed but others wanted to hear more.
8) Luke is clearly adopting rhetorical styles and strategies here. Again note  much work is being done on this feature, or look at the award winning book by Luke timothy Johnson on Christianity within the Greco-roman world.

 

Devotions for the week of May 22

May 22-Rob Bell has encountered praise and intense criticism for his new book, Love wins. He says the germ of the book started when someone pointed to a picture of Gandhi and said with certainty, that he was in the fires of hell. Bell reflects his Calvinist roots when he comes to realize that a God who desires that the whole world be saved (I Tim. 2;4) will not be thwarted. How much deterrent impact does the doctrine of hellfire have? How doe sit apply to justice denied in this world? do you fear it, or are you confident of the grace of god?

Monday-John Bowker in A Year to Live says (p.138) that everyday we wake up Christ is calling us out into our world, "the stupendous moment of miracle...each day, and each moment of the day,to respond ...as he calls us to a new ordering of our life." Even if we wake with aches and pains, how do you embrace that miracle? How does the ordering of our life in terms of a calendar demonstrate our faith? When do you notice the call of Christ into the world?

Tuesday-Aging is not easy, as we accumulate new limitations almost daily, it seems. Aging had better contain wisdom, or how else will we adjust to all of its cruel tricks? Aging does bring a deeper perspective on time, especially as the sands in the hour glass finally seem finite.For some, it finally offers us a less harried life with time. I have long wondered if we have unwittingly offered ourselves the monastic gift of time for prayer for us when we are older? One good way into a longer prayer life is to pray the newspaper, for the joys and crying needs you encounter there.

Wednesday-Gregory the Great asked why we take such good daily care to feed our bodies, but we neglect feeding the spirit with good works? How do you think doing good feeds our spiritual lives? If you are limited in what you can do outside the home, what good works are available for you there? Especially consider the good work of praying for others, of praying for the differing needs of our world, local and global.

Thursday-Complaining can be an art form. I think of the old story where  a person survives a shipwreck but is far from shore. He prays and a wave magically deposits him right on the shore of an island. he gets up and gets himself together and prays, "I had a hat." The book of exodus is filled with complaint. when opponents of Jesus murmur, that's another locution for complaining.What evokes your most heartfelt complaints. do you complain in prayer? What annoys you about the complaints of others?

Friday-Reinhold Niebuhr had connections with nearby Eden Seminary. I've been thinking about him lately as the President says he has been influenced by him and also the reactions ot the death of Osama. Niebuhr refused to allow Christians the ease of easy decisions. He fully realized the pacifist course in christian ethics but was convinced that we could not apply that standard when facing menacing, militarist evil. At the same time, he would not permit us the illusion that whatever our country does is somehow pre-approved by God. Further, even good intentions can go astray. Unanticipated consequences are part of a complex world made up of limited decision-makers.

Saturday-We talked in the Tuesday morning class about different factors in our spiritual lives. Our worship comfort zones  are dictated not only  by convention but our personality. an extrovert may love being in a huge crowd, but an introvert may needs some quiet. A person who learns by touch may prize communion but doesn't hold on to much of a sermon. How do your spiritual practices fit, or not fit, your personality?

May 22 Sermon Notes John 14:1-14, I Peter 2:1-10

This is a time for graduations. As young people say hello to a new chapter in their lives, they prepare for a series of goodbyes as well. That's one of the reasons parents are there with tears streaming down their faces. Our passage from John  is the beginning of a long farewell set of speeches that will go through the end of chapter 17. Jesus is preparing his friends for his death. He is preparing them for reconfiguring their lives on their own. Where will they go? Jesus responds, I prepare, get ready,a place for you, just as David prepared a place for the ark of the covenant. Maybe it will be individualized as well as collective presence, I like to speculate that heaven will be fitted well to our particular individual and social needs. For that matter,. God's way is in relationship, not alone. they are promised the presence with Christ-not alone-not abandoned.Not lost where is the way? I am the way-It is part of  Let not your hearts be troubled-assurance, as predestination was meant to give. 
Jesus is saying look, the image of God is right in front of your face-what is God like? God's image is in Jesus Christ. We don;t have to look for special experience; we don't have to look for special information. Know Jesus Christ. As Chesterton wrote:"it is a track of feet in the snow/it is a lantern showing a path/it is a door set open"
 It may well just say that in God's house there is plenty of room for everybody. In the generous love of god, there is not need to be cramped. It is interesting how  folks from different sides of the religious spectrum try to limit the capacious love of God. I could speculate that parts of heaven will have very high walls to allow some folks to think that they are virtually alone in Paradise.The right wing has a long list of words and beliefs that must, must, keep loads of people out of God's world here and in heaven. The liberal left lifts up some of their favorite charities and maybe even a justice issue or two and use that as the litmus test. For the left, God will show no tolerance for the intolerant.

An interesting interpretation is that  Jesus prepares a place within us and among us. My father's house can alos mean household, the number and type of relationships that make a house a home. Living spiritual stones church here and the church triumphant-what a marvelous organic image. Just as buildings are constructed of stone, so the living organism, the church, is composed of living stones, fitted together.(see bowker on unity v. uniformity) I am the life is the marker of a whole life, not one divided between our role sin lfie, not evenone divided between this world and the next. It means a life saturated with, walked in the way of jesus Christ.It is an invitation to a whole life, not an usher keeping us out of an exclusive club, not a velvet rope separating the common herd from the elite. I will take the living stones image further. In this wrold, the many dwelling places refer to a vertical descent, fi you will, from god's to us. God takes the individual living stones of our lives and fits them into an ever-developing structure to make this world a better place. God respects the raw materials at hand, and doe snot insist on a uniformity of materials, but fits them together depending on their size and shape. God not only uses as as building blocks for the church, God takes our indiviudal lives and fits them together to help form heaven. Unity does not insist on uniformity. John Bowker wites" that God has shaped us to find our rest in God.The sculptor take shte hard stone of our lives, as it takes on the form God has intended for it."

May 22 Sermon Notes John 14:1-14, I Peter 2:1-10

This is a time for graduations. As young people say hello to a new chapter in their lives, they prepare for a series of goodbyes as well. That's one of the reasons parents are there with tears streaming down their faces. Our passage from John  is the beginning of a long farewell set of speeches that will go through the end of chapter 17. Jesus is preparing his friends for his death. He is preparing them for reconfiguring their lives on their own. Where will they go? Jesus responds, I prepare, get ready,a place for you, just as David prepared a place for the ark of the covenant. Maybe it will be individualized as well as collective presence, I like to speculate that heaven will be fitted well to our particular individual and social needs. For that matter,. God's way is in relationship, not alone. they are promised the presence with Christ-not alone-not abandoned.Not lost where is the way? I am the way-It is part of  Let not your hearts be troubled-assurance, as predestination was meant to give. 
Jesus is saying look, the image of God is right in front of your face-what is God like? God's image is in Jesus Christ. We don;t have to look for special experience; we don't have to look for special information. Know Jesus Christ. As Chesterton wrote:"it is a track of feet in the snow/it is a lantern showing a path/it is a door set open"
 It may well just say that in God's house there is plenty of room for everybody. In the generous love of god, there is not need to be cramped. It is interesting how  folks from different sides of the religious spectrum try to limit the capacious love of God. I could speculate that parts of heaven will have very high walls to allow some folks to think that they are virtually alone in Paradise.The right wing has a long list of words and beliefs that must, must, keep loads of people out of God's world here and in heaven. The liberal left lifts up some of their favorite charities and maybe even a justice issue or two and use that as the litmus test. For the left, God will show no tolerance for the intolerant.

An interesting interpretation is that  Jesus prepares a place within us and among us. My father's house can alos mean household, the number and type of relationships that make a house a home. Living spiritual stones church here and the church triumphant-what a marvelous organic image. Just as buildings are constructed of stone, so the living organism, the church, is composed of living stones, fitted together.(see bowker on unity v. uniformity) I am the life is the marker of a whole life, not one divided between our role sin lfie, not evenone divided between this world and the next. It means a life saturated with, walked in the way of jesus Christ.It is an invitation to a whole life, not an usher keeping us out of an exclusive club, not a velvet rope separating the common herd from the elite. I will take the living stones image further. In this wrold, the many dwelling places refer to a vertical descent, fi you will, from god's to us. God takes the individual living stones of our lives and fits them into an ever-developing structure to make this world a better place. God respects the raw materials at hand, and doe snot insist on a uniformity of materials, but fits them together depending on their size and shape. God not only uses as as building blocks for the church, God takes our indiviudal lives and fits them together to help form heaven. Unity does not insist on uniformity. John Bowker wites" that God has shaped us to find our rest in God.The sculptor take shte hard stone of our lives, as it takes on the form God has intended for it."

  Tuesday group May 17

Introverts and extroverts-How do your personal devotions fit introverts or extroverts?
How does public worship fit the needs of the two types of energy?

Loving God with the senses-Again do your personal devotions pick up on the five senses?
should public worship do the same? what are the most or least important of the sense in worship to you?

How do we feed our thinking and feeling sides in worship? should sermons try to mix the different personality types?

Do people find a comfort level in churches that fit their personality types?

More work with perceivers and making a judgment is needed here. When do time limits interrupt your personal worship? When do you want a section of worship to continue past the time?
How difficult is it to set goals for worship? Why do we get fixated on worhsip times?

worship preferences and the worship wars-why do emotions get so high about different styles of worship?

When does ritual become ritualistic? When does it not?

Finding Your spiritual type -Corrine Ware (Urban Holmes) We will do some work on spiritual types.

How do different types of biblical devotion fit different types of people?

Let me point you toward some good sources on the recent ratification of an amendment to the Presbyterian Book of Order on ordination standards.

Go to the presbytery website or to Terry Epling's facebook page and find an excellent article.

Go to www.pcusa.org. Look for the letter signed by 24 moderators.

See Whitewater Valley's executive presbyter's piece. (www.wwvp.org)

Go to Cathy Hahn's facebook page for a link to a piece in the Washington Post.

May 15 Acts 2:42-47, Ps. 23, John 10:1-10, I Peter 2:19-25

I was never thrilled with the sheep and shepherd image. I resist being seen as a bleating sheep. I resent being virtually indistinguishable in the herd.  As Americans, we are raised to depend on oneself, to distrust groups. On the other hand, my aunt had a large picture of the Good Shepherd holding a sheep that I always liked. Psalm 23 is one psalm that many of us have memorized or close to it. Yes, the Lord is my shepherd but our readings also tell us the Lord is our shepherd.

Our reading from Acts 2:42-47 serves as a template for worship and of one flock.  Prayer and Communion created a joint spiritual endeavor, but it also worked out economically as well. As they share a faith, as they share their lives in worship, they share their possessions.Quite simply, how could they be given a spiritual banquet and then let members go out hungry? Instead of every person looking out for number one, each gets as they have need. In our time, we might do better to see it as sharing possessions, given the hold they have on us. Church could be the sheepfold.
Worship is the gathering place for the sheep-this Acts community is a worshiping community God asks for so little, to keep holy the sabbath. Most of us don;t rest on the sabbath, and now we ignore the clear organizing staple of church life:worship-with glad and generous/sincere/open hearts, as the only imaginably proper response to Easter. (Note well, worship is not a procession of potential mistakes, it follows a narrative flow where we come in and empty leave with a blessing) Indeed maybe worship is the one place where we allow ourselves the luxury of feeling dependent on the hands of God. We organize time and space to reflect being in the presence of Shepherd and Guardian of our souls. Worship is where the flock is the flock of Christ. So much of our time is spent being independent, standing on our own two feet, as we know if you want a job done well do it yourself. Worship is a place where we can say that God restores our souls. then we can out out to explore the pasture. These passages lead us to consider that the flock is important, not only the separate sheep. Jesus keeps the flock together. (coach and team) Life together is resurrection life. Look to the vast array of unifying aspects of the church, instead of mania over small points often lost in the mists of history. Of course, Jesus Christ is the core of being Christian. We cannot arrogate to ourselves the judgment of insisting, no, the unity of one flock and one shepherd is wrong. We are not the gateway to the flock. Jesus Christ is the gate and guardian of our resting place among the many many sheep on this planet. Our job is to stay with the flock and now that our welfare is connected to the welfare of the entire flock. The whole point of this is that the shepherd wants us to have life, abundant life. that life is enjoyed together. (George Clooney quote in Up in the air)

The shepherd job is filled, so we don;t arrogate on to ourselves who is in and who is out. Indeed the likely context of the passage is not Christian and non-Christian but different Christian communities in the first place. Shepherds had a poor reputation in the time of Jesus, maybe akin to  not being up to the job, of looking out for themselves as much as those under their care. Our shepherd gave his life for the flock, for us. We are in this church together, equal members of the body of Christ.. When one of the flock is elevated or diminshed, we too are elevated or diminished.

May 8
Upon suggestion from some of our older members, I am going to start to include short devotionals on the back of our printed sermon copies, as we did during Lent. To help organize the project, I'm going to pick out a passage or short quote from the biblical books in order for the next 9+ weeks.

Joseph and forgiveness-Gen. 50 I just spoke to someone who has held a political grudge for over 40 years. that seems to me to keep and old wound too fresh in the freezer section of our memory. Joseph spent his adult life in a foreign land due to the jealousy of his brothers. With their father dead, the brothers fear that Joseph will now not be inhibited in extracting revenge, even though he has made it clear he has forgiven their deep wrong. the fundamental base of forgiveness is to let go of the right to revenge. when that happens, the pain of the incident starts to drain away as well. At v. 20, his perspective is important. He knows that did wrong, but God was able and willing to work it for the good. In the end, god is not bound to our wrongs; God can transform them.

First cut. I may revise at some point.

1) Cutting alert. Our section is in a household code section. Small problem, the opening, topic sentence on slaves is omitted. So this seems to become a generalized statement when it was not written with that audience in mind at all.
2) We are in dangerous territory here, as it uses Christ as a model of unjust suffering to which we also are called? What about healing suffering? What about justice?
I especially fear that his could be used for people who are not suffering to people who are suffering. It is easy to give advice on suffering when one is safe and sound.

3) Notice the echoes of the suffering servant toward the suffering of Christ.

4) Notice the  move that Christ died so we may live for righteousness.

5) v.23 is an example of turning the other cheek.

6)Shepherd and guardian of the soul is a phrase that deserves some sustained attention.How do sheep go astray/ How are our moral failings similar and dissimilar?

 

Acts 2:42-47

1) I want to note the explicit linkage between worship and social life here on sharing possessions. I need to find the citation to a new book on this topic I noticed recently.Simply put, how can we receive a spiritual banquet at Communion and enter a world where people are hungry in the bellies?

2)William Willimon picks up the phrase, with glad ad generous hearts, in his little book on worship. That does not seem to be the prevailing attitude in church does it?

3) After all these years this little rubric still governs the basic pattern of worship.

4) "having the goodwill of the people" Does that seem to be in short supply as well?

5) since shepherd seems to be the theme for Sunday, to a degree at least, this is a good intro to discuss the needs of the flock instead of the individual, or as Mr. Spock said, sometimes the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one, or words to that effect as he was carried from the reactor in Wrath of Khan.

6) This passage could also be a clarion call to worship, or an intro to  how the structure of worship is  basic, but its ornamentation is fluid.

 

Ps.23

1) Why is this passage so popular?

2) i shall not want= I will lack not.

3) What are contemporary version of green pastures?

4) Where does the soul need restored in 2011? I assume soul=nephesh here, the self the vital center, the life force.

5)How does one know we are in right paths?

6) Give 3 examples of darkest valley/shadow of death.

7)How do rod and staff comfort? By sight, by use?

8) What feeling is evoked by a banquet with enemies?

9)Where does your cup overflow? Where is it empty or half full? We just went through a church time when cup=wrath. What happened?

10) How do you handle my whole life long/length of days with the old forever at the end?

May 2, 2010 the Morning After
Like many people I have some conflicting feelings over the reaction to the death of Osama bin Laden. First, I am in the middle of the clear New Testament message toward pacifism and the long standing  issue of foreign policy realism in the just war tradition. I am led to re-read some of the arguments between Niebuhr and pacifists at the outbreak of WWII and his insistence of an aggressive policy toward the containment of the Eastern bloc after the war. I respect the pacifist response and even assert that any Christian needs to consider it fully. On the other hand, I cannot understand how we can assume to foist the pacifist response on to a nation-state. At any rate, the fundamental purpose of just war models is the protection of innocent life, and  a murderer of innocent life is gone. We do well to pay attention to the levels of our analysis, the individual and the social.

I can sympathize with the distaste of some with the chants of USA. It smacks of hubris. We offered him support when it was conducive to our foreign policy objectives. Yes, we are all God's children, all connected; life is too precious to be sneered away. We are told to, called to,  love the enemy. I can sympathize with the explosion of the chants as well. I can imagine ill-considered religious opinion making this some sort of moral competition where the U.S. won.  I am frankly mystified that folks would post comments about their distaste for some demonstrations, as their primary response,  as opposed to the plain fact of a mass murderer meeting his justly deserved end. 9/11 was a terrible crime, an affront to decency. To see its instigator  thumb his nose at justice for so long was a bitter pill for almost ten years. To a degree it wipes away the bitter taste of the failed mission to release the hostages in Iran thirty years ago. It is a retort to those shrieking demonstrations almost ten years ago that applauded the death of thousands.

Prayer can take the worst and best of our emotions and wrap them in a peaceful delivery to God.
Mourn the dead. Mourn the families ripped apart. Yes, that would include Osama's family.
One starting point for loving the enemy is to pray for them.
We look toward the resolution of Ps. 85:10, where justice and peace shall kiss. we look toward the day when 'the leaves of the tree will will be for the healing of nations" (Rev. 22:2)
I will pray that no Ester light shines on his organization, that dreams of a caliphate and terror as a means of achieving it stay in the grave.
with the hymn, may we pray that "God mend our every flaw" especially in a foreign policy that goes off the rails repeatedly, in the name of realism.We pray for a shield of protection and prudence over all within reach of  vengeful reply from militants, again especially the innocent civilians.
I pray that our poisonous politics stop demonizing opponents and stop clouding our minds about difficult and complex decisions.
we pray for the conditions in nations that can spawn a murderous ideology that they can look to establish peace, justice, and security within.

Prayer is not a plea for passivity. it mobilizes us for action. It energizes hope, in this case, hope for a better, more just and peaceful world. When our daughters were born, not long before the new millennium, the Stalinist wall had broken down. I had real hopes for their future in a more peaceful time. That was a vagrant hope, of course.  Now, their lives have been shadowed by 9/11 and the response to it. One day, one bright spring day, perhaps their children will hear of terror no more than my generation hears the word, polio.

May 2, 2010 the Morning After
Like many people I have some conflicting feelings over the reaction to the death of Osama bin Laden. First, I am in the middle of the clear New Testament message toward pacifism and the long standing  issue of foreign policy realism in the just war tradition. I am led to re-read some of the arguments between Niebuhr and pacifists at the outbreak of WWII and his insistence of an aggressive policy toward the containment of the Eastern bloc after the war. I respect the pacifist response and even assert that any Christian needs to consider it fully. On the other hand, I cannot understand how we can assume to foist the pacifist response on to a nation-state. At any rate, the fundamental purpose of just war models is the protection of innocent life, and  a murderer of innocent life is gone. We do well to pay attention to the levels of our analysis, the individual and the social.

I can sympathize with the distaste of some with the chants of USA. It smacks of hubris. We offered him support when it was conducive to our foreign policy objectives. Yes, we are all God's children, all connected; life is too precious to be sneered away. We are told to, called to,  love the enemy. I can sympathize with the explosion of the chants as well. I can imagine ill-considered religious opinion making this some sort of moral competition where the U.S. won.  I am frankly mystified that folks would post comments about their distaste for some demonstrations, as their primary response,  as opposed to the plain fact of a mass murderer meeting his justly deserved end. 9/11 was a terrible crime, an affront to decency. To see its instigator  thumb his nose at justice for so long was a bitter pill for almost ten years. To a degree it wipes away the bitter taste of the failed mission to release the hostages in Iran thirty years ago. It is a retort to those shrieking demonstrations almost ten years ago that applauded the death of thousands.

Prayer can take the worst and best of our emotions and wrap them in a peaceful delivery to God.
Mourn the dead. Mourn the families ripped apart. Yes, that would include Osama's family.
One starting point for loving the enemy is to pray for them.
We look toward the resolution of Ps. 85:10, where justice and peace shall kiss. we look toward the day when 'the leaves of the tree will will be for the healing of nations" (Rev. 22:2)
I will pray that no Ester light shines on his organization, that dreams of a caliphate and terror as a means of achieving it stay in the grave.
with the hymn, may we pray that "God mend our every flaw" especially in a foreign policy that goes off the rails repeatedly, in the name of realism.We pray for a shield of protection and prudence over all within reach of  vengeful reply from militants, again especially the innocent civilians.
I pray that our poisonous politics stop demonizing opponents and stop clouding our minds about difficult and complex decisions.
we pray for the conditions in nations that can spawn a murderous ideology that they can look to establish peace, justice, and security within.

Prayer is not a plea for passivity. it mobilizes us for action. It energizes hope, in this case, hope for a better, more just and peaceful world. When our daughters were born, not long before the new millennium, the Stalinist wall had broken down. I had real hopes for their future in a more peaceful time. That was a vagrant hope, of course.  Now, their lives have been shadowed by 9/11 and the response to it. One day, one bright spring day, perhaps their children will hear of terror no more than my generation hears the word, polio.

Possible readings Gen. 50, Ps. 25, Eph. 4:2-3 Part 2 on forgiveness Thoughtful Christian by Janet Ramsey
1) In the opening vignette,Should Charley apologize. should Alice accept it?
2) In your experience what do you consider a proper apology?
3) We live in a time of public apology. do any apologies seem acceptable to us in that forum?
4) What is more difficult being forgiven or forgiving?
5) Our writer moves in psychological territory with narcissism. It is a personality disorder that has a grandiose self-image, with image being the key word, as it does not comport with reality. think of the myth. They are unable to see things without themselves at the center/ their basic question is always what about me. She notes a sense of entitlement.Part of me wants to say we used to call this selfish.
6) She goes on to quickly go into attachment and basic trust. Erikson considered trust as a building block sense for us. as she says, if are care cared for, we can care.
7) She sees control as a major obstacle to forgiveness.
8) She has shame at the individual level. how would you define it? her sense is not doing wrong but a sense of being wrong (bad0.  Again, Erikson found this to be a  very fundamental human sense, connected to our emerging sense of autonomy. Has shame decreased as a social norm lately? she asks about anti-shame pill's ingredients.
9) she says shame pushes us to externalize hurt to avoid it by blaming or withdrawing. What do you think? How is that related to pride?
10) What are some shaming experiences in your life? Notice how easily you relive them once you center on some.
11) what do you think of her suggestion that our image of god affects our image of forgiveness?
12) Why is playing the victim enticing?
13) Why do we hold on to previous images of a person? Why are we then quick to label them as the one who hurt us?
14) What does her research points on anger do to the common presumption that anger needs an outlet?
15) Is human forgiveness impossible without the grace of God?
16) What do you think of her stress on forgiveness as gift and process?
17) How can we link the Lord's supper to forgiveness more fully?
18 ) Can you think of similar rituals to the closing one in Virginia?