 |
| St. Paul: On The Same Page
|
|
|
|
|
| What is this blog about? - Friday, June 01, 2007Each week I'll be writing some thoughts about the upcoming Sunday lessons, two Sundays ahead. My hope is that this will help laity be better prepared for worship, that it will help me to be better prepared for preaching, and that it might possibly be a service to some of my fellow pastors as well. NOTE: this is not a heavy exegetical blog. I won't be digging into the Hebrew or Greek. That is step-one of the sermon preparation. This is step-two, some cogitating about the devotional application of the text. How can we apply it to our lives. I hope it's helpful.
You can find a schedule of all the Sunday readings here.
You can read the SPOTS Devotion from St. Paul here in pdf format. read more ... |
|
|
|
|
 Church Menu
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By Author
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By Category
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Alright, so heaven is a grand celebration, a great banquet. Got that.
And we can "rejoice in the Lord always" because his coming is near. Got that.
So now... why do I find it so hard to rejoice? Why does this feel so little like a party?
Have you ever tried to throw a party? I mean a really big party - like a wedding. We have had some experience with that recently...
"REJOICE in the Lord always! I will say it AGAIN: Rejoice!" Do you think Paul could have done more to emphasize this?
Ironically, Paul couldn't do ALL CAPS to make it stand out. The original manuscripts were already written in all caps - the whole thing. (Ouch, my eyes!) And they didn't do underlining, or italics, colors, or exclamation points. All that came later. But by saying "I will say it again" Paul is really bringing this out. He's saying, "THIS IS IMPORTANT!" And then...
(We're back in business. Praise God!)
The Bible talks a lot about parties. Have you ever noticed that? In some ways it makes me uncomfortable because I'm never totally at ease at a party. I've never been that kind of social person, and I don't quite know what is expected of me. In fact, I was raised to be a bit suspicious of crazy behavior, yelling and cheering that are often accompanied by a good deal of drinking and other worse behaviors. But what kind of party does God want to host?...
Sadly, St. Paul has had no internet access for the last week. We are told that our internet should be back up by this coming Tuesday, October 7. Rejoice with us!
There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, "Son, go and work today in the vineyard." "I will not," he answered...
Wow, that's a familiar scenario. Actually, I suppose the 2nd child is more familiar, the one who says that he will but then he doesn't. Jesus tells this little tale to make the point that those who come late to obedience are still more obedient than those who only pay lip service. The Jewish religious leaders paid lip service to obedience to God, but it was the outcasts who were coming to Jesus in repentance.
But how can we apply this text today...
DON'T MISS the CPH book sale over at Concordia. It's Friday and Saturday of this week, down in the Riverside Room beneath the student union. I just came from there with $40 worth of books, 14 regular books and 3 books of organ music. Worth going to.
Hey, I just thought you'd like to know.
Now to Philippians. It's funny how much can be packed into a few words, like when Paul says "what happened to me..." Wow, what a LOT of stuff happened to him. Riots, beatings, stoned and left for dead, pursued, hunted, escaped in a basket over the wall, arrested, jailed, on trial before Ceasar. Wow!
Occasionally I'll talk to a member who has a similar history...
I intended to write yesterday, but I found that I'm not as able to pull an "all-nighter" as I used to be. As my son and daughter-in-law prepared to depart for 2 years of mission service in Latin America, Sunday and Monday were filled to the brim with last minute tasks. Celebrating Jon's birthday while James and Christel were still here - sorting through the clothes to decide what to leave behind - packing and weighing and repacking to get all the bags under 50 pounds - last minute calls to insurance companies, bank accounts, and so on - informing the credit card company that they'd be out of the country for 2 years so that their account would not be frozen for "uncharacteristic" transactions.
Finally, because their flight left at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, meaning they had to be at the airport by 4 a.m., meaning we had to leave home by 3:30 am., meaning we'd all have to get up by 2:30 a.m., we all just decided to not go to bed at all. So numerous friends were invited. Movies were watched and games played. Old memories were shared around the bonfire out back. And then at 3:30 everyone said their goodbyes. We all prayed together, and the family drove James in Christel to the airport (in 2 cars because it took one car just to hold all their bags - remember, they're moving, not just traveling).
Lot's of hugs. Some tears. Many, many prayers. They are now safely arrived in Panama City and ensconced in their new apartment which they say is "huge" and very "cool" (by newlywed standards). They'll begin their work with a month of intensive Spanish immersion, including 4 hours of classwork every day. Expect to see pictures and posts at their website as soon as they get their internet hooked up. Currently they are sharing the wi-fi from the Church of God next door. Visit www.livingletter.org for all the latest.
"It's not my fault!" Those are the immortal words of Han Solo in the first of the Star Wars movies. But they're certainly not new. The Israelites were saying the same thing in their proverb, "the fathers eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge."
It is my parents' fault that my life is messed up. It was the sins of an earlier generation that put us in this predicament. We're inheriting the national debt that came from someone else's spending. The economy was wrecked by other people's poor choices and now I'm suffering the effects of it. My father's alcoholism, my mother's bad food choices, my uncle's anger management issues, my sister's drug use, my family history of you-name-it...
OK, humility block here. In the printed SPOTS I based my devotion on Matthew TWENTY-ONE verses 1-16, instead of chapter TWENTY. The Gospel lesson for this coming Sunday is actually in chapter 20, so I guess that's what we should think about here. (You know what a "humility block" is, right? It's a *deliberate* mistake put into one block of a quilt just to remind yourself that you're not perfect. I wish I could claim my mistakes were that humble.)
The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard.
I would like to use these words to talk about labor unions, or fair wages, or property rights - all topics that we love to pontificate about and would love to find Bible verses to support our various points of view. Unfortunately, that's not at all what this is about...
"I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel..."
I just finished leading chapel at our elementary school and I'm exhausted, sweaty, ready for a break. ("Pssshhhh!" That's the sound of the Pepsi I just opened even though it's only 9:30a.m. - sorry Mom.) When I do chapel with the kids I want to keep them engaged - I want to make sure I get the message across - I want to make a lasting impression, so I tend to be high-energy. We sing energetic songs. I move back and forth across the bleachers a lot so that I can be close to as many of them as possible and keep their attention.
In short... I figure if I WORK HARD ENOUGH that I'll be able to share the gospel better. But Paul says...
"Seek the Lord while he may be found..."
Do you mean to say that there may be a time when God cannot be found? I can give thanks that I have never experienced such a thing, but I have to acknowledge that it's possible.
It has nothing to do with how bad things are. It's not that in the middle of a battlefield, or in the fierce battering of a hurricane, or in the most crowded and busy place that somehow God is hard to find. No - under even the worst of physical conditions, God is still there. But...
"Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?"
How in the world can we understand these things when we have completely abandoned the framework for understanding them? Do people still "sin against" one another? Really???
Or do we just experience "friction" or "misunderstandings". You know the routine...
Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not...
Ah, but here's the rub: what are the "disputable matters"? Which teachings are merely personal preferences, and which are critical truths? Paul himself does not hesitate to pass judgment on some disputes...
We just finished Genesis in our Sunday morning Bible class (starting the Gospel of John next, 9:30 a.m. if you want to join us). Chapter 50 was a fitting, but somewhat poignant, ending to the book.
"Am I in the place of God?" Joseph asks his brothers. But that is precisely where we see ourselves so often...
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities...
These are hard verses. I remember having trouble with these verses even when I was a child, long before I could vote. By the time I was 9 years old I could think of a long list of excuses for disrespecting and, consequently, disobeying the authorities...
I know, I know. Why wasn't I posting all week? You don't want to know. I'd just clutter these pages with whining.
Of course, I wouldn't be alone, would I? Think of Ezekiel. God called Jeremiah to preach the bad news to Israel - that they would be defeated and taken off into exile. But Jeremiah got to stay behind in Jerusalem.
God called Ezekiel to go along with the exiles on the long march to Babylon. And then he has to make a life there and tell the people to settle down and get used to it - God is not going to rescue them anytime soon. In fact, he would soon destroy their proud city...
"From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things... and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."
Last night was the big speech at the close of the Democratic convention. In another week we'll see the same kind of thing happen with the Republicans. Such speeches tend to celebrate the candidate's accomplishments and make promises about a glorious future, if we only choose this person to lead us.
But how long do you think you'll have to wait to hear any political leader talk like Jesus does here?...
Just looking at that Jeremiah verse again. You know, I think I could write several more posts about that. I hope you think more deeply about it too.
So... Romans 12. How many times have I misquoted this verse about heaping burning coals on your enemy's head. We tend to use it when the kids come home from school very irate about injustice, about bullying or namecalling or something. I've suggested a good way to "get even" is by being nice.
Hmmm...
Jeremiah is my favorite Old Testament character. He is a reluctant preacher. He would really rather keep his head down, not make a fuss, not draw attention to himself. But he cannot remain silent. He has to speak the message God has given him to speak. And when he does, he is rejected and reviled.
"...think of how I suffer reproach for your sake. When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name."...
"Who do you say I am?
I'm rather wistful today, which is a nice way of saying sad. James and Christel returned from their honeymoon last night, which is happy, but they're off again tomorrow. God is carrying them off to other things - other tasks than mine. James is not mine to worry about anymore. On days like this I react differently to such existential questions as the one Jesus asks his disciples. "Who are you, Lord? How can I reply. I hardly know who I am myself."
But then I think of another verse...
|
|
|