...urban wilderness...

summer conversations

2009-06-16T12:25:00.000-07:00

Proposal:
Four casual events bringing together the countless faith - life connections! Participate in one, all four, in two or in three.

A Pentecostal community: Time of the Spirit; Season of the Church

1. A baptized community: Water and the Word
The living waters of baptism are border and boundary between our old, disconnected, alienated existence and our new life in the community that is the Body of the Crucified and Risen Christ.

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus…

Who is this Lord of the Church, this Jesus?

2. Spaces, places, locations…

1st, 2nd, and 3rd spaces, (4th?) places in cyberspace; the liminal, the marginal and the central; thresholds, edges and centers

…in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!

Insiders, outsiders, strangers and friends

Who is this Lord of the Church, this Jesus?

3. Jesus, Us, Culture, Counterculture

God beyond time and space became incarnate for us in Jesus of Nazareth, lived among us and shared our human experience.

We’re coming to the edge, running on the water, coming through the fog, your sons and daughters. Let the river run, let all the dreamers wake the nation. Come, the New Jerusalem.

Who is this Lord of the Church, this Jesus?

4. A Eucharistic community: the Welcome Table

An inclusive meal as well as a feast of justice and righteousness accomplished on earth for all creation.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Then I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem…

Who is this Lord of the Church, this Jesus?

© leah chang 2009

The Vision of Faith

2009-05-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

I found another handout I hadn't yet posted from another time we were in year B, so it had to be 3 or 6 years ago. This was based on a printed published series, but I don't know what or by whom. These notes are mine for the class I facilitated.

Bringing the texts together

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Internalized Gospel: now God is so immanent God truly lives in the hearts of humans: as Christians we read this as a Jesus text, we read it as God "pitching a tent" and living and sojourning with God's people! But what could this "new covenant" have meant to God's covenant people before God's incarnation in Jesus? To the people with whom God already had covenanted several times? Implication of "heart" in the ANE?

Contrast the law written on human hearts with the law written on stone tablets? In both cases, what is the content of the law? ""I will be their God" - say more about this!

Hebrews 5:5-12

"...once made perfect..." Kai teleiotheis... like the "perfect" Jesus tells us to be - whole, complete, a finished creation, achieving the humanness in which God created us to live - being ourselves in the same way God cannot be other than God!

God calls, designates Jesus high priest/mediator! God calls us - how? Christians affirm the priesthood of all believers: each of us is baptized priest, prophet and sovereign. But how does each of us discern God's particular call to us at any particular moment? How is God's call to us part of God's covenant with us? God's call to be our whole, true, fulfilled selves in Christ?

John 12:20-33

Jesus dies on the scandal of a tree and the tree of death - the cross - paradoxically becomes the tree of life: Jesus promises to draw all to himself - the cross and empty tomb finish the redemption of all creation. Last week's John pericope was about Jesus lifted up, in a reference back to the healing snake lifted up in the Exodus wilderness.

We see the Glory of God as we "see Jesus," the Human One, lifted up on the cross. We see the fullness of the glory of the Presence of God in the weakness, vulneravility and defenselessness of the human Jesus dying on a cross of shame. Paul determined to preach only Christ crucified, to preach only the crucified Human One lifted up in glory on the cross. Why?

"...now the prince of this world will be driven out," marking the end of the control and worship and the tyrannical supremacy of the cosmic Powers and Principlaities Deutero-Paul writes about in Colossians and Ephesians.

By destroying the evidence of our sins, God also has "disarmed the principalities and powers" and driven out "the prince of this world," since sin no longer can accuse those who have been forgiven. Since in Christ God "remembers our sin no more," just as God promised through Jeremiah, we can be whole persons, because Christ has provided total redemption and forgiveness. In Christ each of us has been "made perfect!"

Psalm 51:1-13; Psalm 119:9-16

These Are The Words!!!!!

2009-01-08T09:18:00.000-08:00

"Doing The Word" - a.k.a. The Mount Sinai Event

Study Scripture: Exodus 19:1 - 25:9

"Eagles' Wings": Exodus 19:1-6
The Lord in the cloud
The Commandments and the Ordinances: Exodus 20-23
Book of the Covenant; Blood of the Covenant: Exodus 24:3 - 25:9
God among us! Sanctuary, Tabernacle and Jesus!
Doing The Word, "Performing the Scriptures": The Word made Flesh

Walter Brueggemann on Torah:

"Torah" means the entire written and cherished normative memory of the community, all the lore and narrative and poetry and song and old liturgy that had formed and shaped and authorized the imagination of the community. In rabbinic sources, moreover, it is later urged that there is also an "oral" torah alongside what is written. The reference to "law" smacks of a Christian stereotype of Judaism which grossly misrepresents it. The mistaken stereotype entails two severe costs. On the one hand, it does a disservice to Jews and Jewish practice. On the other hand, it cuts Christians off from the vitality and dynamic of the torah enterprise which could make a positive difference to us Christians.¹

¹ Walter Brueggemann, Biblical Perspectives on Evangelism: Living in a Three-Storied Universe. Nashville, Abington Press, 1993, page 74.

Paul of Tarsus notes

2008-05-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

For Christians, Paul/Saul of Tarsus is a character of biblical proportions! He indisputably wrote 7 epistles, probably sometime between 50 and 60 CE: 1 Thessalonians; Galatians; Philippians; 1 and 2 Corinthians; Philemon and Romans. Paul's theology influenced 2 Thessalonians, Ephesians and Colossians, all 3 authored around 90 or 100 CE. In addition, the chronologically later letter to the Hebrews (circa 90 CE) bears unmistakable marks of Pauline theology and Christology. However, scholars today generally do not consider the pastoral epistles traditionally attributed to him as genuine Paul. 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus (possibly from as late as 125 CE) are socially very conservative, with language and content that at times directly contradicts what we find in the authentic letters. Particularly since the Reformation of the 16th century, most Christians are "Pauline" Christians at least to as great an extent they are Jesus Christians!

In their work on multicultural evangelism, Latino theologians Justo Gonzalez and Miguel De La Torre both point out Paul's name didn't "change" from Saul to Paul upon his conversion to Christianity but rather Saul was Paul and Paul was Saul - and Saul/Paul concurrently with "Saul" and "Paul" probably had at least two or three other names.

Since we're studying biblical personalities, here's a little about the apostle Paul: we know from reading Paul's undisputed letters and from the book of Acts that Paul was multicultural - Roman, Greek and Hebrew/Jewish, which made him sensitive and responsive to the differences between cultures, and also aware that the Church would take differing expressions in different places. From the epistles we know how strongly Paul ran with his convictions, never backing down and always telling his readers and his listeners about the life-changing power of the Gospel and especially about the weakness of the Cross of Calvary that is human foolishness and divine wisdom. Paul was far more theologian than biblical scholar or scriptorian, though only Romans, which essentially is his systematic theology, has much of what anyone would consider "system!" Lots of detours and many ramblings are hallmarks of his correspondence. There's some thought the author of Luke/Acts was Paul's amanuensis.

Acts 4:32-37

³²Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. ³³With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. ³⁴There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. ³⁵They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. ³⁶There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”). ³⁷He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Acts 9:26-27

²⁶When he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. ²⁷But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and described for them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

Acts 11:19-30

¹⁹Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and they spoke the word to no one except Jews. ²⁰But among them were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists also, proclaiming the Lord Jesus. ²¹The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number became believers and turned to the Lord. ²²News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³When he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion; ^24for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were brought to the Lord. ²⁵Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.”

²⁷At that time prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸One of them named Agabus stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine over all the world; and this took place during the reign of Claudius. ²⁹The disciples determined that according to their ability, each would send relief to the believers living in Judea; ³⁰this they did, sending it to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.

Acts 15:36-41

³⁶After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Come, let us return and visit the believers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” ³⁷Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. ³⁸But Paul decided not to take with them one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work. ³⁹The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. ⁴⁰But Paul chose Silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

imaging and enacting heaven on earth

2008-04-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

A single Sunday morning worship service, preferably no later than 10:00, probably would help encourage inquiring newcomers to return and also benefit those of us who like to attend adult bible study. To get my own bias out of the way, despite my preference for musically blended worship I detest most 19th century hymnody, which is what usually happens at the traditional end of most blended worship, so unless we're having a dollop of North German baroque along with some harmonically discordant, rhythmically asymmetrical 20^th-21^st century music that sounds very unlike many people's idea of conventional church music, I'm cool with mostly praise music.

However, my primary concern is that we at Old Condo Shadows and in all churches offer public worship that reflects and embodies God's incarnation and Self-giving in Jesus Christ, which clearly happens whenever we celebrate a baptism or the Lord's Supper, but it also becomes possible with a carefully constructed order of worship sourced from scripture and history--including our own history here on this mesa.

As Christians, God's people in Jesus Christ, each Sunday is a day of resurrection, a time especially to remember who we are, Whose we are and Who has called us by retelling and re-enacting the meta-narratives of redemption, of deliverance from death to life in the Exodus and Passion/Easter stories within the context of public Lord's day worship; in these stories we find healing memory and discover hope for a free future. As we invite our neighbors and other people who don't have much church experience, we're hoping to meet and to reach them where they are and speak in a language they'll understand, which can be a precarious endeavor. But did God ever call the people of God to live in ways congruent with their local cultures? Or in a radically culturally incongruent, actually counter-cultural manner? Are we presenting inquiring newcomers with a choice, a real alternative to costly and deathly consumerism and related excesses? Are we telling and showing the world something very different from anything they've previously experienced? Do we dare imagine we can domesticate the wildness of Jesus? For sure it is about the ways our lives demonstrate faithfulness and obedience to the God Who covenants with us in Jesus, but it is equally about how together we worship the Crucified and Risen One, and it may require some explanation and interpretation, not only for so-called outsiders but also reminders for the insiders among us. It is strange; in many ways it is wholly "other than", this reality of a people (us!) who already have experienced their first death and their second birth, this reality of seemingly regular, ordinary, everyday people who follow a crucified outcast, trusting the God Whose ultimate word is resurrection from the dead.

I'm asking questions rather than offering answers, and I'll conclude by asking if our presence in our neighbors' lives and in the world beyond this corner of Paradise can be partly in our own world, partly in our neighbors', and wholly in the sovereignty of heaven? Can our Sunday worship reflect such a way of life? There are no easy, instant answers, and we'll need to anticipate a lot more changes as the months unfold.

God Among Us discussion 04

2007-12-14T10:32:00.000-08:00

I've posted the first three classes in this series on desert spirit's fire; this last class is a review and roundup, so I'm posting it here.

Advent 1: Historical Witness – Creation and Prophets
Advent 2: Historical Witness – Jesus Christ
Advent 3: Liturgy, Word, Sacrament
Advent 4: Contemporary Witness – us and our neighbors

Backtrack

Abraham, Jesus, us—from the other side of the dominant social and economic culture of consumerism and exorbitant consumption; from the other side of death…alive in Jesus Christ!

2 Samuel 7:5-6 "I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling.'" John 1:14 And the word became flesh and tabernacled, pitched a tent among us...

Creation

Genesis 1:1 - 2:4 God creates humanity in a multifaceted Image of the Divine; God's attributes and our attributes include holiness, justice, righteousness, servanthood and creativity. Yahweh's specialty was constant, unmediated presence with creation. How about us?

Acts 1:1-8 …they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied… "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

RCL Advent 3A: Matthew 11:2-11 "Are you the one who is to come?" "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk…and the poor have good news brought to them…"

Historical and contemporary

Exodus 5:1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.'" The church gathers as the community that already has experienced its first death and second birth, fully alive under the subversive Lordship of Jesus Christ and called to live in a radically culturally incongruent, actually counter-cultural manner. An individual becomes a person by becoming embedded in a textured, connected, interwoven history of shared experiences and different viewpoints; there is no other way to create a humanly connected sense of your own identity, form memories and become part of history. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are cosmic events in each of our lives and part of our transformation from individual into person.

In worship, especially when we celebrate the sacraments, we anticipate, celebrate and commemorate and carry with us a microcosm of a redeemed world, a living and a life-giving memory of Jesus. In us, Jesus again becomes alive in the world and we offer the world a living connection to the heaven of God's Reign here on earth.

Liturgy, time; Sacraments, space and matter

Liturgy - Holy Time: remembering Whose we are! Who has called us! We recall, retell and re-enact our corporate and individual histories of the journey from death into life.

Sacraments - Holy Place and Holy Stuff—sacred creation: re-membering who we are! The person and communities God has called and enabled us to be and to do.

Corporate Identity Package; God's call to us

We are the body, corpus, of Christ! Each of us is a member of the body of Christ. Jesus Christ incarnate, re-enfleshed in us. Corporate Identity [package]: our logo, our résumé, our curriculum vitae, detailing where we've been, what we've learned, what we live for and die for...who are we? In Christ, we have experienced our second birth and our first death. We live under the reign of life rather than in the enslavement, the subjugation of death.

Baptism: primal experience, water, womb; Romans 6:3-10

Eucharist: we find sacred memory and discover hope for a free future in the meta-narratives of redemption, of deliverance from death to life in the Exodus and Passion/Easter stories. Theologian Jürgen Moltmann describes baptism as "sign, witness, representation and illumination of the Christ Event," and we can claim the same about the Eucharist. We know Jesus Christ as sovereign, prophet and priest; baptized, we participate in that royal, prophetic priesthood. In the Eucharist, the church in every place and every time blesses and reintegrates all creation in every place and time. 1 Corinthians 11:23-28

Liturgy: holy time - remembering Whose we are

Sacraments: holy space - re-membering who we are

Time and space are the conditions in which all creation lives. Living within the cycle of the liturgical year as it replicates the history of God and the people of God and celebrating the sacraments within that context helps refocus time and space as the necessary environment of God's revelation to us as human creations. How does the Divine Presence enter our lives in decayables such as human speech, grain, grape, memory and music?

Neighbors, co-workers, family, assorted "others"

Jesus' presence in our lives often becomes a two-way street in which we are both guests and hosts to each other; they are guest and host to us, also. Our experiences? Do we need to be open, or does God open our eyes in surprise? Both/and, maybe?

Living on the limen, the threshold

Can our presence in the world and in our neighborhoods be a liminal, in the process of becoming, though not-quite-yet one? Partly in our own world and way, partly in theirs, and wholly in the sovereignty of heaven?

© leah chang

Called into Faithful Community

2007-06-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

I found yet another Bible study handout from several years ago; I've included just a few of the texts here, since most are very familiar and you easily can check out the rest from your own Bible or online. Notice I'm not even compulsively linking to the texts! Notice, too, at the end I've cited the basic source I developed this from.

Called into Faithful Community | Living as Exodus People

Wordspeak:

* Called
* Faithful
* Community
* Living Exodus
* People

Scripture:

* Genesis 1:1 - 2:4 - Creator of All
* Genesis 6:1 - 9:17 - Keeper of Covenant
* Deuteronomy 4:32-38 - Lord of History
* Leviticus 19:1-18; 25:1-55 - Designer of Community
* Deuteronomy 6:1-25 - God of All

Genesis 1:1 - 2:4 - Creator of All

Not only does God create everything; God also provides for the environment all creation needs to live faithfully and fully. God creates humanity in the Image of the Divine - Imago Dei; in Genesis 2:3 we encounter the Bible's first use of the word "holy."
Genesis 2

3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
...holy time, in which all of us live and which is essential for everyone.

Genesis 6:1 - 9:17 - Keeper of Covenant

Our God Who freely and faithfully covenants with us, the People of God
Genesis 6

18 But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.

Genesis 8

1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the domestic animals that were with him in the ark.

Genesis 9

8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, 9 ‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, 10 and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. 11 I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ 12 God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: 13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. 16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’ 17 God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth.’
But what is the nature of covenant? What other covenants are in the Bible? Try tracing them!
Deuteronomy 4:32-38 - Lord of History

32 For ask now about former ages, long before your own, ever since the day that God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: has anything so great as this ever happened or has its like ever been heard of? 33 Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and lived? 3 4Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 35 To you it was shown so that you would acknowledge that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, while you heard his words coming out of the fire.

37 And because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them. He brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, 38 driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, giving you their land for a possession, as it is still today. 39 So acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40 Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.
Leviticus 19:1-18; 25:1-55 - Designer of Community
Leviticus 19

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
The rest of this chapter are ordinances for ordering and living within a just and righteous society, with "I am the Lord" or "I am the Lord your God" following each declaration; this section includes giving of the Ten Commandments.

And Leviticus 25 is the Jubilee text! As well as isntructions for redemption of land, real property and chattel. "Jubilee" so points to Jesus' establishing the Sovereignty of God, Kingdom of Heaven, Reign of God - whatever expression you prefer - and, of course, the Reign of Christ is the fulness of God's reign and the fulness of Jubilee.
Leviticus 25

1 The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying: 2 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you, the land shall observe a sabbath for the Lord. 3 For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather in their yield; 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of complete rest for the land, a sabbath for the Lord: you shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 You shall not reap the aftergrowth of your harvest or gather the grapes of your unpruned vine: it shall be a year of complete rest for the land. 6 You may eat what the land yields during its sabbath—you, your male and female slaves, your hired and your bound labourers who live with you; 7 for your livestock also, and for the wild animals in your land all its yield shall be for food.

8 You shall count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month—on the day of atonement—you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land. 10 And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you: you shall not sow, or reap the aftergrowth, or harvest the unpruned vines. 12 For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you: you shall eat only what the field itself produces. ...

... I am the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 6:1-25 - God of All
Deuteronomy 6

1 Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, 2 so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. 6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. 7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, 9and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
"Into the land" is the deuteronomic historian's (Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings) constant refrain; it clearly shows God's Jubilee passion for the bital and complete needs of creation, which supremelty incldue physical and temporal sustenance as well as spiritual.

Ideas source, etc.

The Bible Speaks: Old Testament, Unit 1: The Shaping of a Faith Community
© 1998, Curriculum Publishing PC(USA), Louisville, Kentucky

Pentecost Bulletin Text

2007-05-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

Here's the actual bulletin cover.

In the Bible and in Christian tradition, there is no narrative or legend about the creation of fire, but there are abundant experiences of visible evidence of the Divine Presence in some form of fire. From the desert of the Exodus through Isaiah's vision in the temple, to Malachi and to John the Baptizer's promise of One who will baptize not only with water, but with Spirit and with Fire, a strand of purifying, redemptive heat weaves through the witness of scripture. Luke begins the Acts of the Apostles with the risen Christ promising the apostles' forthcoming baptism with the Holy Spirit; in the next chapter, we hear about the Spirit given to individuals gathered in community.

The Spirit of Life that raised Jesus from the dead calls us from wherever we are, and gathers us into this assembly that already has experienced its first death and its second birth. The Holy Spirit of God and of the Christ shapes and forms us into the people of God in this place, a gathering of the ordinary that daily walks the extraordinary Way of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, living as an alternative community to those under the reign of death.

Like the apostles of Jesus Christ two thousand years ago, we live baptized into the cross of Calvary, into the empty grave of Easter dawn, and into the freedom and fire of Pentecost. When our friends and neighbors meet us, like Jesus' disciples of old, may they also become witnesses to the Risen Christ!

Prayers of Kierkegaard

2007-05-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

Bønner af Kierkegaard | Samuel Barber

O Thou who art unchangeable, whom nothing changes, may we find our rest and remain at rest in Thee unchanging. Thou art moved and moved in infinite love by all things: the need of a sparrow, even this moves Thee; and what we scarcely see, a human sigh, this moves Thee, O infinite love! But nothing changes Thee, O Thou unchanging!

Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered all life long that I, too, might be saved, and whose suffering still knows no end, this, too, wilt Thou endure; saving and redeeming me, this patient suffering of me with whom Thou hast to do - I, who so often go astray.

Father in Heaven, well we know that it is Thou that giveth both to will and to do, that also longing, when it leads us to renew the fellowship with our saviour and redeemer, is from Thee. Father in heaven, longing is Thy gift. But when longing lays hold of us, oh, that we might lay hold of the longing when it would carry us away, that we also might give ourselves up, when Thou art near to summon us, that we also in prayer might stay near Thee! When Thou in the longing dost offer us the highest good, oh, that we might hold it fast!

Father in Heaven! Hold not our sins up against us, but hold us up against our sins, so that the thought of Thee should not remind us of what we have committed, but of what Thou didst forgive; not how we went astray, but how Thou didst save us!

The words are taken from The Journals, Christian Discourses and The Unchangeableness of God, selected and edited by the composer.

About Yahweh...

2007-05-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

One of the revolutionary things about Yahweh is that Yahweh, unlike the other gods of the Ancient Near East, didn't require appeasement, tribute, protection or beseeching! What does Yahweh require and demand? Here's some scriptural evidence:

Amos 5:18-24

I hate, I loathe, I despise your festivals
I am not appeased by and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer Me burnt offerings—and grain offerings—
I will not accept them; ...

Spare Me the noise of your songs,
I will not listen to or hear the music of your lutes and harps.
But let justice well up like water,
And righteousness like an unfailing ever flowing stream.

Micah 6:8

...And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?

3rd Isaiah: Isaiah 58:6-8

Is not this the fast I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to set the broken free, and to shatter every subjugation?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and to bring into your house the homeless, cast out poor, to cover the naked and defenseless, and not to conceal yourself from your own flesh?

Then shall your light break forth like the morning dawn, and your healing shall spring forth speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your safety and security.

Exodus Class Notes 4

2007-05-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

Session 4

Exodus 19:1-6

Into the Sinai wilderness – the Lord called Moses out of the mountain; Eagles’ Wings!

If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant

God’s possession

A Kingdom of Priests

A Holy People

"These are the Words" – which you shall speak (see my handout for this class)

Exodus 19:7 Moses set before the elders all the words – "We will do the word of the Lord!"

"Performing the Scriptures"

19:9 The Lord in a thick cloud; wash their garments!

19:11 On the 3rd day the Lord from Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people

19:12 "Set bounds"

19:18 Mount Sinai wrapped in smoke

19:20 The Lord down to the top of the mountain called Moses up to the top of the mountain.

20:1-17 Ten Commandments: I am the Lord your God who brought you out of bondage; no graven images

20:24 In every place I cause my name to be remembered

21 – 22 – 23 These are the ordinances

22:21 You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger for you were strangers in Egypt

22:29 First-born

23:9 You shall not oppress a stranger; you know the heart of a stranger.

Passover ~ Feast of Weeks ~ Feast of Booths (Tabernacles)

Exodus 24 Aaron, Nadab, Abihu – 70 of the elders

24:3 Moses told the people the words of the Lord and the ordinances

24:7-8 Book of the Covenant; Blood of the Covenant – blood enables "doing the words"

24:7b All the words…we will do

24:15-16 Glory of the Lord in the cloud

24:17 A devouring fire

24:18 40 days and 40 nights

25:8 "Then have them make a sanctuary for me, that I may dwell in their midst..."

Exodus Class Notes 3

2007-05-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

Session 3

Exodus 12:1 – 18:27; 32:1 – 34:35; 40:34-38

"Not exclusionists" Moses doesn’t obscure the Word!

Passover: Exodus 12:1-14, 21-28, 43-49

12 plagues hadn’t happened yet; prediction of death as the last plague.

Readiness – be ready to leave immediately! Be ready to get out, to leave.

Sourdough starter was ANE "yeast"

Nomadic religion is a religion of promise and one of speed!!!!!

Dedication of first-born: Exodus 13:1-2, 11-16

"The Crisis at the Frontier" – Exodus 12:37-42 verse 37…to the city of Succoth…

The journey is the whole entire point!!!!!

Exodus 14:2 – "Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon…" – God is luring Pharaoh one more time.

Exodus 15 The Song of Moses and Miriam

1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord :

"I will sing to the Lord,
for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
he has hurled into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him…

6 "Your right hand, O Lord,
was majestic in power.
Your right hand, O Lord,
shattered the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your majesty
you threw down those who opposed you.
You unleashed your burning anger;
it consumed them like stubble.
8 By the blast of your nostrils
the waters piled up.
The surging waters stood firm like a wall;
the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea…

11 "Who among the gods is like you, O Lord?
Who is like you –
majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
working wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand
and the earth swallowed them.

13 "In your unfailing love you will lead
the people you have redeemed.
In your strength you will guide them
to your holy dwelling.
14 The nations will hear and tremble;
anguish will grip the people of Philistia.
15 The chiefs of Edom will be terrified,
the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling,
the people of Canaan will melt away;
16 terror and dread will fall upon them.
By the power of your arm
they will be as still as a stone –
until your people pass by, O Lord,
until the people you bought pass by.
17 You will bring them in and plant them
on the mountain of your inheritance –
the place, O Lord, you made for your dwelling,
the sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established.
18 The Lord will reign
for ever and ever."

19 When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. 21 Miriam sang to them:

"Sing to the Lord,
for he is highly exalted.
The horse and its rider
he has hurled into the sea."

17:8-16 Fighting the Amelekites / Malachites

Exodus 15:22 Waters of Marah – "bitter" sulfur in the water

Exodus 16:4 – out of food!

Then the Lord said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you…"

"Bread from Heaven" – forever the symbol of God’s provision.

"God’s providence is sooo different from what we would imagine!"

The natural order is God’s provision

Exodus 16:22-30 – here’s the first mention of the Sabbath:

23 He said to them, "This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ "

Moses wanted Jethro to stay: Exodus 18

"They wanted to ‘see’ something!" Exodus 32 – "The calf just happened to happen!"?

Exodus 33 – Leave Mount Sinai (Horeb = Sinai); Tent of Meeting; Moses and the Glory of the Lord

Exodus Class Notes 2

2007-05-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

Session 2

Any place God meets God’s people is Holy Ground!

Moses’ excuses?

Remember Exodus 32?

The Golden Calf

32:1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him."

2 Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."

5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord." 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

7 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’

9 "I have seen these people," the Lord said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation."

11 But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. "O Lord," he said, "why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’

Back to Exodus 3:12 – I will be with you!

Names were "exquisitely important!" Moses – sound is Egyptian for "child"

God forever – of the past, present, future

Exodus 3:18 – 3 days into the desert

Exodus 3:21-22 – take stuff from the Egyptians – "power signs" "gamma ray bursts"

Exodus 4:14-16 God chooses so God provides – a human relationship to image the divine relationship

Exodus 4:19-26 – Read

Exodus 3:24 – "kill Moses?" Exodus 4:24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met {Moses} [or "Moses’ son" – Hebrew, "him"] and was about to kill him.

4:26 – "Bridegroom of blood"

Exodus Class Notes 1

2007-05-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

During Winter 2003 we blitzed through the book of Exodus; finally I'm blogging my notes for safekeeping.

Session 1

Covenant and Redemption

Joseph and brothers were a relatively small group. Exodus 1:8 "a new king who did not know Joseph."

Hyksos – rulers ca. 1800 started conquering people. Settled in Egypt about 200 years. Amenhotep’s ancestors came to power; Hapiru were a threat on Egypt’s borders.

Goshen, between the Nile River and the Sea of Reeds in the Nile Delta – where Joseph settled – was the Scripps Ranch of Egypt.

By 1300 Hebrews were fully enslaved – like us, they quested for security! Habiru / Hapiru were the same race; some went back to Canaan.

Hyksos sort of came from the Hittites.

Hebrews think in WHOLES!!!!! Religious and secular sectors interpenetrate and are congruent.

"Palestine" is a Syrian word.

"Something of the harem thing was going on."

Amenhotep was a pharaoh who stopped worshiping his ancestral gods and instead set up a temple to Ra: Ra was the only god!!!!! Here we have the possibility of monotheism.

Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law = Reuel.

Exodus 2:24 – God heard their cry!!!

Mission Study Notes

2007-04-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

As you can see, this is more than 2-1/2 years old; I'm finally blogging it, mainly for safekeeping, since this puter will be history before long.

Today's Date: Thursday, April 12, 2007

To: Mission Study Committee
Date: Wednesday, September 15, 2004

Greetings in the name of our Risen and Ascended Lord!

Although I realize the Mission Study Committee welcomes input from everyone, a specific member of the Committee was kind enough specifically to request a contribution from me, so here are some comments. These observations come from my worshiping and participating within this congregation since Reformation Sunday 2000; my insights also grow out of my experiences serving a series of local churches as a full-time called lay professional. My first position was in the now-former Lutheran Church in America, one of the antecedent denominations of the ELCA; following those years I served four socially, culturally and economically very different congregations of the United Church of Christ.

Identity

But back to this church! Above all, any expression of the church, whether local, regional, countrywide or global, constantly needs to remember and act in awareness of its identity as a servant people, gathered in the power of the Holy Spirit and sent into the world as witnesses to the resurrection, proclaiming in word and action the presence of the risen Christ. On Maundy Thursday evening, in bestowing the New Covenant of sacrificial love, Jesus commanded his disciples to serve; afterwards, as Jesus' words from the cross birthed the Church that became reborn at Easter dawn and empowered on the Day of Pentecost, God's call to the Church has been and still persists as a call to a people baptized into both the cross of Mount Calvary and the empty tomb of Easter; God's call to us, the church of Jesus Christ, continues as a charge to act in the freedom of risking love.

Service

The young church we read about in Acts first ordained not Ministers of Word and Sacrament and not Elders; the newly-born community first ordained Deacons, thus from the beginning defining and identifying the church as servant of the people. We know the human Jesus as the definitive manifestation of Yahweh, the Servant-God of the people Israel; Jesus Christ calls us, both as persons and as community, to the type of self-giving he demonstrated; Jesus' living example and life-giving Words beckon and compel us to the inclusive and sometimes costly hospitality of unconditionally welcoming everyone. However, no local church—not this one or any other—is able to be or even to become "all things to all people," either in strength of service or style of worship, despite Paul of Tarsus' telling us that was his aspiration!

Worship

Worship is the highest purpose of the people of God, and worship – especially weekly Sunday worship – models a vision of and becomes a microcosm of the redeemed, restored, resurrected – Eastered – community, preparing and enabling us in the Holy Spirit for service during the following week. However, this is a congregation of a particular denomination, which in turn belongs to the distinct and distinctive tradition of Reformed Christianity, and although Reformed worship can range in style from very casual, relatively "low church" to highly liturgical, I strongly feel any local church needs to keep their worship coherent and consonant with the larger tradition with which it identifies.

Non-Traditional Worship

In addition, the structure and content of much "contemporary" worship—a style actually popularized a few decades ago in the 1970s—has evolved from the revivalist, frontier and Pentecostal traditions rather than the Reformed, and this type of worship carries with it the burden of its own theology that is not in alignment with the Reformers' insistence (as well as the historical praxis of the church bodies that evolved from the Geneva and Wittenberg Reforms) on recovering and restoring the early church's unvarying convention of keeping Word and Sacrament tightly yoked together. In fact, just as the late Medieval Church, in losing the Word had lost the essence of the Sacraments, some of the post-Reformation churches, in jettisoning regular sacramental practice and understanding lost the essence of the Word, the mystery of the hidden and elusive God who nonetheless self-reveals, but principally in paradoxical ways, particularly in the common "stuff" of everyday creation.

And regarding the prospect of two Sunday services, though this isn't the place to cite statistics, in general, most churches have not attempted more than a single main Sunday morning worship service until and unless the size of the worshiping congregation reached approximately 60% to 70% of the capacity of the worship area. You may realize that when there is more than one Sunday morning service, it frequently divides people into an us and a them, a division that gradually becomes detrimental in terms of the church's larger mission. Because of these factors of substance and culture, I'd be extremely cautious in offering a second worship service at this particular time.

Further Concerns

As someone observed some weeks ago during Sunday morning adult study, our society has become geographically fragmented with families scattered all over the country and sometimes beyond its borders, and because of this the usual practice of families supporting and caring for other family members often is not working because for plain practical reasons it cannot work. With family members not seeing or speaking to one another and families broken by divorce, anger, desertion and misunderstanding being close to routine, the (local) church more and more is in the situation of needing to function in the role of the absent biological family. Given this reality, and despite our primary call to be and become a people in mission beyond the boundaries of our everyday worlds and in spite of our call to be a people "sent" into the world to be the Christ acting in justice, righteousness and mercy to a world in need, in the near and more distant future this congregation may need to consider initiating formal structures in addition to the excellent work of the diaconate to provide for these family needs.

These are my remarks for now; many blessings as you continue prayer, discussion and action toward helping delineate and make possible our future as a faithful community of the people of God in this corner of the city!

Easter 4 A Study

2007-03-31T22:08:00.000-07:00

I found another class handout from spring 2005--year A; here it is.

Acts 2:42-47

⁴² They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.

⁴³ Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! ⁴⁴ And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common ⁴⁵ sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met.

⁴⁶ They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, ⁴⁷ as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved. MSG

Review: Acts 1:1 - 2:41

Ascension

Day of Pentecost

Acts 2:42-47, Word Study

42 Teaching "of the apostles" | didache - in Greek

life together | community, common, koinonia - in Greek

common meal | Greek: "breaking of bread" | Holy Communion, Eucharist, Lord's Supper?

Prayers...who, when, where, why and how?

43 Awe in every soul, psyche - in Greek. What familiar word begins with "psych?"

Wonders and signs | semeia - in Greek, like the English, "semaphore!" | Through the apostles; how?

45 Selling possessions and sharing the proceeds fulfilled the Jubilee Jesus announced at the very beginning of his public ministry.

47 Liked what they saw - the Greek is charis, the same word we use for grace; we also get charisma and charismatic from the same root word!

Acts 2:42-47, Where we Live

Have you experienced the kind of community this text describes?

How does this church do in terms of: teaching; community; prayer and worship; sharing resources; service to one another and to the surrounding neighborhoods?

What aspect of the early church do you most want for yourself? For this congregation?

Holy Week Lections

2007-03-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

Holy Week Lections

Monday

Isaiah 42:1-9
Roman Catholic reading: Isaiah 42:1-7

Psalm 36:5-11
Roman Catholic reading: Psalm 27:1, 2, 3, 13-14
Episcopal reading: Psalm 36:5-10

Hebrews 9:11-15
Episcopal reading: Hebrews 11:39 - 12:3

John 12:1-11
Episcopal reading: same as above or Mark 14:3-9

Tuesday

Isaiah 49:1-7
Roman Catholic reading: Isaiah 49:1-6
Episcopal reading: Isaiah 49:1-6

Psalm 71:1-14
Roman Catholic reading: Psalm 71:1-6, 15, 17
Episcopal reading: Psalm 71:1-12

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

John 12:20-36
Roman Catholic reading: John 13:21-33, 36-38
Episcopal reading: John 12:37-38, 42-50 or Mark 11:15-19

Wednesday

Isaiah 50:4-9

Psalm 70
Roman Catholic reading: Psalm 69:8-10, 21-22, 31, 33-34
Episcopal reading: Psalm 69:7-15, 22-23

Hebrews 12:1-3
Episcopal reading: Hebrews 9:11-15, 9:24-28

John 13:21-32
Roman Catholic reading: Matthew 26:14-25
Episcopal reading: John 13:21-35 or Matthew 26:1-5, Matthew 26:14-25

Thursday

Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14
Roman Catholic reading: Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
Episcopal reading: Exodus 12:1-14a

Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19
Roman Catholic reading: Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16, 17-18
Episcopal reading: Psalm 78:14-20, 23-25

1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Episcopal reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, (27-32)

John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Roman Catholic reading: John 13:1-15
Episcopal reading: John 13:1-15 or Luke 22:14-30

Friday

Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12
Episcopal reading: Isaiah 52:13 - 53:12 or Genesis 22:1-18 or Wisdom 2:1, 12-24

Psalm 22
Roman Catholic reading: Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25
Episcopal reading: Psalm 22:1-21 or Psalm 22:1-11 or Psalm 40:1-14 or Psalm 69:1-23

Hebrews 10:16-25 or Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Roman Catholic reading: Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Episcopal reading: Hebrews 10:1-25

John 18:1 - 19:42
Episcopal reading: (John 18:1-40), 19:1-37

Theology of the Cross 3

2007-03-09T10:27:00.000-08:00

Theology of the Cross 3 | Lent 3 | 11 March 2007

Theology of the Cross: what does this mean for the Church’s and especially for this congregation’s life and mission?

All Who Love and Serve Your City

1. All who love and serve your city,
all who bear its daily stress,
all who cry for peace and justice,
all who curse and all who bless,

2. In your day of loss and sorrow,
in your day of helpless strife,
honor, peace, and love retreating,
seek the Lord, who is your life.

3. In your day of wrath and plenty,
wasted work and wasted play,
call to mind the word of Jesus,
“I must work while it is day.”

4. For all days are days of judgment,
and the Lord is waiting still,
drawing near a world that spurns him,
offering peace from Calvary’s hill.

5. Risen Lord! shall yet the city
be the city of despair?
Come today, our Judge, our Glory;
be its name, “The Lord is there!”

Words: Erik Routley © 1969 by Stainer & Bell Ltd., administered by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL 60188

Theology of glory vs. theology of the cross: Theologians of the cross build their theology in the light of God’s own revelation of himself, particularly God’s self-revelation in Christ crucified. In addition, the cross of Calvary forms a paradigm and model for God’s characteristically hidden and paradoxical, sacramental presence in the commonest things, situations and people.

Law and Gospel; interpreting scripture and life with “What preaches Christ.”

6. Paul and his ilk; Martin Luther: the cross as Weltanschauung, as an all-encompassing worldview. Why?

Romans; Philippians—texts we looked last Sunday.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 – we are a new creation; ministry of reconciliation

Colossians 1:15-20 – Christ reconciled all to himself, making peace through his shed blood

Colossians 2:9-15 – buried and raised with Christ, who disarmed and made a public spectacle of the powers and authorities

Hebrews 12:1-3 – for the joy set before him endured the cross; not the when or why of bad things happening to good people, but the how of God blessing us and all creation

Acts 1:5-8 – restore the Kingdom to Israel? In the power of the HS we are witnesses from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth!

Luther spoke about “The God Who became small for us in Christ”—small enough to die.

From Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nachfolge (Discipleship): “When Christ calls us, he bids us come and die...to go one’s way under the sign of the cross is not misery and desperation, but peace and refreshment for the soul, it is the highest joy...we do not walk under our self-made laws and burdens, but under the yoke of him who knows us and walks under the yoke with us.”

Great Ends of the Church 6: The exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world – that’s us!

To the five Reformation solas – Sola Scriptura, Solus Christus, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, Soli Deo Gloria – theologian Martin Marty adds a sixth: Cross Alone - Sola crux.

7. Some familiar theologians of the cross

Especially look for God’s hidden yet apparent presence and for “Types of Christ.” Today’s discussion primarily is about discovering lives that preach Christ crucified – and risen. However, it’s not only about being the presence of Christ to and for the world, living a responsive yet unassuming servant lifestyle that may take us to the Cross of Calvary; it also includes recognizing the presence of Christ in the world and in our neighbors. Matthew 25:31-40 – Lord, when did we see you hungry...”

For starters, here’s a very short list: Bonhoeffer; Dorothy Day; Gandhi; Martin Luther King; Desmond Tutu; Mother Teresa; us! Who else comes to mind? Some of our relatives, friends and neighbors? In the church and out of the church? Christian and not? Describe and explain.

A few days I was listening to Lionel Richie’s song, “Endless Love.” “My love, there’s only you in my life; you’re every breath I take; you’re every step I make, and I want to share all my love with you. Two heart, two hearts that beat as one...and love, I’ll be a fool for you – my endless love” reminds me of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ and of the foolish love any theologian of the cross has for all creation.

Considering these theologians of the cross—including us, particularly vis-à-vis our immediate neighbors, how do we become fools for love? Paul describes the cross as a scandal, a stumbling block to trip into and fall over to Jews who emphasize keeping the law to the extreme, and as complete foolishness to Greeks – or to anyone who aspires to high levels of intellectual pretense. Think about both of those aspects!

© Leah Chang 2007

Water Buffalo Theology notes

2007-03-03T09:03:00.000-08:00

Over on my main theology blog I've posted the handouts for last Sunday's and tomorrow's Theology of the Cross classes:

Class notes for Theology of the Cross 1

Class notes for Theology of the Cross 2

Since I've been blogging on a reasonably regular basis on all my blogs, this time I'm not cross-posting from there to here. However, today I'm posting here the 2-page handout of some of my ideas from Water Buffalo Theology I'll give the class tomorrow. Ages ago I blogged most of my notes from our online discussion; Water Buffalo Theology, which is ecological theology, liberation theology and an offering in the Christian-Buddhist dialogue formed the main impetus towards my wanting to develop a course on the subject for the local church. We used the 25th anniversary edition of the book, published by Orbis--no surprise, right?! On Amazon I discovered Kosuke Koyama has written what I assume is a companion book, No Handle on the Cross: An Asian Meditation on the Crucified Mind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Water Buffalo Theology notes | Theology of the Cross class 2

During spring 2003 I participated in an online discussion of Water Buffalo Theology by Kosuke Koyama on the old United Church of Christ forums; WBT is liberation theology, ecological theology and an offering in the Christian-Buddhist dialogue. The book contained a lot of theology of the cross and lots of Luther (except for the chapter based on the epistle of James...). What struck me most about the book were the contrasts the author drew between Christianity and Buddhism! My notes added up to around 40 pages—here’s a very small sample of the notes I posted during the conversation.

Part I: Interpreting History | Chapter 1: Theological Situations in Asia and the Mission of the Church

In the Church our formal symbols are scriptures and sacraments. But how about the symbolic meaning of potluck dinners, committees, worship style, social and political activism? Thailand’s cultural symbols include sticky-rice, bananas, and the rainy season; the state of Maine might include blueberries and lobsters. For San Diego, try Big Box retailers (like the rest of the country), surfers and surfing.

More thoughts about Hong Kong, homecoming and us:

Though initially it may sound astounding to make Jakarta or anywhere else “as central as Jerusalem,” if the person and work of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ is not for Jakarta just as much as it is for Jerusalem, he truly is not Lord of all.

Koyama asks where Hong Kong can celebrate homecoming; I believe Hong Kong will be able to celebrate homecoming (after all, isn’t homecoming the ultimate thanksgiving?) within a community gathered not only to perfunctorily and ritually evoke the presence of the risen Christ in Word and Sacrament, but when that assembly attests to the presence of the Christ in each other, having gone slowly enough to ignore at least some of the noisiness of commerce and consumerism, having decided to seek the welfare of the place where they are rather than seeking the wellbeing of their purses and properties: looking outward to the other’s interests and inward to a relational and re-creative self.

Chapter 3: Gun and Ointment | The Future of the Christian World Mission in Asia

Kosuke Koyama says Jesus’ anointing shows, “the substance and manner of God’s participation in history.” During Holy Week 2003 I blogged about Jesus’ anointing! Rather than being anointed by the temple hierarchy and the theological establishment – all guys – to reign alive in the material glory of sumptuous palatial opulence within the humanly established imperial structure, Jesus was anointed into his death in the glory of the cross by a woman, who because of gender and caste could have no part in the temple array. That woman, who to us is nameless, anointed Jesus at the house of a person totally outcast from polite society, far outside of the world’s sanctioned arrangements and expectations but right within God’s order that invalidates and inverts most imaginings of what should be: the way of the Cross.

Prayer and hymn singing in the vernacular is one of Luther’s Marks of the True Church; I’m convinced Evangelism in the vernacular also needs to happen for the Church; what would evangelism in the vernacular mean to us? For Luther, suffering and persecution also defines the true Church. At the end of chapter 3, Koyama asks, “How can the Christian mission do this [stand against the guns and give passionate encouragement to all the ointments] unless it begins itself to live under the sentence of death?”

Chapter 4: The “Efficiency” of the Crucified One in the World of Technological Efficiency

In Chapter 1 the author describes Christianity’s way as slow! And now he’s writing about the amazingly “inefficient investment” of God’s nomadic peregrinations in the desert to learn the people’s hearts and to teach them one does not live by bread alone. In this context, investment is an interesting word! But God also remains faithful to providing for our material needs, and partly because of this he logically observes, “The Lordship of God has a historical substance…It is the crucified Jesus Christ in Golgotha under Pontius Pilate.” Koyama calls Jesus of Nazareth a “spiritual” Messiah, but asks if technology should be our Messiah. However, I’ll ask if technology is part of God’s provision for our physical, earthly needs? Or is technology humanity’s answer to our wants?

Part II: Rooting the Gospel | Chapter 6: Aristotelian Pepper and Buddhist Salt

Our particularly Western propensity is to equate love with emotional attachment, rather than the agape “will to love,” but the Bible and Jesus reveal God’s attachment to the world of creation as a passionate - an ardent and erotic - attachment!

Chapter 7: Neighborology

From Kosuke Koyama, the book’s author: “How can anyone be a teacher of religion unless he is at home with the language of the people?”

Chapter 8: The Wrath of God in a Culture of Tranquility

Introducing the chapter on page 68, he asks, “What is the matter with this God,” who becomes perturbed to the point of wrath?! This God is no human invention! On page 72 the author says the theology of the God not-in-history “is also the theology of God who is held captive in the continual cyclical flow of cosmic time and cannot meaningfully be moved to wrath.” This essentially is a domesticated God, of course. Finally, the not-historical God is a God continuous with humanity, with no disruption between finite and infinite.

Part III: Interpreting Thai Buddhist Life | Chapter 12: Cool Arhat and Hot God

Covenant is a hot concept, since real relationship never is cool. Buddhist holy life is lived to escape completely from existence, while Christian holy life is lived in order to be completely engaged in existence. God creates in order to have a creation to become attached to! As Koyama aptly says, this covenant-awareness has given sharp focus to history-awareness. Theologically speaking, history is the experience of covenant; evangelism means bringing the experience of covenanted relationship lived within history rather than outside of history.

Chapter 13: Apostle James in Thailand

Moving away from Luther! This chapter concisely describes how we need to live out our lives in Christ both hot-ly and cool-ly! Again Koyama reminds us the Buddha’s type of detachment includes detachment from even the very idea of oneself. Risk also is a hot concept, and Jesus calls us to a life of constant risk, but a life that shows no partiality, coolly imitating our God who “is not partial.” To become involved in the world without becoming attached to the world, or more accurately, without becoming attached to the powerful pull of the world’s fleeting, ephemeral and corrupting pleasure. Page 122: if we’re cool, “the King of Death cannot seize” us! That is so Jesus, so Paul!

Part IV: Interpreting the Christian Life | Chapter 15: Tokyo and Jerusalem

Koyama says God’s first and fundamental gift to us is “the constant awareness that we are under the judgment of the Word of God.”

Chapter 18: Three Modes of Christian Presence

A hidden presence, a sacramental presence to the world. Suffering because we’re involved with others, because we’re involved in neighborology! Participating in the “glory of the crucified Lord”—the same Paul of Tarsus also talks about “the glory of the children of God!” And isn’t our glory as God’s offspring a crucified glory and a risen glory? Professor Koyama reminded us of Luther’s, “subject to none; subject to all.”

I’ll close by quoting: In this eschatological hour, we are called to share the pathos of God, God’s pathos toward all scattered things which are held together in the glory of the crucified Lord.

Church Prayer Rug

2007-02-26T09:14:00.000-08:00

To illustrate theology of glory, yesterday I gave the class a copy of this old blog. A little overdone and overdrawn, but I believe it makes the point!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In my mailbox this week I found what has become an Lenten annual, another blatant example of idolatry, another human attempt to create a god in its image, another slot-machine divinity of jumbo payoffs, a deity completely congruent with one of contemporary American society’s most brazenly unsubtle gods—consumerism. From a skinny envelope I unpacked purportedly a face of Jesus, sketchily represented crowned with a thorny tiara; four-color printing is the graphics industry standard, but this is a two-color likeness! In addition, nowhere in the mailing could I find either a web address nor an email address.

Next Sunday, continuing its journey through the liturgical year, the church reaches Palm Sunday, with Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, city of prophets and in ages past, home to the Temple that for the Jews formed the axis mundi between earth and heaven—Jerusalem, the biblical City of God. Following the Revised Common Lectionary, the gospel chronicles the church reads during Lent consistently focus on Jesus’ going to Jerusalem and to the cross. Crucifixion Friday turns into Resurrection Sunday, with its astonishing empty grave: in God’s system you cannot have Easter unless Friday precedes it.

Returning to the Church Prayer Rug! Conceptually, it is closely related to the common contemporary practice of consumer-driven and marketing-modeled churches, as in “let’s study the location, the demographics, traffic flow, in-migration and even out-migration (likely I’ve missed a slew of necessary statistical assessments), and then decide what the people will be clamoring for and what consumer options they’ll be needing so our church can offer the right menu to meet their needs.” Is that biblical?! Martin Luther would call it an example of that humanly always-popular Theology of Glory! The designation Church Prayer Rug (contrasted with simply Prayer Rug, or other possibilities, such as Tribal Meditation Rug, Rya Prayer Rug, Dhurrie Prayer Rag, Acrylic Broadloom Whatever…) reveals a lot, too!

Jesus: friend of sinners, companion of outcasts, Son of God, Son of Humanity, liberator of women, freer of slaves, lifter-up of underdogs, putter-down of overdogs, political upstart and rouser of the rabble, challenger of the religious establishment, yet Servant, Lord of all creation, Pantocratur...but...talk about a domesticated god, idolatry?! This one is offset printed, not even engraved, flattened onto a flimsy 11” x 16” sheet of not non-acid-free paper; due to the paper’s quality (not!) I doubt it would qualify as a kitchen god, since exposed to any light for any length of time, it would crumble and fade; not surprisingly, the legend on the B-side is phenomenally unbiblical:

“This Prayer Rug is soaked with the Power of Prayer for you. Use it immediately, then please return it with your Prayer Needs Checked on our letter to you.”

Tucked into the envelope with the rug itself there’s a list of testimonials citing Rugged Benefits. They include, “Blessed with $46,000.00 after using prayer rug...;” “God blessed me with over $5,000.00”; “Received $10,000 in a financial blessing...”; “I’ve gotten a new car and a job,...”; “...17 acres of land...;” “Big 6 room house...” To assuage doubters, the *they* who sent me the Church Prayer Rug even threw in a spiritual boon, “Praise God! it is so wonderful to know that my husband is saved...”

A pair of scripture verses justifies the Prayer Rug endeavor:

Evening, and morning, and at noon, I will pray and he shall hear my voice. Psalm 55:17
God can do anything. Mark 10:27

At the time I wrote this blog, my email signature included pleading lines from the hymn,

Make Our Church One Joyful Choir:

1. Make our church one joyful choir on this glad and festive day
and by song invoke the fire that invites our hearts to pray:
Shape us, Christ, to live and claim all it means to bear your name.

2. Bend us low by song and prayer, low enough to lift the cross
and to take the weight and bear love’s uncounted final cost:
Shape us, Christ, to live and claim all it means to bear your name.

3. Lift us up by song and prayer till the way we deal with loss
and our acts and words of care trace the pattern of your cross:
Shape us, Christ, to bear your name.

4. Bend us, lift us, make us strong, send us out with wind and fire,
so the world may hear the song that we offer as your choir:
Shape us, Christ, to live and claim all it means to bear your name.
Amen, amen, amen!

Thomas H. Troeger | © 1994 Oxford University Press, Inc.“Shape us, Christ, to live and claim all it means to bear your name!” Bend us low by song and prayer, low enough to lift the cross; and to take the weight and bear love’s uncounted final cost…and our acts and words of care trace the pattern of your cross:

Shape us, Christ, to live and claim all it means to bear your name! To bear the name of Jesus Christ! One of the greatest theologians of the cross insisted,

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Galatians 2:20a

For Jews in Jesus’ time, the Jerusalem temple formed a gathering place and holy space connecting earth and heaven; for us Christians, the cross of Jesus Christ is the axis mundi between humanity and divinity! Our baptism into the cross affirms our creation and re-creation in God’s image—that particular part of our Imago Dei is one of certified cross-bearers! Living and claiming all it means to bear the name of Jesus Christ means in us, the Church, Jesus still is friend of sinners, comforter of the sorrowful, liberator of the oppressed, companion along the way, forgiver of offenses; because of us, Jesus still is in this world, still carrying the cross. The Holy Spirit calls all of us who – in the words of the Apostle Paul – are “in Christ,” to become and to be cross-carriers; for everyone our lives touch, God calls us to span what often seems to be a very far distance between heaven and earth.
Amen!

original blog

Kinsperson Redeemer

2007-02-20T20:35:00.000-08:00

Notes from research I did to supplement printed material for a study based on the book of Ruth, emphasizing the Kinsperson Redeemer concept. In the world of the Hebrew Bible as well as today in this "world of the earth" (as Job 37:12 reads in Hebrew), we constantly encounter and engage in real battles with forces not of this earth. Sometimes they're obvious and visible, though more often they're not; in my experience they tend to be conventional circumstances and commonplace situations, and in my extensive experience, they frequently need redeeming!

In the Jubilee text of Leviticus 25, regarding "untrimmed vines" and other matters, God commands:

You shall count off seven weeks of years--seven times seven years--so that the period of seven weeks of years gives you a total of forty-nine years. Then you shall sound the horn loud; in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month--the Day of Atonement--you shall have the horn sounded throughout your land and you shall hallow the fiftieth year. You shall proclaim release throughout the land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you: each of you shall return to his holding and each of you shall return to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you: you shall not sow, neither shall you reap the aftergrowth or harvest the untrimmed vines, for it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you: you may only eat the growth direct from the field. . . . Do not wrong one another, but fear your God; for I the Lord am your God.

If your kinsman is in straits and has to sell part of his holding, his nearest redeemer shall come and redeem what his kinsman has sold.

The nearest redeemer, closest kin had the responsibility of redeeming his kinsman's lost opportunities. Personal note: "lost opportunities," for whatever reason, is exactly what I need to get bought back! Continuing with the topic: If a person was forced into slavery, his redeemer purchased his freedom. In the case of overwhelming debt, the kinsman stepped in to redeem his homestead and let the family live. Another note from me: in Hebrew culture, "debt" and "Sin" essentially are synonymous. More from the actual notes: If a family member died without an heir the kinsman married the widow and grew a son in order to hand down his name to future generations (Deuteronomy 25:5-6; Genesis 38:8; Ruth 3-4). In case of murder, the redeemer acted as blood avenger and pursued the killer (Numbers 35:12-34; Deuteronomy 19:1-3). Originally kinsman marriage applied only to brothers, but by Ruth's time it had extended to any close relative.

Another word: reclaim, get back, regain, retrieve, recover, repossess, recoup, rescue - notice all those "re" words, and they all have economic implications!

The Kinsperson Redeemer:

Had to be close kin, near relative to the one needing redemption.
Had to be able to pay the ransom or redemption price in full—to "possess the ability to redeem."
Had to be willing to redeem the fallen relative out of love and free will as an act of grace; he couldn't be coerced or forced.
Had to be free and unbounded himself

Here's a compendium of references I discovered in my research, coupled with margin notes from my old RSV:

The Hebrew goel is translated by the English words "kinsman" (Ruth 3:9) and "redeemer" (Job 19:25). The word means "to set free" and has two different meanings:

To redeem or buy back what was lost.
To require blood, to avenge--only someone near of kin could seek vengeance.

In Hebrew, Kofer means the redemption price; Goel described things consecrated to God (Leviticus 27:13-31), about God as redeeming humanity (Exodus 6:6; Isaiah 43:1; 44:22; 48:20; 49:7), and those persons redeemed by God (Isaiah 35:9; 51:10; Job 19:25). The right of redemption and the office of redeemer belonged to the nearest kinsman, or "near of kin, near relative" (Leviticus 25:25; Ruth 3:12; 4:1, 6, 8, etc.). "I am the LORD . . . I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments" (Exodus 6:6).

Related to the familiar agora/town square/marketplace, the word agorazo means "to buy," or "to buy in the bazaar"; exagorazo means, "to buy out of the marketplace" with the intention the person so purchased might never return to such a state of slavery again, so that unbounded liberty became a permanent state of being: *delivered* from bondage into freedom.

Leviticus 25:25
Job 19:25 Though Job complained that no one came to redeem him, he still proclaimed Yahweh would be his Goel/Redeemer! "As for me, I know that my redeemer (kinsman) lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth" (Job 19:25).
Ruth 4:3-6 Boaz redeemed Ruth

Distribute; dispense = distribution; dispensation

Go on over to the groc store and redeem your cents-off (is that all you get?!) coupon!

Ransom; release; deliverance; liberation # # #

Nature and Mission of the church | response

2007-02-20T16:02:00.000-08:00

Here are my notes from our October, 2006 Faith, Order and Witness meeting; the following is my response to questions for our sub-committee.

1. Does this study document correctly identify our common ecclesiological convictions, as well as the issues which continue to divide us?

Notwithstanding this document's small size, it lines out well many of the historical and current concerns - especially regarding authority and apostolicity - between the Anglican and Roman Catholic communions and those Protestant church bodies who, while also considering themselves “Apostolic” view apostolic succession as happening in a different way, while (of course) being there all along. The more we read and discuss divergence and convergence in our FOW meetings, along with discussions in an online intentional community I recently joined, the more acutely aware I've become of how very Western - not simply Protestant - my perspective is. The church bodies in the Orthodox tradition bring to us and to the world at large a different way of being church, differing devotional practices and differently-focused theology that we need to consider and possibly integrate into our own.

2. Does this study document reflect an emerging convergence on the nature and mission of the Church?

Here's a personal answer: from The Nature and Mission of the Church, as well as other documents we've reviewed, it becomes clear that polity truly is an adiaphora. Nonetheless, I continue to be stuck in the Reformer's “Word and Sacrament” definition of church (possibly adding the Reformed insistence on ecclesiastical discipline), which means whenever I worship with a supposedly independent community that has no regular or well-defined sacramental practice, I have serious questions as to their status as the Body of Christ and in the Body of Christ! However, despite claiming sacraments as a Means of Grace, I find no reason to quibble with churches that have a sign of grace or effective sign of grace interpretation of the sacraments! Here I'll mention that churches that theologize about “means of grace” and “effective sign of grace” use the term sacrament while the “sign of grace” churches typically use ordinance. It's interesting the document doesn't discuss other ordinances some church bodies also officially consider sacraments. Hebrew Bible scholar Walter Brueggemann, who is huge on obedience, points out that in spite of their derivation from scripture, doctrine and theology are human constructs, but God's call to obedience is unequivocal.

Oh, “Does this study document reflect an emerging convergence…?” Short answer: yes!

3. Are there significant matters in which the concerns of your church are not adequately addressed?

I constantly wonder how to respond to the word church! Historically, “church” was reserved exclusively for the local called-out, gathered-in assembly of Believers in Christ and Followers of the Way and for the worldwide Body of Christ, with terms like synod, presbytery, conference and diocese used for intermediate entities, though currently we seem to consider judicatories expressions of the Church!? It sure does feel like it when we're worshiping together! So I'll respond from my current experiences, mainly within a pair of local churches in the theological tradition of Reformation (both are Formula of Agreement churches, too), and simply say both of them are struggling mightily with surviving into an uncertain future and with redefining their life and mission, while their pastors are hoping to find ways to help them faithfully be the exhibition of the Reign of Heaven to the world, and especially to discover ways to draw their neighbors into the exciting, risk-filled adventure of ministry in the Name of Jesus Christ!

But to add a slightly glib denominational viewpoint, the current discussions and emerging divisions between the ELCA, UCC and PC(USA) among the headquarters (Chicago, Cleveland and Louisville), judicatories and local churches is confusing people in the pews and making them ask whatever happened to the old cultural Christianity they used to know and be comfortable with, though they don't use those words.

4. Insofar as this study document provides a helpful framework for further ecclesiological discussions among the churches:

How can this study document help your church, together with others, take concrete steps towards unity?

Ecumenical discussion remains among the mainline, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, which at least in our local Faith, Order and Witness committee includes church bodies such as the typically more conservative LC-MS and Church of the Nazarene. Among churches formed from the many 19th Century Restoration movements, only the Disciples of Christ ordinarily participates in ecumenical dialogue, and in fact has become a mighty ecumenical force. Again I'll ask, “What is my church?” and say I've discovered one of the best and most visible things I can do is to mention in passing to people that I recently worshiped in a church of a different tradition or style or I'll be attending an ecumenical worship service (always adding the sorrow of not being able to share Eucharist officially, since most of these liturgies are Service of the Word), or that I serve on an ecumenical committee, and sometimes I'll tell them snippets of our most recent discussions. Even from reasonably biblically and theologically informed people, I usually get a “Why?” reaction, or occasionally, “I don't know why we all can't just get together,” without the remotest awareness or appreciation of the historical, practical and theological reasons for separation.

It is striking that for the most part this document uses “Eucharist” for the Lord's Supper with “Holy Communion” now and then. Eucharist indeed has become the ecumenical word, just as it was the early church's, but Christians in the more conservative churches who don't participate in ecumenical dialogue won't say Eucharist, and in the churches of my current participation , “Holy Communion” is the terminology I always hear from people in the pews. When the pastors and I are discussing theology or liturgy, we say “Eucharist.”

What suggestions would you make for the future development of this text?

I like ¶ 81 about our participating actively in the ongoing restoration of creation in a way consistent with God's reconciling presence in the world, but throughout this document I'd far prefer more references to creation than simply to human beings/humanity and the world. The authors rightly claim there's never simply a single focus to human interpretation of God's ongoing sacramental activity in the world; I'll add the church needs to continue acting sacramentally in and for the world and for all creation.

Besides forming a bond among God and community, I'll say baptism also is a boundary defining the church's perimeter and parameters as well as excluding and in some ways forming a barrier against those who are not of the church in some sense. In and for the world becomes in the church, too - the Church and the churches become bounded containers for people and sacraments.

¶ 77 references social, economic, cultural (etc.) institutions that preserve human life; I'll include the church as a life-preserving and sustaining institution, too, as well as living organism. Again, baptismal relations and locations: events measurable in time and space, but located and interrelated with Christians in all ages and engaged with the world in all times and places.

Day of Pentecost Year A

2007-01-22T17:33:00.000-08:00

Here's the handout content plus the texts I typed out for myself as the group leader--thought I'd post all of it (actually, in the other Years A I hadn't included the scripture texts so they didn't get blogged).

Pentecost | 50 days after Easter

In the Jewish calendar, Pentecost commemorated God's giving the Sinai Covenant - the Mosaic law

The Christian Pentecost celebrates the fullness of the Spirit unleashed on all creation, enabling us to keep the new law of life in the Spirit and restoring all creation

Whitsunday - British Isles term, white robes worn by those baptized on Pentecost

Feast of Weeks or Harvest | Exodus 23:16; 34:33; Leviticus 23:15-16[17-22]; Firstfruits: Numbers 28:26; Deuteronomy 16:10, 16; 2 Chronicles 8:13

Disciples = taught

Apostles = sent

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b - this is a creation narrative!

²⁴ How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number--living things both large and small.
²⁶ There the ships go to and fro, and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.
²⁷ These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time.
²⁸ When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face, they are terrified;
when you take away their breath, they die and return to the dust.
³⁰ When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.
³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in his works--
³² he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.
³³ I will sing to the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him, as I rejoice in the Lord.
³⁵b Praise the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord.

1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 | 1 Corinthians 12:8-10--Gifts of the Spirit:

a word of wisdom - Sophia v.8a

a word of knowledge - gnosis v. 8b

faith, trust - pistis v. 9a

gifts of healings - v. 9b

workings of powers [miracles] v. 10a

prophecy v. 10b

discerning of spirits v. 10

types of tongues - glossolalia v.10

interpretation of tongues - once again, glossos v.10

The Spirit has come to the church and into the world in particular and collective senses, enabling the community as the body of the at once Crucified and Risen Christ to bear fruit in word and deed; without the Spirit there is no witness!

How does this congregation demonstrate the variety of the various gifts of the Holy Spirit Paul describes? How do we complement or complete one another?

Acts 2:1-21

Acts 2:3, 4, 11 "tongues" is glossos

Acts 2:6, 8 "tongues" is dialect, as in languages.

Acts 2:15b It's only nine in the morning, third hour of the day; in the New Testament Day Watch the Third hour is from 6-9 a.m.

Peter referred to the Hebrew prophet Joel 2:28-32 to substantiate this event as the arrival of the Day of the Lord when everyone, men, women, slaves, free - everyone, including even the "least of these," would experience God's abundant and impartial grace through the Spirit's reign.

Name of the Lord - to know a person's name is intimacy with them and a kind of power over them.

in all of these texts for the Day of Pentecost, Spirit is Pneuma rather than the Paraclete Jesus promised in last week's (Easter 7) text from John 16:7; but John 16:13 Jesus speaks of the Pneuma=spirit of truth

The Spirit came to individuals gathered in community, "all together in one place."

John 20:19-23 - this is Easter Sunday evening

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.
²¹ Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Locked doors for fear of... - any ideas on this? Secrecy, hiddenness and shame - how does Jesus unlock doors, hearts and minds and open up lives?

Or John 7:37-39

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the Feast [of Weeks, the spring harvest feast corresponding to the fall harvest Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkoth, Leviticus 23:33-36], Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." [Or If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me. And let him drink, ³⁸ who believes in me.] ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Feast of Weeks or Harvest: Exodus 23:16; 34:33; Leviticus 23:15-16[17-22], (Firstfruits Numbers 28:26), Deuteronomy 16:10, 16; 2 Chronicles 8:13

The Feast of Weeks celebrates the time of the grain harvest, from barley through wheat. John's version of the gift of the Spirit emphasizes the authority the gift of the Holy Spirit imparts to the church. What observations can you make about the Pentecost account in the book of Acts, especially reflecting on the Psalm and the Corinthians texts?

Easter 7 A | Sunday after Ascension Thursday

2007-01-22T16:55:00.000-08:00

...another "recently rediscovered" handout I prepared for the study group I facilitated during spring 2005, which, after all, was lectionary year A. This particular one is not at all typical of me; maybe I was tired?

Acts 1:6-14

Acts 1:6-8 “Will you now, at this time, restore the kingdom to Israel? Jesus’ reply: “The question is wrong!!!!!”

Not about recapturing and re-appropriating specious past grandeurs, but about the work God call us to right here and right now.

“What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit!” You’ll receive the Holy Spirit so you can be Jesus’ witnesses and live as Jesus’ presence in the world; from now on, the world will discover Jesus’ presence within the presence of the community of the church, in our living as Jesus’ witnesses “as far as the ends [eschaton] of the earth.”

Acts 1:10-11 “why do you stand looking up at heaven?!” Like us at times, the disciples wanted to gaze at the heavens, to wait for Jesus’ Second Coming, and forget God calls us to transform this world, living as the presence of the Risen Christ in the heaven of right here and right now.

We need to remember it’s all God’s activity--we have the Holy Spirit and don’t need to imagine accomplishing all of this under our own steam.

Regarding Jesus ascendancy to the Father’s Right Hand of sovereignty, as Martin Luther insisted, the “Right Hand of God” - God’s sovereignty - is everywhere: in Wittenberg, Marburg, London, San Diego, Tokyo…absolutely everywhere, all the time. God’s heaven is right here and right now.

John 17:1-11

Jesus prayer for one-other-ness among God, Jesus, and disciples of all generations in the continuity and unity of the community of the church. Last Sunday, in John 14:18, Jesus promised he would not abandon the church; in the lections for Easter 6, Jesus promised to send the Spirit to accompany us and indwell all creation.

Acts 1 and John 17

Jesus gave the gospel to the disciples (including us!), who still communicate the gospel to the world through the church.

Within this community of the church, we can help one another experience eternity in the midst of time and discover the eternities of God’s sacramental self-revelation in the ordinariness of everyday life.

In God’s arrangement, it always is about the community--both Acts 1 and John 17 are about the person’s nurture, sustenance, challenge and transformation within the faith community, continuing the pattern in the earlier Old Covenant communities, in which peoplehood happens as God forms and re-forms a community for Himself and for the world.

Easter 6 A

2007-01-21T22:10:00.000-08:00

More Bible study notes I prepared for the adult class I facilitated during spring 2005; I'll try to get the rest of the notes, etc., I found this afternoon formatted and blogged in a couple of days.

Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:5-20; John 14:15-21

Earlier in the Acts 17 narrative, Paul and Silas had been released from jail and gone to Berea, where Timothy and Silas remained; all the while they'd been preaching Christ and resurrection; verse 17:6b is the famous "turning the world upside down!" Immediately before this speech to the Areopagites, Paul had been talking with Epicurean and Stoic philosophers--and Paul constantly has been preaching resurrection from the dead! Contrast this with Paul in his epistles determining to "preach only Christ crucified."

Acts 17:23 unknown god by Epimenides, from Crete; 17:24 Lord of sky and land--Lord of all creation!

Acts 17:26b The Message: "Plenty of time and space for living!"

Acts 17:28 We live and move in him; quoted from Aratus of Cilicia, Paul's native province; Aratus was born in 310 b.c.e., and he "said it well: 'We're the God-created.'"

In the John 14 text, the word for love consistently is agape; Jesus calls us to love with the same love with which God loves us!! Here, Jesus says to fully live in God's way of agape love we must know and keep his commandments; in order to make this possible, Jesus promises the Spirit of God. In this text, the you pronouns all are plural! The New Testament always is about the faith of the called-out and gathered-in community; for each of us, our faith is rooted in the community, nourished in the community and lived out in the community.

A paraclete - literally called alongside - stood up with someone who was on trial in a court of law. The paraclete did not speak to the judge at all but spoke only with the person on trial to support and guide them through it. Jesus assured the people when they loved with God's impartial and all-embracing agape love, the Paraclete, this Spirit of Truth about the person and work of Jesus Christ would be with them and in them.

Here are some English-language versions of the Greek parakletos:

advisor
advocate
comforter
consoler
counselor
encourager
friend
helper

Easter 5 A

2007-01-21T21:19:00.000-08:00

Well, yes--we're currently in lectionary year C and not even in Lent yet, but this afternoon I found notes I'd prepared for several Bible studies I facilitated during spring 2005. Whenever time allows, I virtually always have notes for the class and myself to follow. Somehow it proves I've prepared and also gives us something concrete to work through.

Easter 5 A: Rock; The Word in the World!

1 Peter 2:1-10 | Stones, Rocks, Bricks, and Other Substantial Building Material

Stones: hard, heavy, smooth, rough, impenetrable, permanent, won't easily decay; there also are many different kinds of stones. Is anyone here a geologist?

The solidness, safety and security of rock, brick, concrete or any kind of masonry as walls or building foundations.

1 Peter 2:4 Living Stone, Source of Life.

1 Peter 2:5 "present yourselves" (that's us!) as building stones for a sanctuary [holy place, dwelling for God, community in which the Holy Spirit of God dwells in the world: Shekinah] vibrant with life! What aspect of being "living stones" do we offer this faith community and the greater community?

1 Peter 2:6, 7 Jesus Christ the cornerstone; foundation [Isaiah 28:16] [Matthew 21:44; Psalm 118:22]

1 Peter 2:8 Stumbling block, stone to trip over, boulder in The Message version - the stumbling block, "scandal" of the cross! Paul says preaching "Christ crucified," is a stumbling block, scandal, to Jews and foolishness to the gentiles [1 Corinthians 1:23]

1 Peter 2:9 Our royal, prophetic priesthood [Revelation 1:6]; different versions or translations of this text?

Jesus assertion he'd build the Church on the rock of Peter/Rocky's confession of faith!

John 14:1-14 | Jesus Christ and the Church: the Word in the World

John's "many mansions--many rooms" text often is considered a parallel to Matthew's Sermon on the Mount and Luke's Sermon on the Plain; just as in those homilies, this text is not about a future eventual location but about a here and now commission to respond in the Spirit to opportunities and situations God keeps offering us along with the relationship we need to remain in to do the Word. How can we live as God's Word in the world? For starters, let's try thinking about contrasting attitudes and behaviors: scripture versus popular culture or scripture versus the media. On the internet I found a few ideas to get us started:

The world encourages: "Seek your place in the world."
Scripture says: "Seek first the kingdom of God."

Popular culture says: "Find yourself."
Scripture says: "Lose yourself, so you can find life!"

The self-improvement industry says: "Be your own self-made person."
Scripture says: "I call you to become members together of one body."

Advertising tells us: "Look to your own needs and interests."
Scripture says: "Take on the attitude of Jesus, who took on the nature of a servant."

The world out there insists: "Be at the top of your game."
Scripture says: "Be crucified with Jesus."

A Treasure in Earthen Vessels

2007-01-21T20:42:00.000-08:00

¸.•´¯*)¸¸,ø¤* ¸.•'´¯) A Treasure in Earthen Vessels: An instrument for an ecumenical reflection on hermeneutics | Faith and Order Paper 182 | November 1998 ¸.•´¯*)¸¸,ø¤* ¸.•'´¯)

This afternoon while I tried to organize and throw away some stray papers, I discovered hard copies of several things from a couple years ago (not unusual), but I did find it unusual that I hadn't blogged any of them! Unlike now, in those days I wasn't quite so quick to blog almost everything for storage and safekeeping. However, I'm delighted I discovered them, and here's the first. File properties gave Monday, 14 March 2005 as the date I created the original, which I did to help prepare for moderating the discussion at Faith, Order and Witness.

Here are some of my ideas:

A friend who'd seen the traveling Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit emailed me she felt she'd touched "the hand of God!" In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul explains, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels…" During the Coronation ceremony the British monarch receives a Bible, given with the words: "to keep your Majesty ever mindful of the law and the Gospel of God as the rule for the whole of life and government of Christian Princes, we present you with this Book, the most valuable thing this world affords. Here is wisdom; this is the royal law; these are the lively oracles of God." Touching the pages of scripture with our own hands, actually feeling the pages of God's grace-filled rule for covenantal living, the commandments, together with the Gospeled Good News, in a tangible intimation of the way Jesus of Nazareth's birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension brought the Good News texts into real-life! We can look at Divine wiseness, living revelation and prophecies in the same way we'd read any current book or magazine, and in a way concretely and actively related to our actual everyday world.

As someone recently observed on a theology site I belong to (my paraphrase):

The Church is in fragments; the contemporary situation of the church reminds me of our faithful predecessors in biblical times carrying those earthly treasures necessary for daily sustenance (water, wine, grain, etc.) in earthen vessels. Sometimes one of the vessels would fall and break; under similar circumstances, we would throw the shards away, but they found a use for them: with paper not yet invented, and papyrus expensive, they used the fragments as writing material! Those fragments, which we call ostraca, still exist until this very day, providing us with insight into the culture and thought of those early times. We might say: "The jar is broken, long live the pieces!"

My own notes, continued:

In the Reformation tradition an objective and sensible sign is sufficient for the presence of the Church, and that is the Means of Grace--Word and Sacrament; God chooses the Earthen Vessels of Church, Scripture and Sacraments to proclaim His presence in our midst, and within the physical pages of a book we find a living witness of God's past activity at the same time we discover hope for our future--a Word of resurrection from death: a Word of Life! The Holy Spirit creates Christians by acting upon the subject - as in the relationship between Potter and clay - by our living in a community formed by Word and Sacrament.

Theology of the Cross Course Description

2007-01-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

Today, on the Feast of the Epiphany, I'm moving right along with my proposed Lenten course...

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2
A theology of glory imagines a view of God's essence and activity that parallels human aspirations to obvious, spectacular and excessive displays. A theology of the cross is built upon God's own self-revelation, particularly in Christ crucified, and seeks to discover God's characteristically hidden and frequently paradoxical, sacramental presence in the commonest things, situations and people.

This 6-part Bible study series will explore what it means to be a people who live under the cross of Jesus Christ for the world God calls us to serve, and particularly ways God leads and enables us to be a crucified – and risen! – people here at this church and in our families, neighborhoods and places of employment.

We will begin by contrasting the ever-popular theology of glory of immediately apparent divine intervention and activity with God's most typical manner of self-revelation in unassuming and concealed ways. After an overview of parallels and similarities found in the Hebrew Bible, the class will look at reading and interpreting several texts in the shadow of the cross of Calvary and through a cruciform lens. Weeks two and three will focus on the Cross in New Testament writings of Paul and Mark, in Reformation documents, and in more recent persons and situations. Some ways cross and sacraments are connected and intertwined will comprise the fourth week. Finally, the last two classes will be a time for the participants to discuss "what, then, are we to say about all of this?" What does this information and this manner of interpreting scripture, sacraments and our daily lives mean for each of us, for this church community and for the world we live in? In 1 Corinthians 1, Paul says "Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." How about us? What's our take on all of this?

In addition to a printed course outline and related passages of scripture, I will bring a few short articles from various sources and even some things I've written myself!

© Leah Chang 2007

Theological Essentials

2006-11-06T18:46:00.000-08:00

A few summers ago I proposed this for Adult Sunday School but one of my other options got picked instead. Nonetheless, I'm posting it here for safekeeping.

1. Hebrew Bible Introduction
2. New Testament Introduction
3. The Bible is canonized
4. Early Creeds
5. Augustine, Aquinas, the Late Medieval Church and "pre-reformers"
6. The Reformation and Reformation Confessions
7. England and Scotland
8. Continental Anabaptists and the Radical Reformation
9. Puritans, Pilgrims, the New World and Zion
10. Enlightenment Thought and Influence
11. The 100 Years' War
12. Schleiermacher and his progeny
13. Fundamentalism, Dispensationalism, and Restoration Movements
14. 19th Century Reason
15. Great Awakenings, Revivals, and Frontier Religion!
16. Barth, Bultmann and Brunner: neo-orthodoxy
17. Barmen Declaration and denominational confessions
18. Process Theology
19. Neo-Evangelicalism
20. A flurry of factions!
21. The Jesus Seminar and its offspring
22. Ecumenism and Ecumenical Theology
23. Interfaith Dialogue
24. Wrapping it up!

Lent 2007 Study Outline

2006-10-29T19:21:00.000-08:00

6-part Series for Lent 2007 – Bible Study Outline
Theology of the Cross | Leah Chang

1 Corinthians 1:20-25

²⁰ Where is the smart stuff of this world? Where are the world's heavy thinkers?... ²¹ Since in God's wisdom the world did not know God through their worldly kinds of smarts, it pleased God through foolish proclamation to save anyone who trusts Him. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks crave wisdom, ²³ but we proclaim Christ the crucified one, a scandal to the Jews and moronic nonsense to the gentiles: ²⁴ But to those called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ--God's living dynamic power and God's kind of wisdom. ²⁵ Because God's foolishness is wiser than humanity's intellectual cleverness, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength!

1 Corinthians 2:2

² For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

God is here! As we God's people meet to offer praise and prayer...
Here are symbols to remind us of our lifelong need of grace;
Here are table, font and pulpit, here the cross has central place...
~Fred Pratt Green~ © 1979 Hope Publishing Co.

Theology of the Cross: what does this mean for the Church's and this congregation's (these congregations' in the case of OSLC) life and mission?

Week One

1. Theology of glory vs. theology of the cross
2. Hebrew Bible roots/wellsprings
3. Reading and interpreting scripture through a cruciform lens

Week Two

4. Paul, Mark and Jesus of Nazareth
5. Mark, Paul and Jesus the Christ

Week Three

6. Saul/Paul of Tarsus; Martin Luther
7. Some familiar theologians of the cross: Bonhoeffer; Dorothy Day; Gandhi; MLK; Desmond Tutu; Mother Teresa; us! Who else comes to mind?

Week Four

8. The cross and the sacraments:
a. A theology of baptism and
b. A theology of the eucharist

Week Five

9. What does the cross mean for each of us as individuals?
10. What does the cross mean for this church community?
11. What does all of this mean for our nearby neighbors?

Week Six

12. What does the cross mean for the world in which we live and serve?
13. The cross of Jesus Christ: Foolishness to the Greeks and foolishness to us?
14. Concluding questions, observations and loose ends

© 2006 Leah Chang

Lent 2007

2006-10-06T21:04:00.000-07:00

Sundays in Lent 2007 Bible Study Proposal: Theology of the Cross | Leah Chang

1 Corinthians 1:20-25

²⁰ Where is the smart stuff of this world? Where are the world's heavy thinkers?... ²¹ Since in God's wisdom the world did not know God through their worldly kinds of smarts, it pleased God through foolish proclamation to save anyone who trusts Him. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks crave wisdom, ²³ but we proclaim Christ the crucified one, a scandal to the Jews and moronic nonsense to the gentiles: ²⁴ But to those called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ--God's living dynamic power and God's kind of wisdom. ²⁵ Because God's foolishness is wiser than humanity's intellectual cleverness, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength!

1 Corinthians 2:2

² For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

God is here! As we God's people meet to offer praise and prayer...
Here are symbols to remind us of our lifelong need of grace;
Here are table, font and pulpit, here the cross has central place...
~Fred Pratt Green~ © 1979 Hope Publishing Co.

6 Sundays in Lent – adult Bible study

Theology of the Cross: what does this mean for this church's life and mission?

Preliminary Ideas:

1. Theology of glory vs. theology of the cross
2. Hebrew Bible roots/wellsprings
3. Paul, Mark and Jesus of Nazareth
4. Mark, Paul and Jesus the Christ
5. Saul/Paul of Tarsus; Martin Luther
6. Some familiar theologians of the cross: Bonhoeffer; Dorothy Day; Gandhi; MLK; Desmond Tutu; Mother Teresa; us! Who else comes to mind?
7. The cross and the sacraments:

a. A theology of baptism and
b. A theology of the eucharist

8. What does this mean for each of us as individuals?
9. What does this mean for the community here at this church?
10. What does this mean for our nearby neighbors?
11. What does this mean for the world in which we live and serve?
12. The cross: Foolishness to the Greeks and foolishness to us?

© 2006 Leah Chang

current favorite authors

2006-08-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Disclaimer: I truly am a little embarrassed, since everyone I've listed is a guy and all the theological types are protestants! I've listed mostly in the order the authors came to mind, categorizing each writer according to their literary genre or type I'm most familiar with. If you visit my other blogs, you'll notice I'm cross-posting; I expect to remember some omissions, so most likely I'll be adding to these lists.

Mostly Prose:

William Faulkner
Walter Brueggemann
Tony Campolo
Martin Luther
Martin Luther King
Paul Tillich
Martin Buber
Robert Farrar Capon
Max Lucado
Rick Bragg
James Cone
Matthew Fox
James Agee

Mostly Poets:

Richard Shelton
Hermann Hesse
Heinrich Heine
Conrad Aiken
Walt Whitman
Langston Hughes
Carl Sandburg

Isaiah blog 3

2006-07-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

Here's the final Isaiah quotes blog for now—I need to formally blog, teach and/or preach on some of these texts! These verses are from the post-exilic 3rd Isaiah.

58:6 "Is this not the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? ^7a Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house..."

60:19 The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. ²⁰ Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.

61:1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; ² to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; ³ to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

62:2 ...and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will give.

64:1 O that thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at thy presence—

65:17 For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.

65:21 "They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit." ²⁵ "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain," says the Lord.

66:22 "For as the new heaven and the new earth which I will make shall remain before me," says the Lord; "so shall your descendants and your name remain. ²³ From new moon to new moon, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me," says the Lord.

Isaiah blog 2

2006-07-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

Copying again from my old RSV. As likely you'll notice, I'm not being consistent with "quotes" and 'quotes.'

41:8 But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, my friend; ⁹ you whom I took from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, "You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off"; ¹⁰ fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.

42:9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declares; before they spring forth I tell you of them."

43:1 By now thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. ² When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you, ^3a For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."

43:11 "I, I am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior. ¹² I declared and saved and proclaimed when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses," says the Lord."

43:18 "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. ¹⁹ Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. ²⁰ The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, ²¹ the people whom I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise!"

44:23 Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout, O depths of the earth; break forth into singing, O mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and will be glorified in Israel.

49:13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.

51:3 For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.

54:1 For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

55:8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," says the Lord. ⁹ "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. ¹⁰ For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and return not thither but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, ¹¹ so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; it shall not return to m empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the things for which I sent it. ¹² For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."

Isaiah blog 1

2006-07-25T14:46:00.000-07:00

Copying from my well-worn and underlined RSV.

11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. ² And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. ³ And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

11:6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.

11:9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

12:3 With joy you shall draw water from the fountain of salvation.

16:5 then a throne will be established in steadfast love and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness.

25:6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined. ⁷ And he will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations.

26:19 Thy dead shall live, their bodies shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For thy dew is a dew of light, and on the land of the shades thou wilt let it fall.

30:15 For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength."

30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. ²¹ And your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

30:23 And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your cattle will graze in large pastures...

30:26 Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

30:29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.

32:15 ...until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. ¹⁶ Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.

35:1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus ² it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing.

35:6b For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; ^7a the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty grounds springs of water...

Word Claim

2006-06-18T21:45:00.000-07:00

In bible order rather than according to purported chronology, here are some of my current favorite scripture passages, mostly NASB, because I just got a outstanding deal on a parallel NASB/Message Bible! I'm cross-posting this, and at another time I'll make a separate Isaiah list.

And afterward Moses and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.'" Exodus 5:1

Into the land, into the land, into the land, into the land... Deuteronomy

Then the whole people assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there; the land lay subdued before them. Joshua 18:1

Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is nothing on earth I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forevermore. Psalm 73:25-26

O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD! Jeremiah 22:29

I will open your graves. Ezekiel 37:12

When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight. Luke 24:30-31

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. John 20:1

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Colossians 1:13-17

Thou hast taken Thy great power and hast begun to reign. Revelation 15:18

God's Most Important Law, Love

2006-06-06T18:06:00.000-07:00

This may be the last of the saved(!) Release Time lessons I'd kept over these many years, so I'm wondering what'll be next on this blog?

Mark 12:28-31

28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?" 29 Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Luke 10:27

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Because God loves us and wants the very best for us, he has given us laws, rules and guidelines to help us live our lives I the best way. A long time ago, long before Jesus came to live among us, God gave commandments, or laws to his people. God also began showing them in special ways through some of his leaders how he wants people to live.

A lot of times we get confused about the right way to do something. The people in Jesus' day also got confused. Some very sincere people had the idea that God's way was too simple, so they added hundreds of rules of their own to God's rule. Following these human-made rules became so important and difficult that they forgot God's most basic commandment: to love God, your neighbor - or other people - and yourself.

So that everybody, everywhere, could live their lives together according to God's way, God came into the world in the person of Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus to teach and show all of us how to live. Because of Jesus' birth and life among us as one of us, his death on the cross of Good Friday and God's raising Christ to new life on Easter Sunday morn, we can be forgiven if we break God's law. When we are forgiven for doing something wrong, it means we can make a brand new beginning.

As we read the Gospels and learn about Jesus' life, we see and read about God's most important law or commandment of love, which is kindness in action and attitude. Jesus showed us that:

Love has nothing to do with how we may feel at that moment;
Love means we try our best to see the other person and his/her needs clearly;
When we love, we sometimes have to forget about what we want;
When we love, we help bring about God's reign or rule on earth. We also show other people what God's love is like, and help bring them closer to him.

Let's talk about:

How does God want us to act toward each other?
What one word tells us God's most important commandment?
Why does God want us to treat each other this way?
Who showed us how to do this commandment?
Name some ways we can love each other.

Draw a picture that shows people helping, listening, being friends - showing each other God's love in some way.

Free in God's Kingdom

2006-06-05T21:45:00.000-07:00

This may be the very last Release Time lesson, but at any rate, it's among the last. I love the Cosmic Christ of Colossians! In some texts indisputably by him, Paul of Tarsus is so into the Servant Jesus, while this deutero-Paul guy(?) presents us with the Pantocratur. Talk about phenomenally evocative imagery! In some ways this lesson is almost trivial, but again the longish scripture passage became an opportunity for words and Word to resonate.

Wordspin:

Strong
Power
Rescue
darkness
free
Death
redemption
forgiven
kingdom
image
created
visible
dwell
reconcile
peace

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Colossians 1:11-20

11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
What does it mean to be free? Can you think of a time you couldn't do what you wanted? Couldn't go where you wanted? Couldn't dress the way you wanted to dress? In some ways you weren't free at those times.

God tells all of us in his Word, the Bible, that we need to know him in his Son, Jesus Christ, if we really want to be really free!!! The Bible tells us that as long as we do, say, or think unkind and unloving things we are not living like people who know Jesus and are followers of Jesus. The Bible tells us that when we act unloving and unkind we are unfree because we're not acting in the way that God says is best for us and for those around us. If we don't try our very best to treat each other with kindness and love, people will be afraid and unsure of what's going to happen to them. They'll want to protect and defend themselves, which will give them little time for caring about others. Can we live together and trust one another in that kind of world?

How do followers of Jesus act?
Are we following Jesus?
How do we act in different situations? Give some examples.

Jesus showed us how to live in this world so everyone is free because they've learned to live together in kindness and love. Jesus also gave us another very important kind of freedom; he gave us forgiveness of all our sin. Because we are forgiven, everything we've ever done wrong in the past is completely wiped out. It's as if we'd never done it, so we can live our lives right here and right now without even thinking about those parts of the past we'd just as soon forget.

Jesus gave us forgiveness by dying on the cross for us on Good Friday and by being raised from the dead to new life for us on Easter Sunday. In Jesus Christ's birth, life, death and resurrection God's plan for us to live close to him and to each other was fulfilled, or completed. Because of Jesus' death and resurrection we are free from the past mistakes and sins that separate us from one another.

When God forgives us and makes us free, we also become part of God's family, or Kingdom, the Reign or Rule of God here on earth.

What is a Kingdom?
Who is the Ruler or King in God's Kingdom?

New Life in Jesus Christ

2006-06-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

Another Release Time offering; I know it's a l-o-n-g passage from Romans, but I figured it was worth it so the kids could begin to become familiar with the text.

Romans 8:1-11

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law--indeed it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 Since the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Did you ever do something a teacher, parent or someone else in authority told you not to do? What was it? Why did you do it? Did that person find out about it? What happened? How did you feel?

Did you ever do something against one of God's commandments? Why? What happened? How did you feel?

Because God loves us and wants the best for us, he gave us Commandments or guidelines for living. The Bible reading from Paul's letter to the church at Rome calls the commandments the law. Sin, or separation from God and others, happens whenever we disobey God's law. Whenever we sin, for us to be made righteous, or right again in God's sight, we need to be forgiven. In addition, God's holiness demands punishment for any sin or wrongdoing.

Because God loves us, God did what we couldn't do for ourselves; God came into this world in the person of Jesus Christ, lived a perfect life, and took the punishment for our sin. Jesus died on the cross on the day we now call Good Friday to bear the punishment for everything that separates us from God and to forgive us, so we could live reunited with God, one another and all creation. On the first Easter Sunday, God raised Jesus from the dead to a brand new life. Jesus died on the cross so our sin and the cost of sin would be wiped out; he rose from the dead so that we could be right again in God's sight. Because God raised Jesus from death to new life, each one of us can have that new Easter life; no longer are separated from God and from one another, but we have been reunited or reconciled with God, our neighbors and all creation.

What does it mean to be forgiven? (Hint: think of the word "give.")

When we believe that God loves us and wants to give us new life in his son, Jesus Christ, we become members of God's own family, the church. In Romans, Paul says we begin living "in Christ." We begin living as God wants us to live.

How does God want us to live? Why?

When we believe God has forgiven us and given us new life in Jesus' birth, life, death and resurrection, God's Holy Spirit comes to live in us. The Holy Spirit helps us obey God's commandments. The Holy Spirit also helps us receive God's free gift of forgiveness and new life we need whenever we disobey and sin.

What does it mean to you to be forgiven?
Do you believe God loves you and forgives you?

Miscellaneous Romans notes

2006-05-25T17:42:00.000-07:00

Despite having a handful more of Release Time lessons for this blog, today I'm posting these Romans notes from a couple years ago. Most probably I've already posted them in long form on Desert Spirit's Fire, but I figured storing the short version here would be cool...as I'm listening to Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" on the radio. Does that song not relate well to the message of extravagant grace we find in Romans--and in Paul, in general?

Miscellaneous Romans notes

Romans 2

Neither gospel nor law - innocence

Habits of the heart – 3 "heart" references in Romans 2:5, 15, 29

God's Word imprinted on the hearts of all, in "an echo of God's personality." As usual, I'll say that's love, creativity, community, passion, risk – somewhere else I've made a long Pauline-style list of our in-God-createdness. God's reputation? People I formed for myself...

Anders Nygren: Romans is about the "inward heart, not satisfied with works."

Heart: center or seat of emotions; also, an organic metaphor and a spatial one

Romans 2:12-16 Imperial particularism—along the lines of the taxonomy that came from, did I ever mention I consider myself a revelatory particularist?

Despite a lingering sense of Jew/Gentile, in Paul, as in Christ Jesus, chosen-ness has expanded way far.

2:29 "mercy, not sacrifice"

Romans 3:9-26

Righteous; justified; account-able; apart from the Law?!

Romans 3:18; Psalm 36:1 Upright in heart = God-seeking

1 – consumer/material – artifacts and antiquities

2 – extreme athlete – does all the sports and does all the sports well, defying human limitations

3 - scientist – knowledge: think of technologies out of crisis

4 – philosopher – post-modern, nihilistic existentialist: angry, cynical and sarcastic

5 – Paul, the Christian – also a legalist! Paul, the Jew, has lived the commandments as well as anyone every could. Blameless as to the Law!

Choose Life!

2006-05-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

One more Release Time lesson from ages ago. For anyone who didn't scroll back to where I began this series, these are lessons I wrote during the last century for 4^th and 5^th grader inner-city youngsters. By the way, the kids in the program who attended church were from the African-American free church tradition and most of them were excellent theologians, meaning great discussions for me as one of their teachers!

Life! Life?! Life.
What is it?
Where is it?
How do we get life?
How do we know we have life?
How do we give life?

From the first moment of creation, God has acted to give us life. God made us to be completely alive. Whenever God does something it's always in ways that will give us the very best kind of life there is.

From the book of Genesis in the beginning of the Bible, through the last book of the Bible, Revelation, we read about God giving us, his people, everything we needed for life to be complete. One of the most important facets of life we read about in Genesis is the very close relationship people had with God and with one another. After those relationships were broken by sin, there was no way in the world people could come back together with each other and with God. Only God could mend his broken world.

Because of Jesus Christ's death on the cross of Good Friday and his rising from death to new life on Easter dawn, all creation can live in brand-new life. For comparison, here are three different translations of Deuteronomy 30:19-20:

~Deuteronomy 30~

19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. NRSV

19 "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them." NASB

19 I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. 20 And love GOD, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that GOD, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. MSG

Choose life! In the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God already has given us life, but God doesn't force it on us. The Bible passage says that by loving and obeying God, we choose life. In God's Word, the Bible, and in God's Son Jesus Christ, we see and learn that loving and obeying God is something we do in our daily lives with one another. It means being kind, considerate, generous and thoughtful to other people. Loving God and obeying God also includes means being a caretaker of the earth and of all creation.

Since God gives us life, we are able to love God and obey him by loving other people. We give them life by being open to God's way and by walking the paths God shows us.

We Can Count on God's Love!

2006-05-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

Release Time for today; This Time the narrative is so familiar. Nothing very imaginative, but the reality bears remembering. I usually wrote these lessons in less than an hour and tried to keep everything simple because I had about ten minutes to brief the other teachers and answer their questions before the actual classes met.

God sent Jesus Christ to live in our world so everyone could experience God's love and know how God wants us to be and act as the people of God. Besides acting in caring and careful ways toward people, Jesus told a lot of stories, or parables, about God and about life. One of the main reasons people listened to Jesus and followed him is that he not only told them about himself and about our Heavenly Father, but he also told them about themselves. We're all interested in hearing about ourselves!

We live in a big, modern, Western city. Jesus lived 2,000 years ago in a Middle-Eastern farming society. As we read Jesus' stories or parables, we notice the setting is different from ours, but the people are exactly like us!

Luke 15:11-19

11 Then Jesus said, "There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. 13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16 He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."'

Sometimes this story is called "The Prodigal Son," sometimes "The Waiting Father." It is about a father whose son left home and began to waste his life by living in harmful ways. Although the story is written about a son, we know that in Jesus Christ sons and daughters, men and women, are equal. In place of "son" we can read "daughter."

What happened so far in the story?
How are we sometimes like the son in the story?
Why did the son decide to go back to his father

Luke 15:20-32

20 "So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 21 Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe - the best one - and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate. 25 "Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27 He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' 28 Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29 But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' 31 Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"

As you read, think of God in place of the father in the story. Think of yourself in place of the son. Leave your Bibles open when you finish.

All the time the son was gone the father missed him. Even though the son had run away, the father went on loving him. As much as he wanted the son, he didn't force him to come home. We need to know and trust that God's love and care for us has nothing to do with the way we act. God gives us life and everything we need as a free gift. We sometimes use the word grace for this gift.

If someone offers you a gift, what do you need to do to receive it?
How can we earn God's love?

The son and the father aren't the only people in the story. Let's look at the servants and the older son.

What does the father tell the servants to do? Why?
If someone has a birthday or graduation, how can you help him or her celebrate?
What did the older son do and say? Why?
How would you feel if you were the older son in this story?
How would you act?
What does the father mean when he says the son was dead, but now is alive?
If you imagine God as the father in the story, what have we learned about God from this passage?
From this story, what have we learned about the way God wants us to live with and acts towards each other?
How does it show that we really can count on God's love?

Reminders of God's Kingdom

2006-05-11T18:45:00.000-07:00

Release time again; only a few more to go.

Luke 21:25-31

25 "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

29 Then Jesus told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In this passage from Luke's Gospel, Jesus is speaking to us about God's Kingdom of love and justice here on earth. Sometimes we refer to God's rule as the Kingdom of Heaven or the Reign of God. All those phrases mean God is in charge.

Jesus talks about signs in the sky and on earth. But first, where do we find signs and what are signs for? Some examples include street signs telling us where we are, house numbers or the name on a store. Logos that identify and represent products are a kind of sign, too. Doctors and nurses read vital signs to learn about the health of their patients. Jesus' talks about signs to remind us that he is King of all creation and Lord of the whole universe. Jesus also mentions these signs to remind us that, because he loves us, God prepares us for and lets us know something about everything he does.

God shows signs to us in our world and in other people's lives. Sometimes people have needs we can help take care of. God wants us to be very careful and watchful as we live among others. Very often we can be an important part of making's God's Kingdom come alive in another person's life. What are some ways you've been able to see and help with other people's needs?

Jesus says sometimes people are afraid, especially when the weather seems out of control or the sun and stars are doing strange things. In Jesus' life and words we learn that because we are loved, we don't ever have to be afraid.

In verse 31 Jesus calls himself "Son of Man." Jesus often uses this name for himself. Son of Man reminds us that Jesus, God's Son, became a human person like us. Son of Man reminds us it is possible for us to live our lives the way Jesus lived his life because Jesus was human.

Jesus told a parable about a fig tree. A parable is a kind of lesson that uses images and signs. Around here we just don't see such trees. However, it was important for Jesus' followers to hear about the fig tree, because the fig tree was the sign or symbol of their country. The fig tree reminded them that God's plan for them included life on earth in a land that would take care of their needs for food, shelter, and clothing. This parable also reminds us that God takes care of our needs for housing, food, and clothing.

This parable is about Redemption or Salvation or the Kingdom of God or Rule of God. These words are very close in meaning. God's Reign and Salvation are what we learn about as we read the Bible and as we live our lives according to God's rule of love. The Kingdom of Heaven is about everyone's life and all creation being complete, healthy and whole. Jesus shows us and tells us all of us can have salvation and God's Kingdom, or rule. Jesus tells us and shows us that Wholeness and Redemption belong not only to people, but to every part of God's creation.

Besides the types of signs we've already read about and talked about, the church is an important sign of the presence of God in the world. That means we, who are part of the church, are signs or symbols of God's presence to everyone we meet.

God came to us in Jesus as the Human One, or Son of Man, as a sign of the Kingdom of God. God calls us to be signs of the Reign of Heaven or Rule of God right where we are. In the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ helps us follow his way in showing Redemption and Salvation to the world.

How Do We Know Jesus Is With Us?

2006-05-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

Another really really old RT lesson, needless to say.

Matthew 11:2-11

2 When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?" 4 Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. 6 And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."

7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. 9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written, 'See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.' 11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Sometimes we wonder if Jesus really is with us. Why do we wonder? Do we look for Jesus in the right places? Do we see the signs that tell us Jesus is there?

Could Jesus be in: the house next door? The Ashmont train? A traffic jam? Our church? A burger place? The grocery store? The local Taco Shop? At your school? In the church on the other side of town? At home with your family?

For each of these places, Why? Why not?

Back in Jesus' day, people had the same kinds of questions. God had already told his people about some of the signs that the Savior, Jesus, would be with them. These signs included a brand new way of being and acting. Like people being kind and thoughtful to each other, people feeling good about being themselves, people being able to see or hear again or for the first time, poor people being treated fairly. And especially the sign of resurrection--people being raised from death! That's something we celebrate especially every Sunday and in a most special way on the Easter Sunday.

If you were going to find God, where would you begin to look? Explain.

In Jesus' day, people sometimes looked for God where they wanted to find him, instead of where God said. How about us?

But God already had come to them right where they were, right where they lived. God came to them in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. So when people ask Jesus if he's the Savior or the "One Who Is To Come" he says, "Look around! What do you see?" He tells them to look at all the signs of new life around them.

Is there anything about your life you'd like to see changed or made new?
Can Jesus change those things?
Will you let Jesus change them?

God sends Jesus into our world and our lives right where and how we are. When we wonder about his promise to be with us he said, "Look around! What do you see?"

When we trust Jesus is here and see him in our everyday world, he comes into our lives and stays with us. Jesus Christ makes our lives new!

How do we know Jesus is with us?
What does it mean for something to be changed or made new?

The Name that is Greater than any Other Name

2006-05-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

More Release Time...and I've got a bunch more to blog here after this one.

Philippians 2:5-11

5 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. 6 He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. 7 Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! 8 Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death--and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.

9 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, 10 so that all created beings in heaven and on earth--even those long ago dead and buried--will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, 11 and call out in praise that he is the Lord of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father. ~The Message~

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

What does your name mean?
Why do you suppose your parents chose your name?
Do you think your name fits you?

God's Word, the Bible tells us a great many different names for God. By reading the Bible, we can discover special names for God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Today we're going to look at some of the names for Jesus Christ, God's Son. As you think about and talk about these names, remember that any name that God calls himself always tells about Go; God's name always tells us who God is and what God does.

Here are some of Jesus' names, with a place in the Bible we can find that name. Look up the Bible reference and try to figure out why Jesus is called by that name:

Son of God: John 1:34
Lamb of God: John 1:29
Messiah: John 1:41
I Am: John 8:58
Light of the World: John 8:12
The Way: John 14:6; also "Truth" and "Light" in this verse
Savior: 2 Peter 2:20; also "Lord" and "Christ" in this verse
Jesus: Matthew 1:21
King of Kings and Lord of Lords: Revelation 19:16
The Resurrection and the Life: John 11:25

Which of these is your favorite name for Jesus? Why?

Did you know that each one of these names tells us something about the way in which God acts in and through his Son, Jesus Christ, in relationship to our everyday lives? What do these names for Jesus mean for us, in each of our lives? They tell us how Jesus acts in our lives as individuals and in our lives as the community of God's people, the church. They tell us how God in Christ changes our lives so we can be faithful to the names he gives to us.

In a later lesson on we'll talk about some of God's names for us, the people of God. Because Jesus was faithful to God's plan for his life, we're able to be faithful to God's plans for our lives.

The Lord Came Down in a Cloud

2006-05-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

Release Time again.

Exodus 34

5 GOD came down in a cloud and stood there beside Moses and called out his holy name, GOD. 6 GOD passed in front of Moses and called out, "GOD, GOD, a Lord of mercy and grace, endlessly patient--so much love, so deeply true-- 7 I keep my promise for thousands of generations, forgiving evil, rebellion, and sin. Still, I do not ignore sin. I hold sons and grandsons responsible for their parents' sins to the third and even fourth generation."

8 At once Moses fell to the ground and worshiped. 9 Moses said, "Please, O Lord, if you see anything good in me, please Lord, travel with us, hard-headed as these people are. Forgive our evil and sin. Own us, possess us as your own people."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Many years before Jesus was born in Nazareth, God's people, who later were called Israel, lived as slaves in Egypt, a country that was not their home. God heard their cries of pain and promised to take them out of slavery and bring them home to the land he had chosen for them. To help his people journey home, God chose a leader named Moses.

In between Egypt and their new home, the people had to trek through a wilderness desert. Moses followed God's leadership in leading the people out of slavery. But the people did not always obey. Just like us, many times they decided to do things their own way. Like us, they didn't trust that God's way is always best, even if it doesn't seem to make sense at the time.

Before Jesus was born, what was the name of God's people?
What was the name of the foreign country they lived in?
Who led God's people through the wilderness? (2 answers)
Does God ever make a mistake?

When his people disobeyed, God became angry. When this happened, Moses would talk with God and beg him to have mercy and forgive them. Time after time, God changed his mind and forgave. In the Bible passage we just read, Moses asks God for proof of his love and forgiveness. He asks God to go alongside them into the land of promise.

When God became angry, what did Moses ask God to do?
Do we get angry at God? If so, if that okay? Explain.
Do you ever try making deals with God?

God had been with his people all the time, and he continued to be with them as they went through the wilderness into the Promised Land. But many years after Moses, God came to be with us in a way that was even more real. God came into this world in the human person, Jesus Christ.

How did God come to this earth to be with us in a very real way?
Why did God come to earth in that way?
Is God still here on earth with us and in our lives?
Explain.

In Jesus Christ we can know what it means to be loved no matter what we do or who we are. In Christ, we learn God's love comes to us as a gift without any cost to us. Moses asked God to be with his people and to accept them for his own. In Jesus Christ, God indeed is with us wherever we are, in whatever we do. In Christ, we become the People of God.

If someone gives us a gift, what do we need to do for it to belong to us?
God gives us his love as a gift. How do we make God's love our own?

God Chose Jeremiah; God Chooses Us

2006-05-08T21:38:00.000-07:00

another Release Time consideration:

Jeremiah 1

4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, 5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." 6 Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." 7 But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a boy'; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord."

Jeremiah 7

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 5a if you truly act justly one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, 7 then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever.

Jeremiah 29

7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. 12 Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. 13 When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, 14 I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Jeremiah 31

31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the Lord," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When God created the world, he planned for everyone to live in a free, complete relationship with him and with each other. Because God created enough of everything to go around, he planned for everyone to have plenty of food, good housing and loving relationships. God still plans for people like us to help make this world as he created it to be.

Around 4,000 years ago, after trekking through the desert wilderness for about 40 years, God's people, Israel, finally went into the place God had promised would become their home. Although their life could have been perfect in the Promised Land, the people got themselves into trouble by being selfish and not acting fairly. They especially gave little thought and very little care to those who had the least and needed them most. Most of them got taken out of the land God had promised and given them. They found themselves in a country where they were ruled by a king neither God nor they had chosen.

God had to do something about what they were doing to themselves and each other. God broke into the lives of his people with a man who knew them and lived among them, Jeremiah. About 629 years before Jesus was born, God sent Jeremiah right to the people with God's own words.

Because God was sad about the way they were acting, God broke into the lives of the people with a man who knew them and lived among them, Jeremiah. About 629 years before Jesus was born, God sent Jeremiah right to the people with God's own words.

Let's look at what God told Jeremiah. "I knew you even before you were born, and I chose you to be a prophet." (A prophet is someone who gives God's words to the people.) Jeremiah said something like we might say when we're told to do something hard: "Impossible! I can't do that!"

God answered, "Do what I tell you, don't be afraid, and I'll take care of you and make it possible for you to do the impossible."

It's important for us to remember the people had gotten themselves into a mess, and were getting themselves into it still deeper. It's important for us to see in God's promises that he is the one who pulls us out of disaster, even though we often get ourselves into it.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *So, Jeremiah obeyed God. He went to the people with a message that had two parts. God's message through Jeremiah was:

You're in this place of exile away from your own home I gave you because you've been selfish, greedy, thoughtless and unfair. You've been following your own feelings instead of my way of justice. BUT,
because I love you, I'm going to do for you what you can't do for yourselves. I'll make a brand new beginning with you, so you won't be able to forget me, so you'll be able to treat each other with justice and love.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *God sent Jeremiah with a message of hope for a new life, life in a world where people think about one another and try hard not to be selfish. That way there's enough of everything to go around, just as God planned from the beginning. God sent Jeremiah to the people with a message of hope for a world in which everyone lives in a free, complete relationship with him and with each other. In the same way God chose and sent Jeremiah, God chooses and sends each of us, followers of Jesus, into the world with a message of hope for a new life. God wants us to share this message with everyone!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *QUESTIONS:

When did Jeremiah live?
What kinds of problems were the people having?
Why were they having problems?
What did God tell Jeremiah to do?
What do we mean by "a message of hope?"
How can we be like Jeremiah?

Ezekiel 37 blog the third

2006-05-06T22:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, a couple things! First, currently we're in Lectionary Year B and this is a Year A lection; then, we're celebrating the season of Easter and this belongs with the Lent 5 pericopes, but what an outstanding opportunity to have an Ezekiel 37 blog the third on this site, so here it is.

Ezekiel 37:1-14 | two different versions of the text: in Ezekiel 37 blog the first and in Ezekiel 37 blog the second

Spirited Bones

Prayer:

From all the ends of the earth, come to us, Breath of God; Breathing Life of the Divine, descend upon your people and let us live again! In the Name of the One Spirit-sent sent to carry new life to the entire world, Christ Jesus, Amen!

Once again we've heard that wonderful "Dry Bones" passage from Ezekiel, one of the prophets of Israel's exile. So how long had these bones been in this valley? How had these people died? Had someone killed them, did they die of natural causes or did they die for lack of community or because of grief over other deaths and losses? And why hadn't they been buried? The text doesn't reply directly to those questions, but it does suggest an answer. This Ezekiel is one of the prophets of Babylonian exile; in order to communicate with Ezekiel the messenger of God, just as The Message version of the bible says, God's Spirit grabbed Ezekiel and carried him to the valley of dry bones. It looks as if this entire scenario was God's idea, but what was Ezekiel's role in the story? First, God initiates conversation with the human Ezekiel and addresses him with a generic name, son of man, or human--as opposed to the divine name. Exactly like Moses, the prototype prophet, that archetype human speaker of the Word of God, Ezekiel the prophet converses with God. How about us?

God commands Ezekiel, the human one - "Son of man" - to speak a word of life--actually to speak a Word from God and the Word of God! Later on, in the New Covenant Scriptures we meet another Son of Man, another Human One--Jesus of Nazareth, who lives a Word of Life in the world and to the world as well as in and to each of us. But now we, the Church, have become the body of the Risen Jesus Christ, so how does the human gathering of the church speak God's Word? How do we speak a divine Word of Life? Or, does the church speak the Word of God; do we actually and actively speak a Word from God? Or, if the answer is "yes," is that task reserved for the person in the pulpit?

Ezekiel reports he prophesied as commanded. Sometimes we casually refer to foretelling future happenings as prophecy, but Hebrew scripture differentiates between prophet and seer: they are two separate and different words. A seer foresees an event before it happens, while the classic prophet speaks truth to power, literally against the king! You can make the case a prophet stirs things up to let in air and light so the situation can breathe again and return to life. We've met Jesus Christ as Prophet, King and Priest; in his prophetic role he spoke tons of truth to political and ecclesiastical powers-that-were, shattering their life-denying, deathly assumptions and behaviors and letting in the Spirit's cleansing wind and purifying fire. Baptized into Christ Jesus, each of us assumes parallel roles to Jesus' calls as priest, sovereign and prophet. That being so, what is our prophetic job as Christians?

God gave Ezekiel instructions for "raising the dead." Obediently, Ezekiel followed God's orders and spoke a Word of Life with results humanly incredible to people and communities who themselves haven't experienced the Spirit of the Living God. How about us? Too often in the church we get to arguing about points of doctrine or theology, most of which are little more than human speculations and constructs. But unmistakably God calls us to obedience, the obedience which probably should be our larger, more constant concern. In obedience, Ezekiel spoke the word that made the dry bones return to life, to get re-fleshed and again to breathe. Remember, those bones had belonged to live people before and now again the bones lived! Obedience? God's prophetic call to us? How about our speaking words that restore life to each other, to our neighborhoods, families and to the world? Raising our dead? We have been baptized into covenantal community, with its frightening and assuring demands of mutual accountability and interresponsibility; we live and we breathe in the image of the God who covenants. In this passage from Ezekiel of the Babylonian exile [verses 5, 6, 14] "Breathe life - or Spirit - into you," is covenantal language! God of the covenants--what other biblical covenants can you recall?

This celebrated section of scripture [Verses 11-14] grounds Ezekiel's prophetic activity in historical context, citing the house or people of Israel and the physical land of Israel. However, this text is renowned for applying to almost everyone everywhere in a multitude of circumstances. How about us? Dry bones? Are we currently alive in the right here and right now, or do we confess to passive existence as dead bodies that once were alive, or at least more alive than we are right now? Does this church, your neighborhood, or any of the groups any of us belong to require a revival?

Human ones cannot single-handedly create new political, spiritual, ethnic or ecclesiastical life, because resurrection is something only God can perform; people and institutions will rise up out of their deaths as the Spirit of God restores them and returns them to a space and place where they can thrive. However, in the scripture passage we heard we can see the role of Ezekiel, "the human one," in helping God's promise come true. How about us, we "human ones" obeying God's command to assist God's promise of new life out of death's dry bones come true--literally come back to life? God loves digging up graves and bringing forth new people and new life; God's primary passion is resurrection! By the Spirit of the living God and of the Christ, dry bones can live again. We're getting closer to Easter now; how does the story of Ezekiel in the valley of dead bones begin preparing us for the surprise of Easter?

The Word of Life,
Amen!

Ezekiel 37 blog the second

2006-05-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

Clearly for older students than the previous Ezekiel 37 blog the second!

Ezekiel 37:1-14 | from The Message

¹ GOD grabbed me. GOD's Spirit took me up and sat me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. ² He led me around and among them--a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain--dry bones, bleached by the sun.
³ He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
I said, "Master GOD, only you know that."
⁴ He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones: "Dry bones, listen to the Message of GOD!'"
⁵ GOD, the Master, told the dry bones, "Watch this: I'm bringing the breath of life to you and you'll come to life. ⁶ I'll attach sinews to you, put meat on your bones, cover you with skin, and breathe life into you. You'll come alive and you'll realize I am GOD!"
⁷ I prophesied just as I'd been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound and, oh, rustling! The bones moved and came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I kept watching. Sinews formed, then muscles on the bones, then skin stretched over them. But they had no breath in them.
⁹ He said to me, "Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man. Tell the breath, "GOD, the Master, says, Come from the four winds. Come, breath. Breathe on these slain bodies. Breathe life!'"
¹⁰ So I prophesied, just as he commanded me. The breath entered them and they came alive! They stood up on their feet, a huge multitude.
¹¹ Then God said to me, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Listen to what they're saying: 'Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone, there's nothing left of us.'
¹² "Therefore, prophesy. Tell them, 'GOD, the Master, says: I'll dig up your graves and bring you out alive--O my people! Then I'll take you straight to the land of Israel. ¹³ When I dig up graves and bring you out as my people, you'll realize I am GOD. ¹⁴ I'll breathe my life into you and you'll live. Then I'll lead you straight back to your land and you'll realize I am GOD. I've said it and I'll do it. GOD's Decree.'"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Discussion Ideas

How had these people died? How long had their bones been in this valley? Why hadn't they been buried?

God's Spirit grabbed the prophet Ezekiel and carried him to the valley of dry bones. It looks as if this entire scenario was God's idea, but what was Ezekiel's role in the story?

Ezekiel, the prophet and God have a conversation. How about us?

God commands the human - "Son of man" - Ezekiel to speak a word of life--actually to speak a Word from God and the Word of God! How does the human gathering of the church speak God's Word? Or, does the church speak the Word of God?

What is a prophet's job or work? Jesus as our Prophet, King and Priest? What is our prophetic, royal priesthood as individual Christians?

God gave Ezekiel instructions for "raising the dead." In obedience, Ezekiel followed God's instructions and spoke the Word of Life with amazing, humanly incredible results! How about us? Obedience? Speaking a word of life to each other, to the community and to the world? Raising the dead?

Verses 5, 6, 14: "Breathe life [Spirit] into you," is covenantal language! God of the covenants? What other biblical covenants can we remember?

Verse 9: Come from the four winds…the number *four* typically refers to the universal reach of God's Holy Spirit. How extensive is universal?

Verses 11-14 place this passage in historical context, citing the house [people] of Israel and the physical land of Israel. However, this text is renowned for applying to almost everyone everywhere in a multitude of circumstances. How about us?

New political, spiritual, ethnic and historical human life is something humans cannot do, only God can perform! The people of God will come out of their deaths as God's Spirit restores them and returns them to a living-space and dwelling-place where they can thrive. However, throughout this text we see the role of Ezekiel, "the human one," in helping God's promise come true. How about us?

God digging up graves and bringing for new people, new life: resurrection! We're getting closer to Easter now; how does this text begin preparing us for the surprise of Easter?

Other thoughts or ideas about this text?

Ezekiel 37 blog the first

2006-05-06T17:57:00.000-07:00

The Vision of Ezekiel

I felt the powerful presence of the LORD, and his Spirit took me and set me down in a valley where the ground was covered with bones. He led me all around the valley, and I could see that there were very many bones and that they were very dry. He said to me, "Mortal mean, can these bones come back to life?"

God said to me, "Mortal man, the people of Israel are like those bones. They say that they are dried up, without any hope and with no future. So prophesy to my people Israel and tell them that I, the LORD God, am going to open their graves. I am going to take them out and bring them back to the land of Israel. When I open the graves where my people are buried and bring them out, they will know that I am the LORD. I will put my breath in them, bring them back to life, and let them live in their own land. Then they will know that I am the LORD. I have promised that I would do this - and I will. I, the LORD, have spoken."

Ezekiel 37:1-3; 11-14
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Ezekiel was a priest and prophet to God's people, about 600 years before Jesus was born in Nazareth. Among other reasons, because God's people had not made God more important than anything else in their lives, a foreign king sent many of them from their own country into exile. They ended up in the land of Babylon. There in Babylon, they were called Jews, because they were from Judah. In exile or captivity in Babylon, their captors treated the Jews kindly. Many of them trusted God would be faithful to his promises and give them new life.

Who was Ezekiel? When did he live?
Where were God's people living? Why?
How were they treated?
What did they believe God would do in their lives?

God's promises? That's where Ezekiel comes in!!! Very often God uses us, the People of God, the Church, to do his work. In Ezekiel's time, God's promise for the future was an end to everything that prevented them from living their lives the way God had created them to live. For their future, just as for our future, God's ultimate promise was new life.

How does God intend for us to live?
What are some things that prevent us from living God's way?
Why were God's people exiled to Babylon?

In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God made a brand new life possible for every one of us. In the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God showed us that new life: this new life includes living in community with each other and with God. God's Holy Spirit makes this new life possible for us and for all creation!

What does "New Life" mean?

In Ezekiel's day, the Holy Spirit of God made possible the new life God's people needed. The "Dry Bones" in this story are God's people.

Why do you think God's people are called "dry bones" in this story?

God chose Ezekiel as his helper. God chose Ezekiel to speak the Word of the Life to the people. Ezekiel was the person who helped open people's hearts to the gift of God's Holy Spirit. As they received the Holy Spirit and began living in community with God and with each other, God would be able to use them as his helpers. As we receive God's gift of the Holy Spirit, we begin living in community with God and with each other. We live in the New Life that God gave us in Jesus' death and resurrection. And God is able to use us as his helpers.

Why does God choose people to help him?
How does God's Holy Spirit help us?
What are some ways we can be God's helpers?

A Life Worthy

2006-05-06T11:11:00.000-07:00

A Life Worthy | Ephesians 4:1-6

Although I have several more Release Time lessons I want to format for this blog, here’s some stuff I thought up for a discussion of Ephesians 4:1-6 two or three years ago. In the course of retrieving these notes and related, I'm imagining all the blog-fodder I'd have if in the past I'd prepared handouts for most of the Bible studies I led the way I almost always do these days!

Ephesians 4

¹ As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. ² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called--⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

According to this epistle, all things have their unity in Christ, with the church as both symbol and agent of oneness. Just as in Colossians, here in Ephesians we find the "Cosmic Christ!" but unlike Colossians, in Ephesians the Church - the Body of the Risen Christ - is a sign of that cosmic unity.

At that particular time the church was highly concerned with unity, holiness and apostolicity. Needing to maintain the apostolic tradition and keep pure doctrine were among the reasons for the large number of pseudonymous letters we have from that era. In general, the convention of attributing authorship to a well-known person helped give the writing authority.

For discussion:

The author of this epistle claims, "There is one body and one Spirit...one hope...one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." In other words, the Church is an unbounded community, with the same Holy Spirit, same faith and baptism drawing in and uniting everyone from everywhere, despite seeming outward differences and distinctions. I'd add on to that a single eucharistic community, too--at least in intent and anticipation!

Luke 13:29

"People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."

Matthew 8:11

"I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven."

How do we transcend cultural, national and denominational boundaries:

In worship?
In evangelism?
In teaching?
In service?
Is it important or possible for a local church to be truly inclusive?
Is their a limit to inclusiveness?

How can we recognize, learn, and become sensitive to the symbols of a culture other than our own and especially to the symbols of our own culture?

WordSpin

Prisoner
Calling, called
Humble, lowly
Patient, patience
Gentle, love
Unity of the Spirit
Bond, bound, peace
One: Body, Spirit, Lord, Faith, Baptism, God, Father of all

Further discussion:

What gifts does each of us in this group have?
What ministries has God called us to?
When? What about the future?
How about newer, historically less conventional and predictable forms of both volunteer and professional (denominationally authorized) ministry?
What do you think of the many current and evolving non-traditional models for ministry and for churches?

GRACE - In the Bible and in my Life: Session 1

2006-05-06T01:23:00.000-07:00

Here's the first of the grace studies I did with one of my confirmation classes. Once again, I posted the 2nd before this one (infra) so they could be read logically and in order--decently and in order, maybe?

"GRACE"

Discuss:

What grace is:
What grace is not:

Grace is one of the most important realities in God's relationship to us: a theological concept or idea--what does that mean?

Sometimes grace is contrasted with law, sometimes with judgment.
Sometimes it is set up over and against sin.

Grace is about God's love and God's Reign. Because of this, when we talk about grace we always are talking both about God's relationship to us and about our relationship to each other. However, these important Bible passages about grace may emphasize God's relationship to us.

From the Hebrew Bible, two "covenants of grace":

Genesis 8:8-17
2 Samuel 7:8-16

Grace in Jesus' ministry:

Luke 4:16-19

By grace God calls us out; by grace God sends us out:

Mark 3:13-15

Paul of Tarsus is sometimes called "the apostle of grace." From the letter he wrote to the Church at Rome, we have some key verses for understanding of God's grace in our lives:

Romans 3:21-24
Romans 5:20-21

GRACE - In the Bible and in my Life: Session 2

2006-05-06T01:11:00.000-07:00

Here's the second in a pair of studies about grace I did for my confirmation class. Hey, note I'm posting the 2nd before the 1st so they can get read logically in order.

"GRACE"

Discuss some ideas about grace (what it is, what it is not, how we get it, how we give it).

Why is grace important?

Grace is about God's love and God's reign. Grace also is about God's freedom and our freedom.

What is freedom?

These passages from Matthew's Gospel are among those that perhaps emphasize our relationships to one another. But remember...there always are three parties involved in grace: God, myself, and another person or persons!

Matthew 5: 23-24

Matthew 5:44-45
Matthew 18:21-22

Can you write or talk about a real-life example involving your experience with grace?

More about grace:

Luke 15:11-24
John 13:34
2 Corinthians 5:17–19

As you read in the Bible, stop to think and talk about how we can make grace alive and real to others.

"MEANS OF GRACE"

The sacraments, Baptism and Holy Communion, sometimes are called "means of grace." It is unlikely anyone ever will know everything there is to know about the sacraments! But we do know that in and through Baptism and Holy Communion we receive grace in a special way. That is why they are called "means of grace."

Here are some of the most important New Testament passages about...

Baptism:

Matthew 28:18-20;
Romans 6:3-4

and about Holy Communion:

Matthew 8:11
1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Hope, Blessings, Promise and Power

2006-05-06T00:46:00.000-07:00

Hope, Blessings, Promise and Power: Jesus Christ is Lord!

Scripture: Luke 24:46-53; Acts 1:6-11; Ephesians 1:16-22

Jesus Christ is Lord! What does it mean to you that Jesus is Lord? What difference does it make in your life that Jesus is Lord? What does it mean that Jesus is "supreme Lord over ALL things?"

Jesus Christ, the risen Savior, told his followers they would be his witnesses--people who had seen and could testify to his resurrection to new life. They would preach the message of forgiveness and new life and hope for a future to the whole world. To preach the Gospel or good news of new life in Jesus Christ they would need power! They would need God's power, the Holy Spirit, the very same Spirit that raised Jesus from death to new life.

What does it mean to be Jesus' witnesses?

What do we need in order to be Jesus' witness and preach the Good News?

Before God's Holy Spirit could fill the whole earth, Jesus had to return to the Right Hand of God. When we read that Jesus is seated at God's right side, this is a way of saying Jesus ascended, or became Lord of all creation. Next Sunday, the sixth Sunday after Easter Sunday, we'll celebrate Jesus' Lordship, or ascendancy, in a special way. [editorial note: clearly I wrote this lesson for a day later than tomorrow, which is Easter 4, like for Easter 7.] The Church calls today Ascension Day or Ascension Thursday. [editorializing again: Release Time met on Thursdays!]

What special name do we have for today?

What does it mean?

Because Jesus returned to his heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit of God and of the Christ came to fill creation and to live in, or indwell those of us who have come into a living relationship of trust in God through Jesus Christ.

What does having the Holy Spirit in our lives mean? According to God's Word, the Bible, it means "this power working in us is the same as the mighty strength God used when he raised Christ from death and exalted him at his right side in the heavenly world." (Ephesians 1:19-20) It means having Jesus as Lord of our lives so we can live as Jesus showed us! It means we have received "the power from above" Jesus said we would need in order to be his witnesses. It means the cloud that hid Jesus from sight is removed as the Holy Spirit opens our eyes of faith, so we are able to see Jesus. In short, it means we are Jesus' witnesses.

And what does it mean for us that Jesus is Lord? Jesus' Lordship, or ascendancy means we're able to live our lives in the fully human way Jesus showed us. Jesus' Lordship means we accept the forgiveness and new life God offers us in and through Christ. Jesus is Lord means our purpose in life is to let God work in and through us in the love we show for one another. Jesus Christ is Lord means hope for the future and abundant blessings as we live our lives as he shows us. Jesus Christ is Lord means he is the "Yes" to all of God's promises, that the power of the Holy Spirit is ours. Jesus Christ is Lord means hope, blessings, promise and power for each and every one of us and for the whole world redeemed by Jesus Christ. May we always let Jesus be the Lord of All of Our Lives!

What are some meanings of "Jesus is Lord?"

What does "Jesus is Lord" mean to you?

New Life

2006-05-06T00:21:00.000-07:00

I'm trying sort of to post these in somewhat logical order. When I finish what I have of this series, I'll search for some other studies I've led or participated in and get those up on this blog.

NEW LIFE

In your own words, what do these words mean?

Old
Disappeared
Vanished
Grief
Heaven
Earth
Home
New
True
Trusted

Now find each of these words in the Bible passage.

Revelation 21

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth disappeared, and the sea vanished. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, dressed as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"See, the home of God is with humankind!
God will dwell with them and they shall be his people.
God himself will be with them and he will be their God.

4 "God will wipe every tear from their eyes.
There will be no more death or grief or crying or pain,
for the old things have disappeared."

5 And the one who sits on the throne said, "Behold, now I make all things new." Also he said to me, "Write this, for these words are true and can be trusted."

On the remote island of Patmos, a man called John wrote Revelation, the last book of the Bible. God gave John a vision of the way life would be when people lived close to him and to one another in the way Jesus lived.

Many things in the book of Revelation are hard to understand. But there are also a lot of words and a lot of images, or pictures that can be clear to us.

Back to the beginning: God created us to live in an open, free relationship with him and with one another. God knew none of us ever could be truly happy any other way. But people kept acting in ways that broke this closeness. To bring us back together to him and to one another, God came to earth in Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus' death on the cross of Good Friday and God's raising Christ to new life on Easter, we can live free from past sin and failure.

How does God want us to live?
What does God's kind of life include?
What does God's kind of life exclude?

Unless we believe something is possible, we won't be able to do it. While John, the writer of Revelation lived in exile on a wilderness island, God showed him a vision of life, reunited with itself and with him. God gave John promises of a reunited world. John saw the vision and heard the promises. He believed God. He wrote Revelation to tell other people what he saw, heard and believed. We call this telling others a testimony.

There are two main themes in this part of John's testimony:

Newness of life
God's being at home with the People of God

After Jesus' resurrection and ascension to the Right Hand of God, the Holy Spirit of God filled the world on the day of Pentecost. Because God's Holy Spirit is here with us now, we can make real to each other the kind of world we read about in Revelation.

What does it mean to really fill something?
How does the Holy Spirit help us?
What does God making his home with us mean to you?
For something to become new, what has to happen to the old?
What does "all things new" mean to you?

Encouragement in Christ

2006-05-06T00:12:00.000-07:00

Another old Release Time lesson!

Philippians 2: 1-11

1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

After Jesus' death, resurrection and return to live at the right hand of God, the Holy Spirit of God filled the world on the day called Pentecost. On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit joined together followers of Jesus in a very powerful way, and they became the Church. God filled his particular people, the Church, with the Spirit so they could continue being his presence on earth in the same way as Jesus. As the present-day followers of Jesus, the Church, we also are filled with that same power of God's Holy Spirit.

Almost 2,000 years ago, when the Church of Jesus Christ still was brand new, people needed to learn how to follow Jesus. This meant they needed to learn the history of God's people and the story of Jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection. It also meant they had to learn how to think and act as Christians.

In order to help the new Christians, God chose leaders. Some of these leaders traveled from one local church to another. When they were away from a particular church, the leaders sometimes wrote a letter, or epistle, to that church. Some of these letters are in the Bible. Today we read from the letter Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, or the Letter to the Philippians.

This section of Philippians talks about what our actions and attitudes should be as Christians. Attitude means the way we think of others and ourselves. Whatever our attitude is, it tends to show up in our actions. Here are some ways Paul says we should behave toward each other:

Be kind

Have compassion

Share love

Don't think you're better than others

Look out for each other's interests

Questions:

Is it easy or difficult to act in those ways?

How do you feel when you treat someone else as if they were important?

How do you feel when someone else is kind and considerate to you?

How can all of us improve our attitudes and the way we act?

Paul tells us we can know how we should behave by looking at the way Jesus lived. While Jesus lived here on earth, he was always concerned about other people. He always did what was best for them. He was careful to learn how God would have him act. Jesus did this by knowing God's Word, by praying, by observing the needs in the world around him. Jesus is the example we look to in order to learn how to live.

Being kind, looking out for the other person, often is the last thing we want to do. Sometimes we even wonder how we'll survive that way. However, because in Jesus Christ God became human just like us and lived his life for others, we know loving kindness is God's way. God's promise to each one of us is that he is working in us through the Holy Spirit, making us able to live as Jesus showed and taught.

Questions:

How can we know the way God wants us to live?

Think of a time when you felt like being mean or unkind to someone else. How did you end up treating them? How did you feel afterwards? How do you think they felt?

Fire - Visions - Dreams

2006-05-05T16:59:00.000-07:00

Today I'm continuing the series of lectionary-based Release Time lessons from long ago. As you peruse these, please remember I wrote them for inner-city youngsters who were in 4th and 5th grades.

Acts 2:1-4; 14-21

1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. 16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. 19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. 20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. 21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'

Before Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, he promised the people the Holy Spirit of God would come and stay with them forever. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would come to us so we would be able to remember him and everything he taught us, so we would be able to share this with other people by speaking a word of life, and so we would be able to act in his name.

Why does Jesus want us to remember him?

Why does Jesus want us to tell other people about him?

We just read a Bible passage about the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to the world in the way promised by Jesus. Pentecost means "fiftieth." Pentecost was the name of a Jewish festival day celebrating God giving Moses' the Ten Commandments, sometimes called the Sinai Covenant. That first Pentecost was the 50th day after God raised Jesus from the dead, and the Church stills calendars the Day of Pentecost by counting from Easter onward! Pentecost also is the name for this time we're living in now. On Pentecost God kept an important promise. When the Holy Spirit filled the people and the entire world, God made us his special people, the Church. Having the Holy Spirit in our lives and world helps us remember Jesus' life and words and helps us live together in the way Jesus showed us.

What happened on the Day of Pentecost?

What happened to us when the Holy Spirit of God came to earth?

God is important to us. Did you ever think about how important we are to God? God sent the Holy Spirit into this world and into our lives so God could do a lot of his work through us! God relied on people to write down the words in his book, the Bible, and several hundred years before Jesus was born, God inspired the prophet Joel, who listened, heard and wrote. We just read an account of Peter quoting Joel's words. Peter knew the scriptures so he could recognize when God was acting as he had promised!

Why did God send the Holy Spirit?

What does it mean to rely on someone?

Why is it important for us to learn and know what's in the Bible?

God also relies on us to help him work. Just as Joel heard and understood God's words to him, everyone at the Pentecost event understood everything, too. God speaks to all of us in ways we can understand. In addition, God promises that with his Spirit we will be able to act as Jesus taught us. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Helper.

On Pentecost the Holy Spirit came into the whole world in a unique and visible way. A group of people meeting together heard the wind and saw the fire. This Pentecost event happened after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven. Since that first day the Church still calls "Pentecost," the Holy Spirit of God and of the Christ still lives within and among us. Just like the wind and the fire in the story from Acts 2, the Holy Spirit continues acting today with the same range and reach of both wind and fire!

What does a sign do?

What does it mean to call on the name of the Lord?

Why did Jesus refer to the Holy Spirit as Helper?

What does having the Holy Spirit within us and among us mean to us?

What are some features of wind?

Describe some facets of fire.

Being a Christian always has to do with God, yourself, and other people. Being Christian means being the new and special people God makes us in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection and in God's gift to the world of the Holy Spirit. It means learning to live together without fighting or hurting each other or saying mean things. Being Christians, God's new people, means Jesus is our Lord. Being Christian means becoming part of a church community, reading God's word to us in the Bible and listening to what God is telling us through the Bible and through other people. Living as the people of God means remembering Jesus by living our lives the way he showed us. That's when we're really Pentecost people, claimed by the wind and the fire of the Holy Spirit!

People's Hopes Began to Rise

2006-05-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

Luke 3:15

As the people's hopes began to rise, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."

Luke 12:49

"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!"

When we love someone, we want to be with them. From the beginning, God planned to be with his people and with all creation. In fact, God constantly was with the people, in many ways showing them evidence they could see, touch, hear and taste. But they kept forgetting, so they needed more proof God was with them and more ways to know God. Therefore, long before the birth of Jesus, God began promising he would come to earth in a perfect, unforgettable way. Messiah, meaning "Christ" or "Anointed," is one of the titles for God's Son who was born in Bethlehem and lived as one of us.

Because God had given them clues, the people in John's time knew about God's promise of Messiah. Because of these hints, or prophecies, they began to wonder if John was Messiah. Although God spoke and acted through John, the son of Zechariah, John says he is not the Promised One. John says Messiah is yet to come. When John says "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire," he talks about Jesus and about us.

John the Baptist tells his congregation although he baptizes with water, Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Then, later in Luke's gospel we hear Jesus saying, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" What does Jesus mean by calling himself a bringer of fire? We don't have stories in the Bible about God creating fire, but in the Bible we do find stories of fire that demonstrate God's presence on earth with creation. God appears to Moses in a fiery bush, and then transforms Moses into a leader of the Exodus from Egypt. During the trek from slavery into freedom, the long wanderings through the Exodus desert, God shows the people his presence with them, guiding them at night with a very noticeable column of fire.

Throughout scripture fire visibly and audibly points to the Divine presence with creation. When Jesus declares, "I have come to bring fire to the earth," part of what he means is that he brings the Holy Presence of God into the midst of creation.

In nature, especially in forest and in desert habitats, fire is essential to maintaining the cycle of life. In fact, there are plants that cannot reproduce without fire! In many ways fire gives life, though sometimes out of the ashes of death. The Reign of God Jesus brought to earth and charges us to help bring about is like a fire. We need to respond to this kingdom in the same way we need to learn how to live with fire, and also to trust fire's tremendous power to transform us!

Baptize means to immerse. The Bible says we are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus into a brand new life. When we hear the word "baptism," we usually think about water baptism. Jesus brings to the world fire that transforms, that clears our lives of nonessentials, and makes new, healthy living possible. This is part of what John the Baptist means when he talks about Jesus baptizing with fire. Jesus' baptism invites us into the water of his birth and into the fire of his death, into the life-changing power of the cross. And we also know Pentecost is a story of fiery tongues of flame resting upon the gathered assembly, as that fire formed some of the evidence of the presence of God's Holy Spirit.

While Jesus lived here on earth, he was the kind of proof humans need of God's being with creation. Because Jesus, God's Son, lived as one of us, people could talk with him, see him and touch him. Jesus chose us and chooses us, his followers, to be evidence that God lives among the people, in exactly the same way Jesus lived. We know the Pentecost story is a story of fire. Baptism with the Holy Spirit means that Christians, Jesus' followers, are immersed in God's Holy Spirit. Living in the power of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to follow the kind of life God shows us in Christ Jesus, the Messiah told about by John. God calls us, Pentecostal people baptized in water and immersed in the Holy Spirit's transforming fire, to live among creation as visible, tangible life-generating fire, to be unmistakable and unforgettable evidence of the Reign of God on earth!

QUESTIONS:

What Bible accounts do you remember of God proving his presence with signs of fire?

Why did John the Baptist announce Jesus' forthcoming arrival?

What does it mean to be immersed in something?

What does baptism with the Holy Spirit mean to you?

What does baptism in water mean to you?

What does baptism into Jesus Christ's death and resurrection mean to you?

What are some aspects of fire?

How does fire generate life?

How can people know God?

How is it possible for us to follow Jesus?

How can others recognize us as God's presence in the world?

Land and Our World

2006-05-04T00:12:00.000-07:00

Imagine a picture of the word LAND.
What does it look like? (City, mountains, beach, jungle, prairie, back yard...)
What do you especially notice about your picture of land?

Is there a territory or place that feels as if it belongs to you? (Your room, house, neighborhood, city...?)
How far does your territory extend?
How do you and your territory relate to each other?

From the past few weeks' lessons, what do you especially remember about God, the land, and God's people? To whom does the land belong? What about land as private property?

Throughout history there has been a close and special relationship between God, people, and land. Let's look again at some of what the Bible tells us about the relationship:

GENESIS 1:26-31

GENESIS 17:1-9

LEVITICUS 25:4-5 (1-7)

When we don't take care of the land, then the land is unable to take care of us. Can you think of some examples of this?

The people, the land, and we are interdependent; if we do not cooperate and care for the land together, everyone loses—not only us, but everyone on this entire planet.

But God promises to redeem land that has been abused, misused, or deserted. What's that about? The book of Isaiah mentions it a lot:

ISAIAH 35:1-7

ISAIAH 51:3

ISAIAH 60

How will the land be redeemed? Who will do it? Or has the land already been redeemed?

God has made us to be his helpers, and he does very little without our cooperation. The land is our to use, to care for, to enjoy, and to share with the rest of God's creatures.

Imagine you are a journalist for a national magazine with a lot of readers, or maybe a reporter for a local TV station. Write an article (a few paragraphs) about one or more of the topics we've been discussing. Or, write a full-page ad about caring for the land. Or, make a poster or an illustration about our stewardship of land.

Baptism

2006-05-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

Currently I'm not working on any new blogs, so over the next few days or weeks I'll be posting some (really really!) old lessons I did for the late elementary age youth in our release time Christian Education program. Baptism seems to be the theologically correct way to begin!

B A P T I S M

WHAT IS IT?

A Covenant Event: God, the person entering the waters of baptism, and a local church promise to live together as family, to walk together in faith, and to be responsible for one another. In baptism we also covenant with the whole people of God in every time and place: past, present and future.

A Sacrament or "means of grace": at the direct command of Jesus, people put together the Word of God from the Bible and created matter in order to bring us God's love in a special way.

A liturgical action of the church and our act of worship as a community.

A Sign of the presence of God's Kingdom.

WHO?

Everyone, everywhere: Matthew 28:16-20

Jesus was baptized in oneness, "solidarity" with us. Mark 1:9-11

We are baptized!

WHEN?

Throughout the history of the Church

One time only for each person

Different traditions or branches of the Church baptize people at different ages. Usually, if a church baptizes teenagers or adults, a person becomes a full church member upon baptism. Usually, if a church baptizes babies or children, a person needs to be confirmed in order to become a full member, although whatever the practice, in itself baptism is complete and requires nothing additional.

WHERE?

Where God's people are meeting together for worship in a local Christian community. It can be in a house, an old storefront, a more conventional, traditional worship space, at the beach... Baptism usually happens during a regularly scheduled worship service, most frequently on a Sunday morning.

WHY?

Because Jesus said to: Matthew 28:16-20

Because it is a means of grace

Because an individual and/or their parents desire baptism

Because baptism is the way we formally become part of the Church, the Body of Christ

HOW?

Within a local Christian congregation

With water (what are some of the uses of water?) and a "Trinitarian formula": Matthew 28:19

WHAT HAPPENS?

We partake of Jesus' death and resurrection: Romans 6:3-4

We become part of a local Christian assembly and part of the whole Church of Jesus Christ, worldwide.

Baptism becomes part of our individual story as one of God's people, and makes us part of the history of the entire people of God.

Question: Does baptism "save" us? Mark 16:16; Romans 10:10

AFTER BAPTISM?

Because we belong to God's servant family, we take part in the work of God's people:

Worship

Learning and teaching about God in Jesus Christ

Telling and showing other about Jesus and the Church

Serving others in a variety of ways

Paul notes: Philippians

2006-04-01T21:19:00.000-08:00

Lent 2001

During Lent 2001 I participated in a weekly Friday morning study of Paul's letters; now, during Lent 2006 I've finally typed my notes! Here they are.

Paul notes: Philippians

Circa 52-54? Or written c. 56 from Ephesus or c. 62 from Rome? Probably Rome – see 4:22.
In the Roman province of Macedonia, Philippi was the first church on European soil
Letter of joy!

Philippians 2

"Philippians 2 is the meat of the whole thing!"
Charles Adams – Hartford Memorial Church, Detroit
James Forbes – Riverside

King Lear – Genesis 3

2:5-11 probably a hymn, not by Paul, "down to earth"

The Mad Dancers

"We don't have the inflection; we don't have the face!"

amazingly together

...look also to the interests of others: empathy/ministry
"Say 'sorry'"

2:5-6 downward movement; therefore God
2:5-6 this is universal!!!
2:6 grasped probably is best translation
his prerogative – voluntary nature of kenosis
empty=pouring out (very close)

Jesus is the actor here!, so we can pour ourselves out on others' behalf
Servant=slave; no choice in the matter

Slave: Jesus gave up his rights, ultimately leading to life!
* He could have done other *
~this is the cutting edge of faith!~

2:12 *work this out in your head!
"fear and trembling" or "AWE"

physical workout—you have the gift!!!

2:15 you shine as stars in the world ~ NRSV
2:17 Even if I am being poured out as a libation [different verb from 2:7]

2:19-30 News from Lake Woebegone

Søren Kierkegaard - Fear and Trembling * what is the meaning of things?
Awe and Responsibility (Phillips)

"You don't need me, Paul, you need Christ."

2:25 Epaphroditus sent to Philippi by Paul with a gift or message and he almost died!!!

w. 4; 21 "probably a pretty fair parable"

Philippians 3

3:1 safe=safeguard ~ NEB
Jews were fragmented and fighting among themselves
Pressure from outside, so Rome could take advantage of it!
...if you're Jewish, you must follow the law!

Walter Wangerin, Paul "short man syndrome"!!

Legitimate I: Paul vs. Jesus or Buddha
3:4-6, Paul's CV, but Paul had no control over most things in his CV
3:6 blameless as to the law! (not possible...?)
"external requirements the law" ~Oxford Annotated Bible

3:10 that I may
3:11 that if possible
3:13 section of confession—forgetting what is behind
past in both a person and in a global sense: cultural past; incredible!
3:20 commonwealth is in heaven; citizens of heaven; "we are a colony of heaven" (Moffat)

Paul is absolutely sure he's in Christ! "aha" of grace! And a tiny bit more humble, even.
In Christ or like Christ?

Philippians 4

Chapter 4: Stewardship Letter
Joy: drawn and received in obedience – a decision
Chapter 4: "Chapter for the counted-cross-stitch group!" All of these familiar saying are more connected when we read them in context
BTW: Philippians probably is just one letter

4:2 help these women! These things are not worth fighting over!

4:3 yokefellow

from prison Paul says don't be anxious – don't edit your prayers!
4:8-9 advice for living – go to the symphony; go find something beautiful
Flower! How pretty it is!

4:10 here the stewardship letter begins in earnest; at least you're remembering me.
4:11-12 Paul the Jewish mother; Little Red Hen, story book
4:13 I can... "In the One empowering me!" The dynamite word
4:14 yet this is a land without punctuation; they literally were run-on sentences with culturally understood breaks

us: white – middle-class – educated

Malagasy: worse to assign blame than to have committed the act!
German: our sister language, sister culture

You can't observe your own culture accurately until you're in another culture

4:17 not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit [fruit], which increases to your credit!

4:18 * paid in full *
4:22 Caesar's jail

in Rome or in Ephesus? Probably Rome, because of this reference.

Paul notes: Galatians

2006-03-31T21:19:00.000-08:00

Lent 2001

During Lent 2001 I participated in a weekly Friday morning study of Paul's letters; now, during Lent 2006 I've finally typed my notes! Here they are.

Paul notes: Galatians

Circa 55
Roman province in Asia Minor
Galatia was largely an immigrant community and it hadn't been Jewish
Gaul: Gaelic; Welsh; Celtic
The freedom and bondage of the gospel
Where is this? Galatia had shifting boundaries!
Galatians 1

1:7 a "Travesty" of the gospel!
Judaizers argued you had to be Jewish before Christian, vs., Gnostics and secret knowledge

Christ: But I say to you...!

Law:

Order society
Drive us to grace

1:6 I am astonished
Gospel=Good News

The epistles started happening with missionary activity
Conversion: you get it!
1:15 set me apart and called me...
1:16 when – God's timing

Galatians 2

Jerusalem, Antioch
2:2 "by revelation"
2:4 pseudo-Christians=false brethren
2:4b bondage JBP, "rules and regulations" – dialogue or debate
there's an edge to Paul!

Muhlenberg was a circuit rider in Pennsylvania
What do I make of this circumstance???

Barnabas, a pastor at Antioch, was Jewish, one of the originals
2:10 right hand of fellowship
2:11 Cephas came from Antioch
"= walk together ="

Custom laws that make us right with God!
"Our collective history"
"JUSTIFY???!!!"

reckoned, accounted righteousness=everything works together in harmony, like a righteous engine!

Justified by...made right with God

Clarence Jordan, Cotton Patch Epistles
"Why OR meaning"

Galatians 3

2:19 giving up the law! In order truly to live
Paul's conversion

Last part of Galatians 2 is about the primacy of grace!!!
Trust/Belief
This is more ultimate trust???
We died with Christ

3:7 preached the gospel to Abraham!
Reckoned=considered (accounted, added up)
"nations"=people-groups

Commandments and promises
Law: order civil society
Drives us to grace

Deuteronomy 21:22-23; Galatians 3:13 ...hangs on a tree

3:24 law as tutor, temporary person – not so much teacher as walking alongside the child wherever they go
Put together by God and by Abraham

Cultural: Jew/Greek
Legal: slave/free
Gender: male/female

* the TRUST word *

Don't make belief a work or a law!

Galatians 4

Chapters 3 and 4 are connected? Paul's eyesight?

In chapter 2, Paul makes distinctions here
The age of 13 was adulthood; everyone was a minor until bar mitzvah, bat mitzvah in Christ

4:3, 9 elemental spirits—paganism was nature-oriented
hill-folk, non-city folk=pagan - people named Heather?!
"Those who are of the countryside";
Heathen=of the heather; of the heath; the natives!! Urban vs. country/rural

Galatians mostly had been non-Jewish
4:4 Kairos, fullness of time=when it was meant to be
4:4 "born of woman"
"born under the law=as a minor, in slavery to the world (see note supra on adulthood)

* Colossians 2:20; 1 Corinthians 8:3 *

4:8 beings that by nature are no gods
4:11 you stagger me! Philip's place-gods disappointed father here

4:17 "they" – who are they?
4:24 this is an allegory

Paul doesn't even mention Ishmael! But, still, born under the law: moving from blood relation to faith relation

In 7th century Arabia, Hagar became a wife—a blessed relationship with a child!

Qur'an: Hagar's story is more compelling!
Sarah's sending Hagar away was a sign of her unfaithfulness!

Born in the lap of the 1st wife—literally!

4:24-25 now Paul calls Jews children of Hagar

Mount Sinai, "mother of slavery"
4:26 the Jerusalem above is free—New Jerusalem

4:29 children of the flesh persecuting children of the Spirit

Genesis: Hagar the Egyptian

Listen to the Law! LEGAL argument!
Spirit looks like the law!

Galatians 5

5:4 outside of the range of his grace! (Philippians)
out of the domain
fallen away from grace

* this is current experience of God's presence or not, not our eternal salvation *

sarxos || pneumatos (ruach)

5:1 for freedom Christ has set us free
Spirit is more of who we are
* by the clan and by the tribe * power of the mob, power of culture

Sign of the covenant! Baptism is sign of the new covenant

5:16-25 Greek ethics – good person, bad person. Here, parties, orgies and hypersex
Paul is extremely dualist – compare Mark, Zoroastrianism
Tons of dualism in Paul

"Peace, assurance, gratitude, love" =meta-psychiatry, Thomas Hora

gratitude fuels, drives everything else

Galatians 6

Gentleness—5:22, 6:1 "A stick has 2 ends" knocking the china off the mantle
6:2, 5 bear on another's burden; bear one's own load—not untypical Pauline double-speak!

Without identity, calling, who they are...not just without job—"devastating"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

6:7 peace and mercy
6:11 Large Letters – emphasis or eyes? *geese fly south in winter!*
6:17 being whipped and beaten="marks of Jesus"

World=Flesh, for Paul
6:15 only a new creation counts: this sums it up!!!

"but the power of new birth" (Philippians)

until the Christ Event, and then there's a new creation
Paul believes we can live this life!

Paul notes: Thessalonians

2006-03-30T21:19:00.000-08:00

Lent 2001

During Lent 2001 I participated in a weekly Friday morning study of Paul's letters; now, during Lent 2006 I've finally typed my notes! Here they are.

Paul notes: Thessalonians

Circa 51 from Athens or Corinth
Thessalonica is in Macedonia
1 Thessalonians is the earliest extant NT writing and the earliest undisputed Paul
1 Thessalonians was written in response to Timothy.
This is the young, zealous Paul.
Thessalonica was a trading center in Macedonia, in Roman Greece.
Although Thessalonica was the Roman capitol of Macedonia, it was a free Greek city, with its own coinage and council.
In Clarence Jordan's Cotton Patch version of Paul's epistles, Macedonia=Mississippi
Vehicle: to transmit information, or ideas, or diseases
As usual, Paul traveled on trade routes and checked in at commercial points (points of commerce).
Gentile converts were a matter of urgency for Paul.

1 Thessalonians 1

1 Thess 2:7, 3:2 are variants
1 Thess 2:13-16 later interpolation into the letter? Maybe 20 or so years later...

Reading a Pauline letter is like listening to ½ of a conversation. No house churches yet? Well, probably the Christians first went to synagogue and then met in house churches, and after all, the temple system still was in place.

1:6-8 inspired by Holy Spirit—word sounded forth from you!
Thankful response compels us!
All ethics derive from love, grace, gift, and not from law; heart change from baptism
Another day is coming!

1 Thessalonians 2

2:7 nurse, not "mother" as in (NIV)
"philosophic preacher" – like a revivalist used images of nurse and father

2:10 holy and righteous and blameless—more of Paul's sometimes arrogance, "be imitators of me..."
Codes of conduct for church leaders, but don't get overzealous about it

2:13-16 later addition? Or Paul interrupts his own writing after destruction of temple? Possibly
2:16 reference to destruction of Temple

Romans 11:3 (compare 1 Kings)
Luther: visible and invisible church
Philippians 3:18-19

Paul thought all illnesses and imprisonments were from Satan to prevent him from preaching

2:17 "classic Pauline sentence"
2:20 "For you are our glory and joy." WOW!

Volatile times: huge decisions about life-orientation
"theological correctness" outreach

1 Thessalonians 3

compare Acts 18:5

"Therefore..." ask why

For Paul, everything was a spiritual battle
3:1, 5 "we could bear it no longer!" What's clear is that Paul is being persecuted; not so clear about Thessalonians
Most of Paul's persecution came from Jews
Aligned with promised people by believing in Jesus
House churches followed synagogue worship and communion
Human blood is the worst possible thing for a Jewish person!

Atheneum, Athenian church, to unknown god!
Was there a Pauline church established in Athens?

Lordship of Caesar, who also was "son of god"

3:6, "But"
3:8 for now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord
"we" = Paul and gang, inner circle
for Paul the gospel is death and resurrection: hang on to this! And only this!

[Jerusalem has been sacked 37 times]

we read in Daniel, recorded in 200 BCE, Antiochus Epiphanes put up a statue of himself in the temple

Here, Paul just found out from Timothy that the Thessalonican church is doing great!
3:19 ...hope or joy or crown...
Paul does have an idea of the law!

1 Thessalonians 4

in 3 sections:

1-8 sexual purity and holiness
Fornication usually implies a prostitute, sometimes incest.
Adultery has to do with a married woman; if a married man has sex outside of marriage with an unmarried woman, that's fornication.
Woman was property.
FIDELITY is a key word here!

Luther considered sex a need, not a gift: it just was! Address the need in a proper way.

9-12 mutual love

4:13-5:11 rapture!
Hope for the dead
Jews: resurrection at the end of time
Paul: resurrection at the return of Jesus; here, "falling asleep"= dead

Aquinas: linear and eternal time
Eternity=all times as now! Tillich, The Eternal Now

--> original disciples were starting to die at this time. In another 100 years, another mindset about Jesus' return would develop.

The "push point" in Thessalonica is that people are dying

"Christ comes for you when you die, and for you, that's the end of history!"???
But there will be an end of human history.

1849 Darby and company, "Rapture Theology" came up!

This chapter is comfort for those who still are alive
Luther: Happy Exchange=my sins for God's goodness

1 Thessalonians 5

1849, Darby and Rapture
thief in the night—be ready
--> labor pangs—you don't know when, but it definitely will happen!
One "Us" and lots of "thems" here
5:8 helmet takes the impact of accidents
5:8 Gnostics misinterpreted it as children of the day know the secret, hidden truth
Fall asleep=die. A special kind of sleep in which night is the metaphor—a state of mind

Isaiah 59:17 faith, hope, love—philosophic virtues
5:10 awake or asleep—same verb in metaphor for dead as for asleep

apocalyptic utopia

Zoroastrian Fire Ceremony—fervor, fanaticism have cultic markers
5:16, 17, 18 one single idea – consider the power of God and the nature of God and then give thanks!

evil: a call for the shedding of innocent blood
the enemy is me! not the sinful world

2 Thessalonians

circa 51
Not by Paul but somewhat Pauline in affect and style
Worthy of the kingdom, though!
Suffering: not exclusively Christian!

2 Thessalonians 2

2:7-9 secular law; this definitely is not Paul!
2:11 God sending a powerful delusion; 2:13 chosen for salvation—tribalism

What is genuinely evil?? It's sometimes a hard call.

2 Thessalonians 3

Waiting for Jesus' return

3:11 undisciplined life, doing no work whatsoever
3:17 this is the way I write.

Matthew Class notes

2006-03-25T09:59:00.000-08:00

These notes are from a weekly class I participated in during winter-spring 2001. We used the series The Present Word, which I believe was (is?) a Disciples of Christ/United Church of Christ publication.

IMMANUEL: GOD WITH US

Unit I. Beginnings: Birth and Ministry

January 22 – Time of Preparing
Introduction: Mark's Gospel, 70 C.E. – the only gospel the author actually calls "gospel!"
Mark's really into upholding Peter's ministry.
Matthew, circa 80 C.E.: tension between Paul and the early church fathers" Matthew also affirms Peter. "Jewish gospel" – back to Abraham. Matthew includes women in genealogy. Except for Ruth, these woman are "sordid sinners" – Matthew and Jesus' ministry of forgiveness and grace
Gospel versus Law
Matthew is the only gospel that uses ekklesia – 16:18; 18:17
Apocalyptic writing in Matthew – you'd be punished by God for what you're doing
Matthew's symbol: the Lion (of the Tribe of Judah)
Lots of historicism in Matthew, especially back to Isaiah
Both race and religion" genealogy is critical for Jews; no women's names in OT genealogies
In Matthew's families all are equal, no one's a possession

January 29 – Time of Testing
Matthew 3: John baptizing – but John later questions if Jesus really is the Messiah: "God and tell John…"
*Faith brings healing*
Elijah would return before the Messiah Matthew 3:1; Malachi 4:5
Pride is one of the greatest sins
Jesus' baptism is part of his later choosing the cross; he modeled humanity for us.
"Superior submitted to interior"
Messiah himself enters into community
Dove becomes an important Christian symbol
Breath, wind in Hebrew & Greek can be perceived as fire: "breath of life"
What text was used to translate the Bible I'm using into English?
Paul – as a Roman citizen could demand to be tried in Rome
They thought Jesus would literally throw out Rome!
Jesus didn't come to start the Christian Church!
Matthew 4:1-17
"testing" rather than temptation; God does test us. Genesis 22:1 – God tested Abraham. We test God?
Spirit walks Jesus to time of testing – then 35 x 15 miles = area of devastation
John's baptism was not cleansing, but repenting
Jesus speaks out of OT, really important for Matthew
Jesus knew what we go through
Spectacular? Show everyone what we can do. Jesus has to come to terms with being part of the world, but remembers his citizenship – WOW!!!!!
Later Jesus says to Peter, "Get away from me, Satan." Keep your integrity when someone suggests what we don't believe God wants us to do. NO COMPROMISE in following God.
Satan's tests are relevant to our gifts and abilities! God's will our comfort…
Nicaea, 325 C.E.; Apostles Creed about 100 years later
Testing answered both Greeks and Hebrews.
Satan needs God's permission to tempt us and he never could do anything unless God allowed it.
Constant vigilance
Kazantzakis, The Last Temptation of Christ – temptation to have a 'normal' human life

February 5 – Time of Rejoicing
Jesus is connected to his history – important to Matthew
Women usually aren't part of a genealogy. But these took the future in their hands and acted upon it!
Tamar - – "Levirate" = right of a woman to bear a child in the husband's line! (In this case, in Judah's line…)
Joshua 2 – Rahab protected her family's lineage
Ruth – an outsider (Written in opposition to Nehemiah!)
Israel's history: opening itself up and closing itself off
Matthew's genealogy? Some class ideas
Tamar, Rahab, Ruth: all gentiles (only on woman's side)
Men in genealogy all are Israelites or was Matthew saying Jesus was for all?
Ministry for the whole world
Jesus for sinners – Jesus saves all sinners
Luke's genealogy includes Adam!
Matthew = take away female / male barrier: church was open
Matthew says "Jesus Christ" – "the" has disappeared
Esau isn't listed!
Historically, the woman often was the big influence behind her husband
God's intervention in these stories!!!
God uses anybody!!! Throughout the Bible!
Holy Spirit at Jesus' conception and baptism – Jesus sends the Spirit to us!
Engagement --> Betrothal (a writ you could get out of) --> Wedding
Woman had to be accused, or a man could simply walk away to get out of the wedding
No stable or anything in Matthew, but we know Joseph's "home" was Bethlehem.

February 12 – Time of Worshiping
Matthew 2 – in this chapter he lights Bethlehem. 70 C.E., the Jerusalem's destruction, and here, Bethlehem becomes important.
Jacob buried Rachel
Ruth lived with Boaz
David lived there
Magi never were called "Kings" until medieval times. Soothsayers, magicians, bearers of gifts. They want to see the real King! The 8th Century gave the Magi names!
Matthew lets us know people were ready for a king. To become unshackled from Rome. No Temple = "Where is God?"
2:4 – Chief Priests and Scribes predict where the baby will be born: Micah 5 – bureaucracy of the Church gives Jesus' birth location legitimacy!
2:11b gold – King
frankincense – Priest
myrrh – for burial
*Jesus comes to give us both life and death!*
[Snyder Act gave the vote to American Indians]
2:12 – Magi; 2:13 – Joseph; 2:19 – Joseph; 2:22 – Joseph: dreams. God communicates to people through dreams
2:11 – Magi worshiped Jesus – Magi – gentiles! Worshiped Jesus first! Journey of faith.
2:15b …"Out of Egypt did I call my Son."
2:16 – they might have been in Bethlehem as long as 2 years…???
2:18 –Vox in Ramah – Jeremiah relevant? OT, sounds good. "Only" about 20 kids were killed in this purge since Bethlehem is small.
Legends about Dismas, about a spider's web
Herod's Kingdom went to his 3 sons [Luke 3:1]
Homage, worship – same meaning
Wilderness, star experiences can be just a few hours or a few days, sometimes longer
Don't carry the anger! Offer it to God!
To tell the Christmas story we intermingle Matthew, Mark, Luke
God works through the obstacles of the world in giving us Jesus (and in our lives, too).
Whatever it takes!!!!!
Handout, page 18 – turning point when God claims control and then God works through her.
Initiative --> --> --> -->
..."God's love extends to those whom society condemns."
*Matthew is more interested in Jesus' name than in the story of Jesus' birth.*
D – 4; V – 6; D – 4: Hebrew numerical "14" emphasizes Davidic sonship
7, and multiply... 3, 7 are important in the Bible

Unit II. Jesus' Teachings and Ministry

February 26 – Thinking about Commitment
Matthew 4:18-22; 9:9-13; 10:1-4
There's no timeline from the desert to the disciples – but we are called to discipleship!
Only Matthew and Mark say "fishers of people" – intent to make missionaries, witnesses
Jesus' testing in Mark is only 2 verses! 13 verses in Luke
Peter is called first and listed first
Matthew includes "dumb" stuff about Peter!
Peter, Andrew, James, John – immediate response, with no decision, no option of delaying
Chapter 9 – Matthew's call 9:13 – mercy, not sacrifice [cf. Amos]
Rome gave a bill to tax collector, about how much to bring in. Tax collector added his salary.
Matthew points out Jesus called sinners: where the need was greatest.
The people don't ask Jesus "why," they ask the disciples, but Jesus answers.
Pharisees wanted to preserve their own holiness, so they criticized Jesus.
Chapter 10 – Matthew's community definitely was egalitarian, practiced equality.
Disciples sent first to Israel – "12"
10:13 – greeting of peace was Asian – this was near East – "ANE." Dust from anywhere other than Israel is unclean. Time is short, move one!

March 5 – Thinking about Prayer
Matthew 6:1-15 prayer is greater than all good works!
Righteousness / religious acts in these verses.
Hypocrite = actor, not being honest about what you're doing
Prayer was a high priority in being Jesus.
We prioritize things in our lives with prayer
Lord's prayer as a model! "Address" for scripture. Confidence in prayer: God will act!
Matthew – 7 petitions in Lord's Prayer
Jesus was 1st with "Our Father"
Table in the Kingdom, daily bread
Forgiveness for what one owes, not for what is done to us.
*You won't always forgive everybody…*
Evil one:
Devil – slanderer – tears you down
Satan – adversary
1 Chronicles 29:11-12, end of Lord's Prayer

March 12 – Thinking about Wholeness
I missed class!

March 19 – Thinking about Jesus' Power
Matthew 12:22-32, 38-40 [12:22-45]
The idea that Jesus must be a devil is interesting. We sometimes try tearing things down that we don't understand!
And, "another sign." But they never refuted the healings…
12:24 – Beelzebub was a Canaanite god, worshiped as the prince of the devils.
Jews did exorcisms.
If the Pharisees have to renounce Jesus, then they renounce themselves.
12:29 – sin is against something strong, against the HS.
HS convicts us of sin.
12:27 – Heart-in-Mouth!
*Only remaining sign is death and resurrection! "I AM GOD'S SIGN!"
12:42 – "Queen of the South" – unknown
our words tell people who we are. Christianity is the only cure for evil.
12:32 – tie up strong man – put him in bondage

March 26 – Thinking about Rewards
Matthew 19:16-20:16
Getting close to Jerusalem, "Last-minute teachings"
17b-18a "...keep the commandments." "But which ones?"...
there's only being a Christian, not better or worse. Heart life!
The you have, the harder it is
The less you have, the easier it is
It's all relative. It didn't take a lot to be rich in those days.
Matthew 19:28-30 – Share in campaign, share in victory.
You always get back more than you give.
¡Surprises! In God's Kingdom
day laborers – don't just see this as an allegory (20:1-16)
San Ysidro day laborers
20:8 – bailiff = man in charge
The last group still had faith that there was time! J
19:30 – first / last
20:20 – last / first
righteousness is pride?
--> just worry about yourself, not about others ﬂ
*All God gives is grace!!!*
Workday was from 6 – 6
Nobody wants to feel like they're on the outside (Pharisees, etc., us ).
"Not Fair" doesn't' fit into God's Kingdom
Marginal income: last workers produce most income for the owner
No partial salvation, but endless grace!!!
[Photo Caravan at Wild Animal Park]

Unit III. Fulfillment of Jesus' Mission

April 23 – The Guidance of the Word
"Last drama of Jesus' Life"
Going to Jerusalem was like an Islamic Hajj
No palm leaves! 21:8 – branches...cut from trees
v.7 – "and he took his seat on them" JB
Matthew 21:5 <-- --> ZCH 9:9 <-- --> IS 62:11
Matthew wanted to fulfill the prophecy
*crowd is jubilant only in Matthew!!!*
Christianity later looked at this as a week of humiliation
Semitic = Arab or Israeli
King of Peace rode a donkey
Jesus was greeted as a pilgrim (like the others)
Jesus wanted to cleanse God's house (Temple)
Court of Women --> Court of Israelites --> Court of Priests --> Temple itself
Silver coins of Tyre – Temple coinage – well-minted and dependable
Shekel – no graven image
Best and also the hardest to obtain; it was like getting foreign $$$
Hong Kong $$ or U.S. $$
Different provinces have their own $$
Doing business wasn't the problem, greed was!
[Richard Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land]
--> Jesus never was comfortable in Jerusalem <--
Jesus healed in the Temple – no greater blasphemy: Psalm 8:2
"If a child is afraid to play in a person's home, that person is no good."
Jesus is #6 in Islam
[Mona Lisa is small!]

April 30 – The Joy of Being Prepared

May 7 – The Death in Our Behalf

May 14 – The Basis of Our Authority

Remarks for the Organ Committee 2

2006-03-23T20:53:00.000-08:00

NPC, San Diego

Leah Chang, March 2006

At this juncture I'd like to offer a few more arguments in favor of NPC's acquiring a new organ--specifically the Allen Protégé we auditioned and discussed with George Butterfield from Organ Stop. This time I'll start with the current organ's poor condition and musical inadequacy: it is physically worn out; repair parts cannot be obtained anywhere at any price; whatever reservations one might have about a smaller instrument's adequacy for performing standard organ repertoire, there is no doubt whatsoever the organ at hand is not satisfactory for hymn singing, liturgical accompaniments, service music such as preludes and postludes, for accompanying soloists and choirs or for solo concert performances. Additionally, I do not believe I'm speaking solely for myself when I say I cannot imagine any accomplished organist giving the existing instrument the least consideration.

And now a few notes about organ building, organ literature and performance! Just as there are a multitude of styles and genres of organ literature, there are many traditions of organ building, some designed primarily for recital performance, some for enhancing corporate worship, with most intended for both uses. Historically, instruments built in any particular time and geographic location have had specific specifications and pipe voicings, because of locally available building materials and already established conventions in registration--the combinations and groups of organ stops used in playing. Outside musical (would calling them "non-organic" be too extreme?!) and cultural influences then led to new registration practices, in turn leading to new forms and styles of organ literature. Unlike the piano and other percussion instruments, winds or strings, all of which have tremendous ranges in purchase price and in quality, yet always recognizably sound like a violin or trumpet or whatever their namesake, not a single organ and the room with its accoutrements that together form an organ's acoustic housing ever can be exactly duplicated. Even an instrument built to the same exact specs of stoplist, voicing, case design and approximate physical placement will sound very different because of invariably different architecture, acoustics and seating arrangements.

In addition, especially when playing an organ, the performer is playing the instrument, the music and the room, leading to another unique configuration that cannot be replicated anywhere else. During the last few decades, the trend in pipe organs built in this country and in Europe has moved from attempting to match the voicing, ensemble and overall sound of the North German Baroque (typified by familiar composers such as J.S. Bach and Dietrich Buxtehude), to dalliance with the different kind of brilliance of the French Baroque (Couperin and Rameau come to mind as examples) through attempts at organs tuned and voiced in very non-standard ways, thus limiting repertoire to a scant handful of keys. In the midst of all this, mid-20th Century builders such as the American Aeolian Skinner and Casavant Fréres in Montréal aimed at instruments with more varied yet better integrated stop lists that adequately could express most of the standard literature, whether in a worship or concert setting.

Especially during the past twenty or thirty years, the trend has been away from more esoteric specs and toward better integrated, often the "American Classic" sound that works well for music of any period and any style, and also is an outstanding choice for supporting congregational singing. To insert an impassioned aside, in my experience, listening to and playing a finely voiced organ in a resonant stone room is an unparalleled sensory experience that (speaking for myself) leaves anything less lacking. However, as with everything, necessary compromise isn't necessarily negative.

In the last analysis, music written with one instrument in mind inevitably and invariably gets played on very different ones, which is the primary reason it is difficult to argue convincingly that a particular organ with almost any standard array of foundation stops and strings, probably a solo reed, a chorus reed as well as a 2- or 3-rank mixture and/or mutations would not be an all around versatile instrument. Would I prefer playing Bach or Buxtehude on an organ built to North German Baroque specs? Yes, absolutely, without a doubt! Is 19th-Century Romantic repertoire by Widor, Franck and Mendelssohn best played on an instrument designed like those of their era? Most authentically played on a similar instrument, but not always better played. If you have any questions, or if you'd be interested in discussing this further, please let me know. This is one of my favorite subjects!

Remarks for the Organ Committee

2006-02-17T23:23:00.000-08:00

NPC, San Diego
Leah Chang, February 2006

Any decision to change or expand the scope and potential outreach of the church's ministry is exciting! The Organ Committee's chairperson, Loretta Vogel, and other committee members have been researching potential new instruments for NPC and now are well qualified to convey particulars of Allen Organ's current series—in the case of our church, specifically one of the Protégé models, ideally configured for a congregation with an average size worship space and a non-extravagant budget! Because Loretta (especially) can spell out broad specifications, finances and delivery, I will mention some musical and artistic advantages of the Protégé organs.

To begin with my qualifications and experience: I have a Bachelor of Music in organ and piano performance from Boston University's School for the Arts; I spent a summer studying piano as a Tanglewood Fellow; and I hold a Diploma from the International Summeracademy for Organists in Haarlem, The Netherlands. In the course of my studies and experience as a sometime church musician, as a recitalist and as a choral accompanist, I've had the privilege of hearing, playing and performing on a number of the premiere organs in this country and in Northern Europe—centuries-old instruments as well as those built during the past half-century or so. In other words, I recognize responsive key action, superior instrumental voicing and appropriate tonal ensemble. I also can tell you that until approximately two decades ago, no organist with professional skills would have considered accepting a position in a church with an electronic organ, because earlier technologies – including Allen Organ's – were not developed to sufficient sophistication for an accomplished musician to consider any of them except in an actual emergency! In fact, a number of musicians typically would refer to earlier electric and the later electronic products as appliances rather than instruments.

However, the times have changed indeed! A tremendous benefit for any local church – but above all for one with limited resources – is that Allen's Protégé (and, of course, the larger instruments in their Quantum series) organs ship with digital enhancements that not only make it possible for an unskilled keyboard player proficiently to lead the music for worship; the church also can purchase pre-recorded hymns and service music from Allen Organs (all with adjustable volume and tempo), an organist can prerecord suitable music in advance of a scheduled worship event, and there are downloadable options on the internet.

However, beyond those immediate advantages, today's Allen Organs are phenomenal musical instruments in every possible meaning of the word musical! Having even a relatively small and compact organ such as the 2-manual Protégé means NPC will be able to attract worshipers who value and appreciate what might be called serious, formal or traditional church music—though over the past few decades a lot of music that's been written for traditional worship is harmonically discordant, rhythmically asymmetrical and sounds very unlike many people's idea of conventional church music. Finally, a musical instrument of the caliber NPC is considering will attract exceptional performers to serve as the church's resident musician, expand its musical offerings, and draw other vocalists and instrumentalists into the church's liturgical life and related ministries.

Advent 1, Year B: new blog!

2005-11-27T15:41:00.000-08:00

Here's another blog mainly for online storage, this time for the many assorted Bible study notes and outlines I've prepared for classes I've facilitated, and (in a few cases) notes from classes I've participated in.