The Lord Came Down in a Cloud

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.

1. Before Jesus was born, what was the name of God's people?
2. What was the name of the foreign country they lived in?
3. Who led God's people through the wilderness? (2 answers)
4. 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.

1. When God became angry, what did Moses ask God to do?
2. Do we get angry at God? If so, if that okay? Explain.
3. 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.

1. How did God come to this earth to be with us in a very real way?
2. Why did God come to earth in that way?
3. Is God still here on earth with us and in our lives?
4. 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.

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

God Chose Jeremiah; God Chooses Us

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:

1. 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,
   
2. 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

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 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. How 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 inter-responsibility; 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

Clearly for older students than Ezekiel 37 blog the first!

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

1. How had these people died? How long had their bones been in this valley? Why hadn't they been buried?
2. 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?
3. Ezekiel, the prophet and God have a conversation. How about us?
4. 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?
5. What is a prophet's job or work? Jesus as our Prophet, King and Priest? What is our prophetic, royal priesthood as individual Christians?
6. 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?
7. Verses 5, 6, 14: "Breathe life [Spirit] into you," is covenantal language! God of the covenants? What other biblical covenants can we remember?
8. 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?
9. 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?
10. 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?
11. 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?
12. Other thoughts or ideas about this text?

Ezekiel 37 blog the first

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

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 th 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

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

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"

We sometimes refer to the sacraments – Baptism and Holy Communion – as "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 accompanied by the "means" or the manner of physical, earthly stuff.

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

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 seventh 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

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 trust 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

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

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

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 non-essentials, 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

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.