Epiphany 3 B bible study

Thursday Night Bible Study • 22 January • Epiphany 3 • 25 January 2015

Introduction to this study

So far in Mark:

1:1-3 we’ve heard Mark’s announcement of the beginning of the Good News;
1:4-8 met John the Baptist; [Advent 2]
1:9 witnessed Jesus’ baptism by John;
1:10-11 experienced a trinitarian theophany; [Baptism of Jesus]

We know about and again will hear about

1:12-13 the Holy Spirit driving Jesus into the wilderness for the biblical number of forty days. [Lent 1]

Mark 1:14-20

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” 16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Backtracking: John 20:1-18

Last week in John’s gospel, we found Jesus in Galilee, where he found and called Philip, who then fetched Nathanael and told Nathanael “come and see!” We discussed our own experiences of being invited to church, to “come and see.”

The time is fulfilled; the kingdom of God has come near.

Closely paraphrasing Paul Nuechterlein, senior pastor at Prince of Peace ELCA, Portage, MI:

In a democratic world, we do not talk about reigns any more than we talk about kingdoms. But we do talk a whole lot about “culture”! So I suggest: “The time is fulfilled, and the culture of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” What does it mean to distinguish God’s culture from human cultures? What does it mean to be “called out” of conventional human culture and the structures of this world to begin to be disciples of Jesus, the one who brings God’s culture near to us? Why is this such good news?

Thinking about Gospel / Good News

1. What do you think Mark means by “the beginning of the good news?”
2. What do you think Jesus means by “Good News”?
3. What information or announcement anywhere would you consider good news?
4. Rephrase Mark 1:15 in your own words.
5. As a student or in the workplace, how were you/are you at following directions?
6. As a parent, boss (manager, supervisor, group leader) how are you at giving instructions?
7. Is it easier to follow someone or to ask someone to follow?

Repent – Believe – Follow

Just like last week’s passage from John’s gospel, this one from the gospel according to Mark is about evangelism (being a messenger of the good news / inviting) and discipleship (following the good news of Jesus).

8. What criteria do you use for obeying an order or following a leader?
9. What does it mean to leave what you are doing and follow Jesus?
10. How easy is it for you to follow Jesus?
11. How are we similar to the Galilee fishermen?
12. How is our situation different from the Galilee fishermen’s?

Where we live: according to scripture

Jesus adds another level: not only are we to follow Jesus, but we are to invite others to follow him. Sometimes we subtly invite by allowing people to see how we live, observe our choices, and note our values. Hopefully, our lives become a witness to the incredible love of Christ. Other times, we directly ask people to learn about Christ and to follow him. Jesus contextualized his invitation using the vocabulary and tools of the trade of the people he was speaking to.

13. How can we translate our information about Jesus and our invitation to follow him into the spoken vocabulary and other languages of the people we meet?
14. What do you imagine a friend, neighbor, co-worker, acquaintance, that stranger you haven’t yet talked with might consider good news?

Where we live: God acts! Still.

Barbara Brown Taylor:

“What we may have lost along the way is a full sense of the power of God—to recruit people who have made terrible choices; to invade the most hapless lives and fill them with light; to sneak up on people who are thinking about lunch, not God, and smack them upside the head with glory.” Home by Another Way

Plainly and simply, God acts, whether or not we think we’re ready.

Final thoughts: What insights have you gained in this study?

Prayer

Easter 6A bible study

Thursday Night Bible Study • 22 May • Sixth Sunday of Easter • 25 May 2014

Introduction to this study

For the sixth Sunday of the 50-day long Easter season, Jesus continues his farewell discourses by instructing his followers to be obedient and keep the commandments, and by assuring them of his constant, forever presence in their lives. We experienced Jesus’ bestowal of the Holy Spirit on Easter Sunday evening; again in this passage, Jesus promises the gift of the Spirit.

John 14:15-21

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

Backward and Forward

Earlier in John 14, Jesus tells his followers he is the way, the truth, and the life; he says they
will accomplish even greater works than he has done. Sunday after next, on the Seventh and last Sunday of Easter, from John 17 we’ll hear Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer with his plea for unity among his followers. The following Sunday, the 50th day of Easter, will be the Day of Pentecost, and then the lectionary begins the long green season of Ordinary Time.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

1. “Keep the commandments.” What commandments is Jesus referring to?
2. “If you love me...” What is the connection between love and obedience?
3. Read Matthew 22:36-40

But isn’t Jesus all about grace, about the free, unmerited, unearned (can’t be bought or worked for) gift? Hebrew bible scholar Walter Brueggemann calls the Ten Commandments the working documents for covenantal community. He says obeying the commandments helps us keep our freedom.

4. What is the connection between obedience and freedom?
5. What is the connection between commitment and freedom—in marriage, in employment (for example)?

Martin Luther begins his Small Catechism, traditional preparation for First Communion, with the Ten Commandments.

6. But aren’t the sacraments all about grace, about gift?
7. What does it mean to obey Jesus?

An Advocate

“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate.” Advocate as in counselor, defender, defense lawyer, helper, attorney—someone who reliably has your back.

8. What does is mean for you to have the Holy Spirit as advocate, defense attorney, by your side at all times?


Worlds and Orphans

In the New Testament, two different words typically get translated as “world.” Here in John 14, “world” means this created planet, a physical space and dwelling place; it also connotes people, institutions, and structures that possibly do not know, follow, or obey God. In the second paragraph, when Jesus promises not to leave us orphans, the Greek word is the same as our word for orphan.

9. Jesus will not leave us orphans? What does that promise feel like to you?
10. How do we experience the Spirit of Truth?


Where we live: according to scripture

This passage from John’s Gospel begins and ends with love, commandments, and obedience. The fulfillment of God’s promises to us depends upon the free, unearned gifts of grace, but they also depend upon our obedience.

John 14:21 They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.

11. What does Jesus mean when he tells us he and the Father will love and reveal themselves to those who love him?
12. Does God not love everyone?

The Fifty Days of Easter are almost over—Easter is a week of weeks (7 x 7). The Day of Pentecost is the fiftieth day of Easter!

13. How do we live in the Holy Spirit as Easter people every single day?

Final thoughts: What insights have you gained during this Easter season that will help you live Pentecost more fully?

Prayer

Easter 2A bible study

Thursday Bible Study • 24 April • Second Sunday of Easter • 27 April 2014

Introduction to this study

For the second Sunday of the 50-day long Easter season, we encounter the risen Jesus and his disciples two more times. We also hear about peace and about the Holy Spirit.

John 20:19-31

19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were 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 his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” 30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Backtracking: John 20:1-18

In John’s gospel, Mary Magdalene discovers Jesus’ empty grave “while it was still dark.” She runs and tells Peter and John Jesus no longer is in the grave! The tomb is empty, and the linen cloths/shroud are empty. Depending on the translation or version, the gospel reading for Easter Sunday, the day of resurrection, uses the word tomb eight or nine times! Mary Magdalene recognizes the risen Jesus only after he addresses her by name.

“Peace be with you: so I send you!”

Both times, on Easter evening and the following week, the doors were locked, but even locked doors cannot prevent the Risen Christ from entering a space and being with us. After speaking peace on the gathered assembly (twice!), Jesus breathed on them. The only other occurrence of this Greek word for breathe in the Bible is in a translation of Genesis 2:7 “And God formed the man (a-dam) of dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the human became a living being.” Humans then carried the breath of the divine within themselves.

1. How would you react or respond if someone entered a room despite closed or locked doors and windows? (The Greek uses the exact same word translated here as both locked and shut—you can’t get in easily.)
2. What is this about closed, locked doors? Here in the city? In rural areas? Metaphorically in our own lives and hearts?
3. What does “peace be with you” mean to you?
4. Passing of the peace on Sunday morning?
5. Does “so I send you” remind you of any other scripture passages? Where does God send us?

Doubting Thomas

In the second paragraph, one week later, Jesus’ disciples again gathered together at the same place, and this time Thomas was with them.

6. What do you think of Thomas’ not quite believing it truly was the risen Christ? Of his needing or demanding physical evidence?
7. Do you think there are differing levels or trust and belief? Or does a person believe or not?
8. What spiritual, physical, or natural expressions of God’s presence do we find in our lives?
9. The presence and gift of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ in the sacraments?

Where we live: according to scripture

Jesus came to his disciples to guide them through that first week after his crucifixion. He blessed them with his presence, his peace and his Holy Spirit. Here in the gospel of John, Jesus bestows the Holy Spirit on the evening of the Day of Resurrection.

10. What does having the Holy Spirit in your life mean for you every day?
11. What does your having the Holy Spirit in your life mean for others around you?
12. When has God given you the gift of peace?
13. How is the Holy Spirit at work in your life?

Where we live: Easter is Fifty Days

Easter is not a single Sunday; Easter is not even two or three Sunday. Easter is a week of weeks (7 x 7). The Day of Pentecost is the fiftieth day of Easter! We also know every Sunday is a “little Easter,” one reason many people do not observe their Lenten fasts and disciplines on the Sundays in Lent.

14. How do we live in the Holy Spirit of God and of the Christ as Easter people every single day?

Final thoughts: What insights have you gained in this study?

Prayer

Lent 4C: Joshua

According to the Revised Common Lectionary, here's the First Reading for Sunday, Lent 4.

Joshua 5

⁹ The Lord said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace [NIV: reproach] of Egypt." And so that place is called Gilgal to this day.
¹⁰ While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. ¹¹ On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. ¹² The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year. NRSV

A few comments:

Along with Shechem, Shiloh and Bethel, Gilgal was one of the shrines of the tribal confederacy. This text hauntingly recounts the first Passover in the promised land of Canaan! Like our New Covenant sacraments, baptism and Holy Communion, Passover was sacramental remembrance, real-time re-enactment and anticipation of God's faithfulness in liberating, providing for and shaping the people into a community that reflects and enables God's own faithfulness and liberation.

It's another reminder of God's very physical and earthbound provision! Any times our lives lose the sense of uncertainty we've experienced in the desert's wildness and precariousness and we begin feeling comfortable and assured of life necessities beyond our very "daily bread," we almost inevitably begin trusting ourselves and our own power rather than God and God's power. Despite that fact,

"Today!" in this text is so present...rolled away the disgrace, the reproach of Egypt, rolled away the shabbiness and dis-grace of bondage and slavery, rolled in a life of freedom: resurrected life, Eastered life! "Today" is extremely close at hand, emphasizing we need to live "as if" we were still in the wilderness, as if we still were trusting God every moment for every bite and every breath, because in real life, we are in that liminal position we assumed when God acted in our baptism: being immersed in a situation of real bodily vulnerability and dependence, on the boundary between life on our own and life in community.

So you've (we've, I've) been to Gilgal, the place of rolling away doubts, pasts, fears, transgressions, regrets and anything else that's been getting in the way.

"Abandonment to God!" Out of my own control, into God's control and in a very real sense abandoned into the often not all that predictable embrace and support of the community!

From the Green Season of Pentecost 2010, here's some of what I need to consider right now: [Gilgal] Bethel [Jericho, Jordan].

Gilgal is a kind of onomatopoeia for the Hebrew word meaning "roll," as in roll away.

Transfiguration C

Thursday Bible Study • 7 February • Transfiguration • Sunday • 10 February 2013

Introduction to this study

For this last Sunday of the Epiphany season, we receive a spectacular mountaintop vision, Jesus’ inclusion with Moses and Elijah – the law and the prophets – and affirmation of Jesus’ divine Sonship before we begin another 40-day journey through Lent toward Easter.

Luke 9:28-36

28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.

33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" —not knowing what he said. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" 36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

Matthew 17:9

Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead." Tell no one until Easter!

• Transfigure – "to change shape" • Transfiguration – "change of shape" •

Up to this point in Luke 9

Jesus called the twelve (together), and gave them power and authority over demons and to cure diseases. Jesus sent them out to proclaim the reign of God and to heal.... told them to receive the hospitality of strangers and to shake the dust off their feet if they weren’t welcomed. Jesus charged the twelve to feed the crowd – to "give them something to eat." Five loaves, two fish, taken, blessed, broken and given: "All ate and were filled." Who do those crowds say Jesus is, but who do you say I am? Peter’s confession of Jesus’ Messiahship; Jesus' prediction of his own passion, death, and resurrection, Jesus' charge and call to every one of us to take up a cross, lose our lives, save our lives. And now, Jesus transfigured on the mountain top!

Backtracking: read Exodus 34:29-35

The change in the appearance of Jesus' face is reminiscent of Moses' radiant face as he experienced the presence of God in Exodus 34:29-35. But Luke tells us Jesus' clothes become glowing, starry white, using similar words to his description of angelic figures in Luke 24:4 and Acts 1:10. Jesus' appearance becomes transformed not merely because he experiences God's glory like Moses did, but because he is the very source of divine glory.

1. What do you make of physical changes in Jesus' appearance?
2. Can you think of other similarities between Jesus and Moses?

Moses [revelation on Mount Sinai in Exodus 20:1-17] and Elijah [revelation on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 19:12] – the Law and the Prophets – in verse 30 adds to affirm Jesus' identity. In Luke 24:25-27, 44-46, the risen Jesus himself will assert that Moses, the prophets, and the psalms point toward him; here in Luke 9:31 we hear how Moses and Elijah "were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem," anticipating Jesus' own teaching that he himself is the ultimate fulfillment of scripture.

3. During this Epiphany season we've talked a lot about prophets. In what sense did Jesus live a prophetic life?
4. How does God call us as prophets? In what sense can our lives be prophetic?

With Jesus on the mountain of the event called Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah, Peter, James, and John eye-witnessed a meeting of earth and heaven, the holiness of everything created. Within Judaism, clouds, mountains and other expressions of nature were traditional signs of God's presence. Heaven and earth also meet countless times in this world in which we live.

5. What physical or natural expressions of God's presence do we find in our lives?
6. God's presence in the sacraments?

Where We Live: according to scripture

In Philippians 3:20, the apostle Paul says we are citizens of heavens! That means the reign of God, the kingdom of heaven already is here, we're already there, we're already it.

7. How can we not continue living as light to the world, through Lent and beyond?

In Luke 17:21 Jesus says the kingdom of God, the reign of heaven already is among us, in the midst of us, within us! Just as to his earlier followers in Luke 9, Jesus gives us power and authority over demons and to cure diseases. Jesus sends us proclaim the reign of God and to heal. Jesus tells us to "give them something to eat." Who do we say Jesus is?

8. Power over demons, ability to cure diseases? How?
9. How do we in the Spirit live as the presence of God here on earth?
10. Why does Luke make table fellowship an important focus of his gospel?
11. How are aspects of our lives and the lives of others we touch transfigured by following Jesus?

Where We Live: Nelson Mandela on letting our light shine

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Final thoughts: What insights have you gained in this study?

Prayer

Epiphany 4C

Thursday Bible Study • 31 January 2013 • Epiphany 4C • Sunday • 3 February 2013

Introduction to this study

After announcing the words of Isaiah fulfilled in himself, Jesus reflects on the historical rejection of many who prophetically speak the truth of God’s mercy, judgment, justice, freedom and love—and human response in the Spirit. Jesus clearly recognizes himself in their tradition.

Luke 4:21-30

21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’”

24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Luke 4:21-30 completes the story from Luke 4:14-21 we heard on Epiphany 3. Jesus has returned to Nazareth and is at the synagogue, participating on the Sabbath day; he reads from the prophet Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19) The key verse in understanding this entire passage comes next, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:21)

Jesus is not speaking to strangers but in his own hometown, surrounded by those who had watched him grow up in the synagogue. They know Joseph. They know Jesus’ family.

1. How could Jesus make such a claim?
2. What is at the heart of the reaction of the crowd?

Jesus does not seem to be surprised or dismayed by their reaction. He almost expects it. As we know from the Old Testament, for centuries God sent prophets to speak God’s word to the people of Israel, only to have the prophets rejected. Sometimes that word of God comforted and consoled, but at other times it was a hard word to hear as the prophet called people to repentance and obedience, to return to God.

3. Why might a prophet be rejected in his or her hometown?
4. Why might a prophet be rejected in other places?
5. If the prophet brings good news and a restored relationship with God, why not listen?

Jesus reminds those in the synagogue of familiar Old Testament prophets who extended God’s goodness to non-Jews. For example, God sent Elijah to assist a poor widow in Sidon during a time of famine (1 Kings 17:8-16) and Elisha to heal Naaman, a Syrian (2 Kings 5:1-17). This does not seem to reassure anyone, but instead the people become enraged!

6. Why do the people in the synagogue react so strongly?
7. What is at the heart of their rage?

The people drive Jesus out of town and attempt to hurl him over the cliff, but Jesus is able to pass through the enraged crowd and continue on with his mission.

8. How might Jesus have felt to be rejected by his hometown synagogue?
9. What would you say to Jesus at this point (the very beginning) of his public ministry?

Jesus’ references to the widow at Zarephath and the leper Naaman the Syrian, reveals Jesus has come especially to the widows, the lepers, the outsiders. Luke tends to focus on Jesus’ ministry to the “least of these.” But we know Jesus is for everyone, and for all creation! In the stories of both Elijah and Elisha, God goes into places where most people believed God was not and in God’s holiness and otherness, God did not belong. Jesus’ words of inclusion, Jesus’ own interpretation of his ministry, evoke an almost instantaneous transition from awe to rage for the hearers of Jesus’ words. Why?

The evangelist Luke frequently presents Jesus as prophet. Later on in the gospel, Jesus as a righteous and innocent prophet will be made clear by Luke’s account of the centurion’s words at the death of Jesus—“surely, this man was innocent” (Luke 23:47). Remembering the role of the Old Testament prophets is important for this passage.

Prophets and Prophecy

In this passage, Luke uses the Greek word that’s the same as “prophet” in English. It essentially means delivering the word of God, though prophet and prophecy carry a strong connotation of “speaking truth to power” of all kinds: ecclesiastical, governmental, institutional... The Hebrew Bible brings us a trio of prophet-type words: the most frequently used nabi means to pour down – think of flowing water!

– and

describes someone pouring out the words of God. Roeh or “seer,” denotes envisioning; Hozeh also means “to see,” “to perceive.”

Where We Live

read Jeremiah 1:4-10

Baptized into Christ, we all participate in his royal, prophetic priesthood. God’s word is a word of life, of hope—of resurrection!

10. How does God call us to be prophets?
11. How do we speak God’s word of life?
12. How can we be God’s life-giving word?
13. How can we live as God’s word of life?
14. Are we open to God’s life- and world-transforming actions in our own lives?

Sunday after next we’ll conclude this season of Epiphany with the Feast of the Transfiguration, and then it’s time to settle into Lent, the 40-day long season that prepares us for Easter, as it brings its own gifts and perspectives into our lives and community. We always are in the midst of and participating in helping the blind see again, setting the oppressed and captive free, of proclaiming the “today” of the Lord’s favor in word, in action, and in just plain “being.” As we conclude this liturgical season, we carry the illuminating light of Epiphany into the sometimes dark months of Lent that yet signal Easter on the way. We think we know the rest of the story...

15. Do we trust the rest of the story?

Final thoughts: What insights have you gained in this study? Concluding remarks?

Prayer

Lent 5 B

The Vision of Faith

This class handout is from Lent 2006, 2 lectionary year B rounds ago.

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," 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 of Nazareth? To the people with whom God already had covenanted several times? Implication of "heart" in the Ancient Near East?

Contrast the law written on human hearts with the law written on stone tablets? In both cases, what is the law's content? 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. In a reference back to the healing snake lifted up in the Exodus wilderness in Numbers 21:8-9, this gospel of John pericope is about Jesus lifted up on the cross, lifted up from the empty tomb, lifted up in the Ascension.

• And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:14-15

• So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he…" John 8:28a

"I Am the snake" could be Jesus' eighth "I Am" statement!

We see the Glory of God as we "see Jesus," the Human One, lifted up on the cross. We see the fulness of the glory of the Presence of God in the weakness, vulnerability and defenselessness of Jesus dying on the cross.

Paul determined to preach only Christ crucified, to preach only the crucified Human One lifted up in glory on the cross: 1 Corinthians 2:2 Why?


"...now the prince of this world will be driven out," marking the end of the control, the literal worship, and the tyrannical supremacy of the cosmic Powers and Principalities we read about in Colossians and Ephesians.

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

Paul of Tarsus notes 2

As I recently sorted through some random papers (again!), I discovered yet another handout from a bible study I facilitated a while back that I hadn't blogged and posted.

For Christians, Paul 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. His theology influenced 3 more: 2 Thessalonians; Ephesians; and Colossians (around 90 or 100 CE). In addition, the chronologically later epistle to the Hebrews (ca. 90 CE) bears unmistakable marks of Pauline theology and Christology. However, today most scholars do not consider the "pastoral" epistles genuine Paul. Written possibly as late as 125 CE, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus are socially very conservative; the language and content sometimes directly contradict what is found in the authentic letters. Particularly since the Reformation of the 16^th century, most Christians are "Pauline Christians" at least to as great an extent as they are Jesus Christians!

In their work on multicultural evangelism, Latino theologians Justo González 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" 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 that is human foolishness and divine wisdom. Paul was more theologian rather than biblical scholar 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.

Today's texts all are from Acts: 4:32-37; 9:26-27; 11:19-30; 15:36-40

Acts 4:32-37

Acts 9:26-27

The following passage comes right after Peter's vision of unclean creatures telling him he's not to call anything – or anyone! – unclean: even the gentiles belong!

Acts 11:19-30

Acts 15:36-41

Season of Creation 3C Storm Sunday

19 September 2010

• Job 28:20-27
• Psalm 29
• 1 Corinthians 1:21-31
• Luke 8:22-25

Today is Storm Sunday, the third for this year's Season of Creation liturgical emphasis. With Ocean Sunday, we pondered and celebrated the earth's circulatory system. Fauna Sunday was a time to consider critters of all kinds that depend on humans for their sustenance and health, just as trees, rivers, forests and prairies do—animals are a major aspect of our interdependent world! Next Sunday, the twelfth and last will be Cosmos Sunday. Paralleling the Revised Common Lectionary, the Season of Creation includes a year for Matthew, one for Mark, and then Luke.

It feels as if especially during the five years since Katrina turned the world's eyes and hearts to the city of New Orleans and to the ineptitude of the federal government's response, every time there's a natural disaster media outlets overwhelm us with constant updates about the most recent hurricane, earthquake, oil spill, tornado or assorted "other" weather phenomena that disrupt the sometimes routine days of our lives.

In the reading from the Hebrew Bible, Job [28:21-22] inquires about wisdom, responding with words about some not readily apparent ways of being wise: “Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the birds of the air."

Paul's first letter to the Corinthian Church forms the second pericope or scripture selection for Storm Sunday. At first glance its relevance may seem a stretch, since Paul again is all about the cross of Calvary and again Paul recognizes the paradoxical power of weakness, vulnerability and death, along with servant wisdom found in the cross. Paul trusts the invincibility of life in the overwhelming power of resurrection. In fact, you could say that for Paul the Gospel is death and resurrection!

²³we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Major seismic and atmospheric events can cause widespread destruction of all kinds, more often than not disproportionately impacting lives and surroundings of folks with fewer financial and other resources. It's well-known that people living in neighborhoods with more up-to-date infrastructure have better schools and get better coverage from police, fire and politicians. At 7.2 the Easter Day Sierra El Mayor geological event that shook, rattled and rolled Northern Mexico and Southern California was higher on the Richter scale than the 7.0 Haiti quake on 12 January. Alta and Baja California regions still are getting substantial aftershocks, but they warrant no more than a "did you feel that one?" while Haiti remains in chaotic disrepair and there probably never will be an accurate death count or reckoning of total costs. According to today's famous passage from Luke, the disciples "...were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?'

"Who is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him." Hebrew and Christian worldviews emerged from God's self-revelation within religious contexts in which people believed that far away, distant, unapproachable gods caused natural disasters and disturbances out of their anger and displeasure with humans, along with more-or-less predictably cycles and recycles of the same events. The experience of God's nascent people Israel and later those of the early Church – I'd hope our experience as 21^st century Christians, too – with the God who is Creator and Lord of the waves and the winds (the desert, the savanna and the outback, and Lord of history, too...) was distinctly different! This was not a remote deity requiring sacrifice and placation, but a God so in love with creation that in Jesus of Nazareth God chose to live as a human creature. Not only has the endless recurrence of the very same thing stopped in its tracks, this God promises and provides a hope, a future and the reality of resurrection from the dead.

Job asks about wisdom; the apostle Paul tells us about God's wisdom. When the very young John Calvin pondered compiling a systematic theology, he wondered whether to begin with Divinity or with Humanity but finally decided it made no difference, since the outcome of either would be identical. Back in the days of Jesus the Nazarene it was not unusual to be talking with someone who was half mortal, half divine—the offspring of a human and a god. In Jesus Christ we find something more: a Savior, a Lord both completely mortal and completely divine; in Christ Jesus we discover that the fullness of humanity and the fullness of divinity are one and the same! Baptized into his death and resurrection and walking with Jesus in trust, we participate in his humanity and claim his divinity. Martin Franzmann's poetry sings, "Thy strong Word bespeaks us righteous, bright with Thine Own Holiness."

A blizzard or flood, tsunami or environmental accident originating oceans and continents away from where we live or a block away from home will affect all of us wherever we are. Because of our intertwined lives, last January's earthquake in Haiti wounded and broke all of us. Each of us can be counted among Deepwater Horizon's victims and survivors.

Will major meteorological events keep on happening? Without a doubt they will. "Who is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him."

Who are we, the people of God? We live baptized into Jesus Christ, so do the oceans and the breakers obey us? God calls us to be co-creators and faithful stewards of all creation, to live as agents of justice, renewal, restoration and mercy for all, in those ways and probably many others, also, to be the presence of Jesus Christ...

summer conversation 4

4. A Eucharistic community: the Welcome Table

John 1:1, 3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.

John 12:24 ...unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

1 Corinthians 11:23-24 ...our Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
And what about "this is my body"?
And "this cup is the new covenant in my blood"?
The bread points to nourishment in that same self-giving of God
At work in my body, that is in me.
And the cup points to the new community drawn together and nourished
In my blood, that is in God's total self-giving in my death.
–Paul G. Hammer–

You choose to be made at one with the earth;
the dark of the grave prepares for your birth.
Your death is your rising, creative your word;
the tree springs to life and our hope is restored...
–Fred Kaan–
In Saxon English, the Lord provided the loaf, the bread, the essentials for sustaining life. We are baptized into the biography of the baby born in Bethlehem, House of Bread. In the Eucharist, we celebrate the ultimate earth day, a feast of justice and reconciliation for all creation, that brings together the ground's fruitful yield along with the labor of farmers, vintners, truckers, grocers, bakers, sellers, weavers and potters, carpenters and contractors.

Revelation 21:1-2a Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…and I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem.

Who is this Lord of the Church, this Jesus?

Consider Jesus' lifestyle of justice and inclusion along with Jesus' command "do this!"

backtracking:

1. A baptized community: Water and the Word

Galatians 3:28 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?

Consider Jesus' relationship to creation, Jesus' stewardship of all life.

2. Spaces, places, locations...

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

Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything else except to love one another...

Who is this Lord of the Church, this Jesus?

Consider Jesus' sense of home and geography.

3. Jesus, us, culture, counter culture

Colossians 2:15 Having made hash of the rulers, the powers and the principalities and having been victorious over them, Christ then made a public spectacle of them!

Who is this Lord of the Church, this Jesus?

Consider Jesus' awareness of his own culture and the customs of others.

© leahchang

summer conversation 3

3. Jesus, us, culture, counterculture

Continuing awareness of the interdependence of all creation…

In Jesus of Nazareth God became incarnate within a particular culture, geography and historical time. And Jesus accepted death! How much more countercultural does it get?

Contexts, worldviews: natural, economic, ethnic, symbolic, class, linguistic, religious around us and within us shape us and limit where we go, what we think about, the options open to us. An individual becomes a person by becoming embedded in a textured, interwoven history of experiences shared with others. Insiders, outsiders, strangers and friends…

Contextualizing ministry, evangelism and worship. For Martin Luther, worship and hymn-singing in the vernacular was one of the marks of the true church; there are many vernaculars besides the linguistic.

1 Corinthians 12:4-7 There are diversities of gifts but the same spirit, and different kinds of ministries and ways to serve, yet the same Lord. Although there are many various types of activities and enterprises, the same God is active and works in all of them, and each person receives gifts of the Spirit for the good of the entire community.

Christus Victor: an atonement model moving away from a focus on guilt and condemnation under the law to emphasizing freedom and victory of Christ, in Christ.

Colossians 2:15 Having made hash of the rulers, the powers and the principalities and having been victorious over them, Christ then made a public spectacle of them!

Also consider 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 and…

Hebrews 2:14-15 Therefore, since the children shared in the blood and the flesh and Christ shared in the same things, that through death he might destroy the one having power over death - that is, the devil - and he might free all those who by their fear of death were bound to slavery throughout their lives.

Let the river run, let all the dreamers wake the nation. Come, the New Jerusalem. Carly Simon, "Let the River Run"

Who is this Lord of the Church, this Jesus? Consider Jesus' awareness of his own culture and the customs of others.

Next week: 4. A Eucharistic community: the Welcome Table

An inclusive meal and 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…

© leahchang

summer conversation 2

2. Spaces, places, locations…

Continuing to focus on our interdependence with all creation.

1^st spaces: family, neighbors, local schools, face-to-face relationships;

2^nd spaces: workplace, university, more distant and structured settings with more choices about self-revelation;

3^rd spaces: traveling, affinity, trade and professional groups, social, cultural and other diversities, at times geographically further afield with potential for greater anonymity...regarding possible

4^th spaces, consider cyberspace, where you can choose to reveal who and where you are, try on new ideas and even new identities.

The liminal, the marginal and the central; thresholds, edges and centers

John 1:14a And the word became flesh and tabernacled [pitched a tent, a portable shelter] among us.

Where is home for you? Geographical origins, a more recent city or town, an emotional place, treasured people and activities? How do your experiences in various locations contribute to your understanding of yourselves, of others, of the world? Our histories and stories: insiders, outsiders, strangers and friends. …in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!

Romans 13:8,10 Owe no one anything else except to love one another, for anyone who loves another has fulfilled the law. Love does no evil to a neighbor; therefore love fulfills the law.

Paul insists we owe, we "ought" the love of Christ to every one another and compares love for others to a debt, an ought that we owe them.

Revelation 21:1-3 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…and I heard a tremendous voice from the throne saying, "Now God pitches a tent and lives among all humanity, and God will travel alongside all the people wherever they may go. They will be God's people, and God himself will dwell with them and be their God."

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

Who is this Lord of the Church, this Jesus? Consider Jesus' sense of home and geography.

Next week: 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. And Jesus accepted death! How much more countercultural does it get?

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.

© leahchang

summer conversation 1

1. A baptized community: Water and the Word

Consciously connecting ourselves with all creation, recognizing and celebrating our interdependence. Recognizing the countless ways in which time and space are essential conditions in which all creation lives.

Genesis 1:1-2 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

Water is the primordial substance of being, the womb of all creation, the fundamental stuff of our rebirth and continued aliveness. Water is the physical substance of our baptism.

Baptized into the Christ Event of God's supreme self-revelation in measurable, definable space and time, we become prophet, priests and sovereigns, in stewardship of creation and of all life. Baptism engulfs us in God's creative power of death and resurrection, identifying us with this planet's history and with Jesus Christ.

Consider our relationship to the elements of air, earth and fire…

Galatians 3:28 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…

The waters of baptism form a 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.

We are the body, the corpus, of Christ! Corporate Identity [package]: our logo, our résumé, our curriculum vitae, where we've been, what we've learned, what we live for and die for…who are we? Baptism transforms us from lone, solitary individuals into a position of particularity within the gathered body of Christ. Each of us brings a special history along with unique gifts and perspectives for contribution and service within church and world.

Who is this Lord of the Church, this Jesus? Consider Jesus' relationship to creation, Jesus' stewardship of all life.

Next week:

2. Spaces, places, locations…

Where is home for you? Geographical origins, a more recent physical place or town, an emotional place, treasured people and activities of belonging? How do your experiences in various locations contribute to your understanding of yourselves, of others, of the world? 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd spaces, (4^th?) places in cyberspace; the liminal, the marginal and the central; thresholds, edges and centers. Insiders, outsiders, strangers and friends. …in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!

© leahchang

summer conversations 2009

description:

Four casual events bringing together the countless faith life connections! Participate in one, all four, in two or in three. As we explore and consider aspects of living together as a pentecostal community in the power of the Holy Spirit, discussions will particularly focus on the identity of Jesus Christ as Lord of the Church and our identity in Christ as the Church.

Topics may include: baptism as a countercultural event; boundaries and borders; centers, thresholds and edges of spaces and places around us and beyond us; Holy Communion as a welcome table of justice and reconciliation for all creation.

Location: Church Library

Days and dates: Thursdays August 6, 13, 20, 27

Time: 4-5 PM

Facilitator: Leah Chang

Teachers and learners: everyone

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