Words Twice final

 Ok - Words Twice a Week has run it's course.  I am continuing on with "Words Once A Week" - on Thursday or Friday, looking at the lessons for the next Sunday.  It here, if you are interested -

Words 8.4.22

 Words Twice a Week       8.4.22

Well, here we are back, at least making a stab at it.  WE did miss a few of my favorite passages – the whole story of Hosea and Gomer.  Frederick Buechner has a wonder piece about them in one of his books.  And last week with the whole Build (Back) Bigger Barns – that was fun to ponder.  But – here we are with some thoughts about some of the lectionary passages for this Sunday – proper fourteen.  (And I’m at camp, so no links.  Sorry.)

Isaiah 1.1, 10-20

+ “During the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah” – Isaiah, or some of his disciples, were around for four different administrations!

+ “you people of Gomorrah” in vs 10 seems a little abrupt; but note vs 9 “we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah”.  I don’t know how those names were used symbolically in Israel.

+ note also that vs2-9 pretty much call the heavens and earth to witness as God confronts God’s people.

+ so then we need to be a little careful – vs10-20 kind of sounds like “what’s the use in worship, at least in formal worship?”  Sacrifices? - nope.  Incense? - nope.  Special days and times? - nope.

+ vs15-17 gives us a clue – Israel has not extended the essence of worship into ordinary life. Their worship has not led them to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, care for the needy.

+ “Worship is idle exercise unless it brings about change of heart.”  - Texts for Preaching. Then once a heart is changed, does worship continue to shape and mold it.  Does worship turn our thoughts and cares towards a life of faith (ie, justice, compassion) or can it even sometimes get in the way of our doing that?

+ Could a strong focus on “no abortions” cause people to not be compassionate?

+ the text calls us to find authentic worship which does indeed point us to a life of faith.  What in our contemporary worship does that for you?  What hinders?

+ vs18-20 seems to suggest God is looking for conversation, communion, but also willingness to accept God’s vision, dream, understanding, and be obedient to it, in harmony with it.

Psalm 50.1-8, 22-23

+ God comes to us in impressive ways, not the “still, small voice” of Jeremiah!

+ Again God calls heaven and earth to witness.  We could pause a bit and ponder – with the way earth’s climate is changing due to human interference, could that be seen as earth’s witness?

+ “I will accept no bull from your house”; “Every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.”

+ So a similar word to Isaiah – does it respond to Isaiah, the way the lectionary orders the lessons, or does it introduce the themes of Isaiah?  Just my preference that psalms deserve to be read for their own sense, not just as a response to the Old Testament lesson!

Luke 12.32-40

+ vs32-34 might just as well go with 22-31, about not being anxious about possessions. (Ending up with Seek ye first…”  Vs 35-40 have to do with preparedness.  You can combine them by saying the right attitude towards possessions has much to do with being prepared.  The first section is fairly straightforward, (although see below!); the second is a little more complex – how do you be prepared when you can not be continually “on watch”?

+ on vs 32-34, “any talk about what to do with wealth/possessions presupposes the reality of God’s kingdom/reign/time of peace.  If God is not shaping reality as a loving, caring parent, does this word still make sense?  Well, maybe it does, just as a human community building and shaping process.

+ Jesus says “Sell what you have and give to the poor.”  And then we usually say “What Jesus really meant was….”  But what if what Jesus really meant was “Sell what you have and give to the poor”?  My favorite thought on this comes from Richard Swanson -

This envisions a radical sort of interdependence rooted in exchanged poverty. [I love that, not exchanged “prosperity”, but exchanged “poverty”.  We sing Let the gifts go round the circle, but that also includes Sometimes in need we stand!]  It reminds me of the Lakota practice of giveaway.  After a death the bereaved family gives it possessions to their neighbors and family.  Stated in more revealing terms, the family gives itself to its neighbors.  If the family is to go on, the neighbors will have to carry it.  Which, of course, is exactly what is required at such a moment.  The giveaway reveals a basic truth of human life: no one can go on unless carried by neighbors.  This is not a truth unique to a tie of bereavement.  Death just reveals what is always true: human life is a team sport.

+ back to “seek ye first…” vs32 says this is not a futile or frustrating looking for something withheld, but a confident searching out of what God is giving.

+ where are our treasures?  First off, maybe what are our treasures?  Remember the line about how the best things in life are not things!  Then where are they and how are we keeping them?  Does this have anything to do with investment accounts, IRA’s, etc?

+ Is this a time to reflect on the wealth inequality in our country and what it is doing to our culture, community, civilization?

+ “vs 32-34 warns against the idea that wealth, material possessions can secure the future.”  How are we with that?  (Not sure!)

+ 1) giving eases the anxiety of the barn-builder.  (I was talking with a woman years ago who was really torn up about maybe losing a house to taxes or something like that.  I think maybe she had another one, too, don’t really remember.  I do remember after going round and round, I said, “Well, you could just give it away.”  She didn’t!  I probably wouldn’t have, either.)

+ 2) earthly possessions are not as dependable, permanent, as heavenly ones.  Can you think of examples of both?

+ 3) giving created a different community than saving/hoarding.

+ vs35-40  “loins being girded” has to do with service.  Note vs37, the happy master “will gird himself” – will serve the servants!  How does that play out in our vision?

+ “Keep your lamps, trimmed and burning….”

+ Like a thief in the night – I think of those times when I passed by someone briefly, then later thought of what I should have said.

+ Coming at an unknown time – kind of like musical chairs, kind of like the police car checking speeds just around the curve.  If you are always doing the speed limit, you don’t have to worry.

+ as above, actions re money, possessions are part of the disciple’s readiness.  How is that playing out in your life?  (I’m not completely sure about mine!)

That’s what I got for now…..(Nice to be back.  Hopefully it lasts!)

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Words Twice a Week 6.6.22

(Nice date!!)

I’m taking a couple weeks off – I’ll see you in July!

That’s what I got for now…..

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Words 6.2

 Words Twice a Week       6.2

Here’s a really nice prayer for these days from the Church of the Heavenly Rest -

(we’ll see how this inserts in Blogger!)   This prayer comes from Yiddish poet Bertha Kling. She was born in Poland and made her life in the Bronx. She wrote this prayer in 1935, on the eve of World War II.

A few thoughts on some of the lessons for this Sunday - Pentecost

Acts 2:1-21 or Genesis 11:1-9  

 (we’ll start with Acts -)

+ Pentecost – or Festival of Weeks – the end of the spring harvest, the beginning of the growing season.  The disciples go from eyewitnesses to participants.

+ structure

  -vs 1-13 identify the time and place, tell of the coming of the Spirit, and describe the crowd – devout Jews.

  -vs14-16 the miracle (of understanding) and the misunderstanding!  Nice bit of irony.

  -vs 17-21 Peter correlates the events with Old Testament prophecy.

+ Peter’s speech: 1) only those who know Jesus understand.  But knowledge is not priviledge, but a call to proclaim.  2) Christians have a unique perspective on time – this is the beginning of “the last days”.  Marty Reinhardt has a poem about how “we” (Native Americans) live in a circle and spiral through time”  How are these two perspectives different?

+ “moving forward into new dimensions of being whose basic forms are clear, but whose fulfillment has yet to be realized” - ?

+ “each one” participated or witnessed, but not all believed.

+ in Joel the signs point to “end/disaster”; Peter says signs point to new beginning.

+ significance of being in Jerusalem – like Zechariah and John the Baptist

+ “All” who call upon…  prefigures the mission to the Gentiles?

 (and then Genesis -) 

+ just because I like the word “bitumen”! - not sure exactly what it is, but I like the sound of it.

+ tension between urban and nomad way of life.  Interesting that the Bible starts with a garden and ends with a city.  What thought does that call up in your mind?

+ here God separates and confuses, in Acts God unites and clarifies.

+ how is one common language good, how is it dangerous?

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b  

+ looking at the whole psalm, 1-4 God and heavens, 5-13 God and earth, 14-23 God and humans, 24-30 “all”, 31-35 joy – divine and human.

+ all comes from God, is sustained by God, finds it’s fulfillment in God

+ note 35a is invective against evil – it brings the psalm into the realm of morality

+ “last days” linked to God’s power in creation

+ the present reality and the ideal future come together in vs 30a and 30b

+ “nature does not exist to serve people, but to praise, and be a way to praise, God.  Ecology, economy, and theology are inseparable

Romans 8:14-17 

+ “joint heirs with Jesus we travel this sod, we’re part of the family, the family of God.”

+ that’s all I got in this one.

John 14:8-17, (25-27)

+ more farewell discourse, this time about the Spirit

+ the Spirit comes on Easter evening in John

+ the Spirit 1) is an advocate/counselor; 2) is Truth; 3) is sent by the Father; and 4) sets the disciples/church apart from the world, culture.  Church cannot take it’s cues from the culture.

+ how is Jesus’ Easter leave-taking the same/different from his Pentecost (or Ascension) leave-taking

+ “If you ask in my name….”

+ “If you love me, keep my commands…”

+ “My peace I leave with you…”  What does “my peace” mean to you?

That’s what I got for now…..

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Words 5.26

 Words Twice a Week       5.26

Ok – a few things to note before we get started.

1) I need to get back to doing both segments of Words Twice a Week – I am missing too many days!  Just a few days ago, May 24, was both Bob Dylan’s birthday and Aldersgate Day, which is a big deal for Methodists, United Methodists, “Global Methodists”, and more.  On that day, John Wesley “went most unwillingly to a meeting in Aldersgate Street, where while one was reading from Luther’s Preface to the Letter to the Romans, I felt my heart strangely warmed.”  Really, Luther, and Romans, sounds like a yawn fest to me, but it did it (and the Holy Spirit) did it for Wesley.  His brother Charles had had a similar experience a few days earlier, and out of that came “O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing”.  So – big event.

Then way back in the Email a Day time, we wrote “poems with Emily (Dickinson)”.  Here’s Emily’s, and the fill in the blank form, and one that came in with the initials “BD”?

It's all I have to bring today—

This, and my heart beside—

This, and my heart, and all the fields—

And all the meadows wide—

Be sure you count—should I forget

Some one the sum could tell—

This, and my heart, and all the Bees

Which in the Clover dwell.

   It's all I have to bring today 

   This, and _____________ beside 

   This, and ________________________

   And all _______________ wide

   Be sure you count___________________ -

   Some one ____________ could tell,

   This, and _______________, and all the _________

   Which ________________ dwell.

It’s all I have to bring today,

This, and my brand new leopard-skin pill-box hat beside

this and what’s blowin’ in the wind

and all ‘white dove seas’ wide

be sure you count the times that change

some one, where are you tonight Sweet Marie, could tell

this and a trip upon your magic swirling ship and all the songs

which young forever dwell

2) Frederick Buechner had this piece on “threadbare language” – about how the words Christians use – grace, love, forgiveness, etc., have just been bandied about for so many years that they have become worn-out and loose their meaning.  He goes on to say that he keeps using them because they point to something so important.  Anyway, I had two thoughts from that – first, here we are with another week from the Farewell Discourse, Jesus says “love one another”, Jesus says “I go to prepare a place for you”, Jesus says “Whatever you ask”,…...and I’m afraid it almost starts to get to “blah, blah, blah” for me, and I drift over to the Revelations or Acts.  Just that we have heard them so often.  We know what Jesus said.  Well, secondly, I’m just getting so tired of all the “thoughts and prayers and hearts” that surface every time one of these mass shootings happens.  Somehow the acid test would be if we all got up each morning and prayed “Dear God, keep us from shooting up another elementary school today” instead of waiting until it happens again.  Well -

3) One more item – our son Christopher is in Cincinnati starting a 10 month stretch with Habitat for Humanity through Americorps, and I would have to say I am more proud of what he is doing than I am of anything I’ve done in my 75 years!  I don’t mind praying “Dear God, bless him and the work he is doing.”

Ok – a few thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday, Seventh (and last!) of Easter, although that’s not quite right – Easter goes on forever!  Alleluia!

Acts 16:16-34  

+ the second (the girl) and third (the jailer) stories of Paul in Philippi, after Lydia.

+ note Luke (the “we” of 16.11) has apparently bailed out.  Or is this story out of place?  Note the RSV says “As we were going…”  NRSV says “One day, as we were going...”

+ the slave girl who was a soothsayer.  Well, who or what have we “made use of” for profit, in our rise to power and well-being?  If Paul took that away, how would we respond?  If Paul said we had a systematic privilege and should pay reparations, how would we respond?

+ why is Paul annoyed?  Is the girl just a nuisance, even if she is accurate and it would seem useful in drawing a crowd?  Or it is a question of the girl being enslaved by demon/spirit?  Demon possession was serious, even if it didn’t seem immediately harmful.  Does the gospel confront demon/spirit, or does the gospel confront capitalism?  Hmmm….

+ note this is not a conversion story – we hear nothing about the girl.

+ but her “owners” are upset.

+ “unlawful customs”?  More likely just a trumped up charge.

+ the magistrates beat them and throw them in jail and Paul doesn’t say – “Hey, wait a minute, we’re Romans”?”

+ and the earthquake.  And then “My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed thee!”  (And Can It Be)

+ So how did Paul know the jailer was going to kill himself, how did he know the other prisoners were all there still, how did the jailer hear Paul?  All beside the point!  Which is – an ironic twist where those who are imprisoned are really free, and those who are free are really imprisoned.  Where are you in this story?  Where/when do you fell free?  Where/when do you feel imprisoned?

+ and the lesson ends with v34, but the story goes on to vs40.  The magistrates tell them to move along.  Now Paul points out that they are in fact Romans, and so the magistrates apologize and ask them politely to leave!  “One way or another, we want you gone!”  Do we sometimes want the bearers of good news out of our lives?

Psalm 97  

+ starts off with a “theophany” – God’s power shown in battering the earth. (vs1-5).

+ then the heavens and all the peoples respond (vs6)

+ then the gods (?) respond  (vs7)

+ then God’s people respond  (vs8-9)

+ finally, readers/hearers of every generation are called to respond.

+ God guards the lives of the faithful, rescues them from the hand of the wicked.  Really?  I understand that there are things to consider – who is innocent, faithful, wicked?  And how does God guard and rescue?  But even so, after the events of the past few weeks – really?

+ righteousness and justice are woven into the very fabric of Creation (vs2).  When they are not heeded, Creation itself starts to unravel.  Note Ps 82.5!  Is that what is going on today?

+ the importance of being in the room when God sits on the throne (seems like that is what is going on here) – righteousness as sacrament, not as action?

+ how are we, as God’s people, doing at being in tune with Creation.

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21  

+ without looking, what are vs15, 18, and 19 about and why does the lectionary skip over them, “protect us” from them?  Ok – now you can look!  Dualism – the good and the bad – is a crucial part of apocalyptic (end-time) literature.  What do we loose by skipping these verses?  Then the word from the Sandy Hook mother on NPR the other day – “there are only two kinds of people – good people and good people who are hurting.”  Apocalyptic thinking would like to just “wipe out the bad” but life is not that simple.

+ starts and ends with “I am coming soon”.  (vs21 is kind of an epilogue to the whole book.)

+ I am coming to repay – again, doesn’t sound like grace, sounds like “fair warning”.  (Was that Buechner?  I don’t know.)

+ Alpha/omega, first/last, beginning/end.  Apocalyptic is about time, yes, but not about predictions of time and events (ie, the delay!), it is about the certainty that the God who was/is there before the beginning is/will be there after the end.  And that God is there someplace in every event?  Maybe?

+ “those who washed their robes” – Have you been to Jesus, are your garments spotless, are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

+ vs16 – He’s the lily of the valley, he’s the bright and morning star….

+ Come to the city where the Lamb is the light...taste of the tree and the river of life...

We-re having a veritable hymnsing!!!

+ vs18 – “don’t add or subtract!”  Interesting that there are two footnotes about additions and subtractions!!

John 17:20-26

+ the end of the farewell discourse and the priestly prayer – in vs1-5 Jesus returns to glory, in 6-19 he prays for the disciples, now in 20-26 he prays for those who will hear – hey, that’s us!!

+ he prays for unity.  What’s that look like in our day?  Are protestants and catholics one? Episcopalians and Assembly of God folks?  What does it mean to “be one”?  AS individuals, who are you “one with”?

+ and it’s all laced through And held together with love.  So if you just love does it matter why? Does it matter who/what you know?  At least it’s forward looking, not trying to put a patch on what happened yesterday!

+ it serves a greater purpose, so that the world will know.  What does our disunity say?  Does that maybe have something to do with why more and more young people are unsure about the church, even the faith?  Where do you see churches working together/being one today?

+ the Father-Son relationship is clear.  What about the Father-Spirit?  What about the Spirit-Son.  Fortunately we’ve got Trinity Sunday coming up to sort all that out!

Then here’s a thought from Beverly Wildung Harrison (?) on connection, being one -

Our knowledge of God is in and through each other.  Our knowledge of each other is in and through God.  We act together and find our good in each other and in God, and our power grows together, or we deny our relations and reproduce a violent world where no one experiences holy power.

That – and a brand new leopardskin pillbox hat - is what I got for now…..

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Words 5.19

 Words Twice a Week       5.19 (well, 5.20 by the time I got around to it!)

Some thoughts on some of the lectionary texts for this Sunday – Sixth of Easter

Acts 16.9-15   

+ ”The Macedonian call”!  How can you not love a text that includes the Macedonian Call?  Interesting that we have the same sort of vision connected with St Patrick.  I’m trying to think if there are other events that we think of as “a Macedonian call”?

+ note that in vs 6-8 Paul had not been allowed to preach in Asia – ie, he had had no success, God had not brought him success.  How much of what Paul did do we attribute to him? How much to God?  How much of what we do do we attribute to ourselves, accepting either praise or blame?  And how much do we attribute to God?

+ And note that in vs14, it was not that Lydia was so impressed by Paul’s words, but rather that “the Lord opened her heart.”

+ Philippi – a city linked to Alexander the Great (Philip was his father). In Macedonia, a Roman colony.  Paul was a Roman citizen – I remember when we got our passports and it says something like “this person is a citizen of the USA and please treat them accordingly.”  I felt a certain reassurance.  I don’t know if we take Paul’s citizenship as seriously as we should.

+ so now it’s a sabbath, and they go looking for a “place of prayer” – a synagogue?, a more informal riverside park? Outside the gate?  Is there significance to any of that?  “And we spoke to the women who had gathered there.”  The women would be free from work because it’s the sabbath.

+ interesting that the Macedonian call came from a man, but the first convert is a woman.

+ note the “we” in verse 10.  Suggests Luke has joined them?

+ note the ease with which they get to Philippi (in a single verse!).  After ,many false starts and failed attempts in Asia, God is “greasing the rails”(?) as they head for Europe!

+ So finally we get to Lydia, who becomes the first European convert, along with her household.  How do you think of yourself – as a Lydia or as one of her household?

Psalm 67

+ a loose chiastic pattern –

+ vs1,2 similar to vs 6,7; God being gracious and blessing, God’s way/saving power known among the nations, to the ends of the earth.

+ vs3 is the same as vs 5; “let all the peoples praise thee.”  Note 1,2,6,7 are about God, 3 and 5 are addressed to God.

+ which brings us to vs4, the center and somewhat the focus of the poem.  “Let the nations be glad…”  The word of God’s grace is meant to extend beyond the bounds of Israel to all the world.  The good news is that God will judge with equity and that God will guide them.

+ and I wonder if when we say God will “judge with equity” we tend to think of settling a disagreement or a claim, when maybe it means something more like “life differences (financial, social, class, economic, etc) will even out.”

+ the psalm is both a thanksgiving for what God has done and a request for what God will do.

+ “Earth has yielded it’s increase” – Food? People? Resources? Peace and prosperity? What do you hear there?  Has it yielded it with equity, and as God would have it?

Revelation 21.10, 22-22.5

+ note vs 9 – “I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”  Why doesn’t the lectionary include that?  And then the stuff in 21.11-21 is the description of the city with it’s walls and gates, made of jewels and pearls (each gate made of a single pearl?), the street was “pure gold, transparent as glass.”(?)  Is this the only reference to the streets of gold?  I’m not sure.

+ anyway – vs10, “the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God.”  This does not mean that after we ruin one creation God will simply give us another.  As Frederick Buechner says about getting into that city, “if you can’t become like a child with eyes full of whatever it is children’s eyes are full of, don’t even think about it.”  A new city needs new people (born again? Born from above?) to populate it!

+ So Come to the city where the lamb is the light, come to the city of God.

         Taste of the tree and the river of life, come to the city of God.

+ No sun or moon, no night – God and the Lamb will provide the light, the vision to live by.

+ and yet plants need night, and so do humans and other animals.  Except those “born from above”?

+ the nations (ie, all peoples) will bring the best of their lives, cultures into the city.

+ nothing unclean, only those written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  How do we think about that? Are we all written in the book?  What about things we think of as “unclean” – pollution, garbage?  Are they just not going to be there, or are we going to see it all differently?  In other words, how much connection is there with our experience of life and this vision of life “in the City”?

+ And interesting that the arc of creation goes from a garden to a city – although the city looks very much like a park!

+ the tree of life – 12 kinds of fruit, kind of like a “fruit of the month club”!  But the leaves are for the healing of the nations – what would still need to be healed.  Or are there still nations “outside of the city”?

+ Anyway, what do you think?  Would you like to be there?

John 5.1-9

+ another feast of the Jews, another sabbath.

+ this guy by the pool for 38 years(!).  With no one to help him.  Really?  Or maybe he was not all that concerned about or unhappy with his life?  He doesn’t say thanks, he doesn’t seem all that grateful.  Later on, when he finds out who Jesus is, he rats him out to the authorities!

+ link to the Creation (God’s wind/spirit over the water); link to John’s Prologue (the man “knew him not”)

+ the man was in the midst of a multitude – did Jesus heal any of the others?  Why this guy?

+ vs 8  “Rise…..”

John 14.23-29

+ farewell discourse, again with the sheep

+ “I go away, and I will come to you” – a second coming? Universal?  Personal?   How do you hear that?

+ vs31  “Rise...”

That’s what I got for now…..

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Words 5.5

 Words Twice a Week          5.5

Ok – I suppose everyone has just about given up on ever seeing another “Words”, but I guess I’m starting up the Thursday(thoughts on the lessons) segment of it anyway.  Part of the problem was just the Easter weekend got busy, and then my computer was in the shop and it took a while to get it back to the way I had it.  So we’ll see…

Anyway - Happy Mother’s Day.  We’ll look for a prayer or a poem or something like that.  (And while we’re at it, Happy Star Wars Day – yesterday – “May the Force be with you!”; and Happy Cinco de Mayo today!)  

Now here are some thoughts about some of the lessons for this Sunday, Fourth of Easter.

Acts 9:36-43  

+ Luke is laying the ground work for the extension of the ministry to the Gentiles.  Already we have had the disciples proclaiming despite being hauled into court, Philip proclaiming in Samaria and beyond, and Saul’s conversion into Paul.  One writer suggests that the “church” has saturated Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, (vs 31) and now we are ready for the Gentiles!

+ And that while Paul will really be the apostle to the Gentiles, it will be Peter that gets it started.

+ note that in 32-35 Peter heals Aeneas, whose name suggests he could be a Gentile, or at least have a Gentile background.

+ Tabitha/Dorcas/Gazelle – if you were her, which name would you go by?

+ note there are only 2 times when an old testament prophet raised someone from the dead – Elijah raises the son of the widow of Zarepheth, and Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite woman.

+ Peter tells Gazelle to “arise” – it’s the same word as for Jesus’ resurrection.  His resurrection leads to Gazelle’s resurrection leads to ours.  How are they the same? Different?

Psalm 23  

+ do you know it by heart?  “The Lord is my shepherd…..”

+ it starts off with God as a shepherd providing care and protection even through threatening times and situations.

+ vs4 is the center of the psalm and it shifts from 3rd person to 2nd person.

+ and then it ends with God as a host, again providing care and protection in the face of enemies.  Who would the enemies be today?

+ “Goodness and mercy shall follow me…” or in another translation, “Goodness and steadfast love will pursue me…”  Which thought reflects your experience.

+ I always remember the notes from the “Worshiping with children” book about how for many kids today a shepherd is a big dog, a staff is the grown-ups at the daycare center, and “a cup running over” is not necessarily a good thing.

+ all in all a nice word.  Are there times when it has been especially meaningful in your life?

Revelation 7:9-17  

+ Who’s that yonder dressed in white?

+ Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing flood, are you washed in the blood of the lamb?

+ There is power, power, wonder working power in the blood of the lamb…

+ The blood will never lose it’s power…

+ Those are the ones I know anyway.  And yes they are a little “hokey?”, but still fun to sing.

+ “and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

+ they worship day and night.  Is that enticing or off-putting?  And how does it compare with one hour a week?  Is there a way we should be worshiping 24/7 – saying the “Jesus prayer” or something like that?

+ “from every nation, all tribes and peoples and tongues”.  From a great diversity comes a solid unity.

John 10:22-30

+ John 10 is kind of the shepherd/sheep chapter.  Vs1-6 is the “I am the gate” and the shepherd knows the sheep by name; vs7-18 is “I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep”.  Then in 19-21 there is a division – some people think he has a demon, others say not.  And so in vs24 they ask him plainly “are you the Christ?”

+ so are these Jews curious or opponents?

+ it’s the feast of Dedication (Hanuka), it’s winter, Jesus is in the Temple, in the Portico of Solomon – is any of that significant?  How?

+ “the Jews” – we remember that in Jesus’ lifetime, they were all Jews.  This comes from a later  time when opposition had arisen between the two faiths.

+ “my sheep know and follow, but you are not my sheep”; “you do not believe because you do not belong” – it gets a bit confusing. How do you get to be one of Jesus’ sheep if you are not already?  Does predestination creep in here?  One writer says “the eyes of faith seem more in Jesus.”  Does that help or not?

+ “whatever we have or are is a result of God’s relating to us.”

+ the works testify to who Jesus is because they are the works of the Father, and thus the Father and Jesus are one in a functional unity.

+ Jesus is the giver of eternal life and the keeper/protector – echoes of Ps 23!

+ it’s like the Messianic secret in the synoptic gospels – Jesus was not want to be put into any pre-existing categories.

That’s what I got for now…..

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