Stepping Out

If you have questions about the history of the lectionary, check out this link.  Although created for the Evangelical Lutheran Church, it gives an overarching perspective into preaching the Bible in this systematic way.

This Sunday, Lisa Larges will be our guest preacher for Coming Out Sunday…and so we are leaving the lectionary behind for a week!  This Sunday’s reading is Matthew 14: 22-33.  I had wanted to begin our study with a clip from the Truman Show but technology had a different idea (or at least the computer that shut off right when I wanted to play it!).  “The Truman Show” is a film about a man who was adopted by a television company.  From birthy through adulthood, Truman was the star of his own show…only he didn’t know about it!  This clip is at the end of the movie.  He has just undergone a night of harsh wind and waves in a rocking boat.  He looks around to see a bright sun and puffy clouds around this boat, but the bliss is shortlived.  Something new breaks into his reality.  Click on this link for the movie clip.

I think that this clip can really help us delve into the text.  We talked a lot on Tuesday about how we respond to God’s call, reflected on Peter’s choice to step out of the boat, thought about what it meant that the others stayed in the boat, and thought about how we can find ourselves in both places/ roles in our lives.  But having seen this video, ask yourself:

• When have you reach the boundary/ border of reality?  How did that change your perspective of the world around you as you understood it? 
• When have you reached such a boundary/border in your faith life?
• Have you ever stepped out of the boat like Peter?  Did you walk on water for a bit or find yourself sinking?  What did you learn from that experience?

Join us Sunday for worship to see and experience what Lisa does with this text!

Casting off cloaks

The reading for this week comes from Mark 10: 46-52.  You can click on this link to the website for the Presbyterian Church (USA) for the reading.

We spent some time during the Bible study experiencing what it would be like to be blind.  As yourself what this experience might be like.  Maybe close your eyes and try to complete a regular task without your vision.  Yet Bartemaeus’ loss of vision did not stop him from experiencing God.  He called out to Jesus and, even when the crowd tells him to stop, he just yells louder!

One of the powerful parts of the passage for me is the cloak throughout the passage.  That cloak could have been everything to him: kept him warm on cold days, helped him collect change as he spent his days begging, or provided shelter from surrounding weather.  Yet when he hears that Jesus is calling him, he throws off the cloak and jumps up to meet him!

So, here are some questions to consider before Sunday:

• What are the cloaks in your life that may keep you from seeking freedom in your life?
• What are the things that you must let go of to see?
• How do you call out to Jesus despite the crowds that try to silence you?
• How can you use all of your sense to experience God’s creation and movement in your life?
• What have you left behind to follow Jesus?

Multi-Tasking

This week we followed the prophets from the Hebrew Scriptures and continued to reflect on the concept of sabbath in our lives.  If you want to re-read the lessons from Tuesday, here they are: Isaiah 1: 12-17, Hosea 2: 8-13, and Isaiah 58: 1-7.  Remember that for each passage we asked the same question, “What do we learn about faithful worship and Sabbath keeping from this prophetic utterance?”

There is so much more that we could talk about concerning the challenges of maintaining sabbath in our own lives (and we will as we conclude this coming Tuesday night!).  You need only look to your own life and the commodities that you possess ; with all of the “stuff” that surrounds us, how can we maintain the importance of God and life in community?   Specific to this week’s discussion and its connection to worship and commodities, we are pushed to consider the quote from Walter Brueggeman, “Multitasking is the drive to be more than we are, to control more than we do, to extend our power and our effectiveness.  Such practice yields a divided self, with full attention given to nothing.”  If we don’t focus on God, then we are divided and give our complete selves to nothing…what a strong statement (perhaps even an “ouch” should follow those words)!

Our final prophet spoke strongly against the commodities of the Israelites.  Amos was a shepherd called by God from daily life to serve as a prophet to the people.  Read Amos 8: 1-6.  The prophet clearly speaks against the possessiveness of the people and, therefore, their lack of care for their fellow brothers and sisters.  Although they worshipped, it was more to go through the motions before returning to work and money.  Yet even then, they did not exchange with one another fairly!  So Amon calls them to a better way in which they stop multitasking and involve themselves more in a relationship with God and one another.  Ask yourself these questions:

• Where do you see this type of multitasking?
• How might the practice of Sabbath keeping be a way to resist multitasking?

Sabbatical questions

Our conversations about sabbath have been surrounded by the common theme of community.  It is the one day of the week when all people and even animals were made to rest.  No one had to look over their backs.  No one had to worry about producing enough.  Unlike the oppressive rule of Pharoah, the Hebrew people were now challenged to live a life that included sacred rest.

There were great questions Tuesday evening and I want to address the significance of the number forty-nine first.  This number is connected to the conversations we have had thus far about sabbath time.  Leviticus chapter 25 describes the year of Jubilee.  Israelites were to count seven groups of seven years (to total 49 years) and consecrate the fiftieth year as a jubilee.  At that time, all Hebrew slaves were set free and all land was returned to its owners.  Don’t forget that the Hebrew people had lived under oppressive rule for quite some time.  This kind of provision would have opened up their own lives to the power of sabbath!

Now why did the Christian sabbath become Sunday?  Well, that is a far more complex question than I first imagined.  Some scholars do say that it delineated the holy day from others (Saturday for the Jewish people).  But to change to a new day meant that the Christians had to find a way to carve out time for worship on a work day; early morning and the evening were the only options.  This is where the reference to agape meals most likely began although these were challenged by the second century.  There were also challenges and differences even between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians!  Since the sabbath was much more connected with the first group’s traditional practices, they were much more likely to celebrate and observe the sabbath than Gentiles.

The growth of the Christian calendar is an interesting topic (and one which I took a whole class on…so lots to talk about there, too!).  There are never clear answers but the conversation definitely reflects the challenges of the times.

So what will you do in your live to include the sabbath commandment?  How will you succeed at striving after rest?

Relevant?!

Bill Maher reflected upon his time as a child and how church wasn’t “relevant” to him.  This lack of relevancy led to his eventual skepticism about Chrisitianity (and perhaps all religions, in general).  Share your thoughts about relevancy:

1. What was relevant to you in your life as a child?  Was church one of them?  If so, why?  If not, why did you continuing attending?
2. How is faith relevant to you now?

Religulous

This Tuesday we will be discussing Bill Maher’s “Religulous.”  For a description of the movie, visit wikipedia or imdb.com.  Despite Bill Maher’s sometimes offensive approach to religion, this movie brings up important conversation points for people of faith. 

We will view various clips from the movie and talk about the challenges that Maher brings to the people that he interviews.  The overarching question throughout the whole night will be “Why is faith a good thing” or perhaps even “Is faith a good thing?”

Join us Tuesday evening!

Check it out!

The topics for the beginning weeks of Y.A.B.S. (Young Adult Bible Study) are finally posted!  We’ll kick off the year with a movie discussion on “Religulous,” Bill Maher’s docu-comedy about religion.  If anything, this film helps its viewers to see the importance of knowing what we believe and why we believe it.  There will be conversation about the emotions and thoughts that the movie draws up for us…and maybe what we can do to sharpen the understanding of our own faith.

There are plenty of other topics to come!  Check them out…and don’t forget that this is your study.  If you have a topic or idea that you will like to implement, just contact Larissa.

See you all on Tuesday, September 15th @ 6:30 pm.

Get ready

The young adult retreat is right around the corner!  Mark your calendars…

Where? Lutherdale Retreat Site in Elkhorn, WI

When? Friday, September 18th to Sunday, September 20th

What?  We’ll be talking about and experiencing different approaches to Christian Spirituality from throughout history.  Don’t forget about the fun, laughter and s’mores, too!

Who?  All young adults in their 20s and 30s are welcome!

Contact Larissa if you have any questions.

The BEAST!

One of the most popular references and images from Revelation is of the Beast.  When we hear this word, we probably also think about the corresponding number: 666.  To give you a bit of background before you tackle this text, chapter 12 involves a dragon who cannot defeat Christ on his own.  The dragon represents Satan and due to his inability to conquer on his own, he calls the Beast to do what he cannot accomplish.  Read Revelation 13 for the Biblical text about these “beasts.”

Let’s begin with the first beast.  Scholars agree that this beast represents the Roman Empire at the period.  Remember that this government demanded ultimate authority!  The emperor was called “Lord and God” which would have been blasphemous to the Christians of this time (see verses 5-7).  Christians were persecuted and martyred if theydid not obey these secular, cultural demands.  And so we come to the second beast, this one representing the emperor cult of Rome.  The Emperor cult require worship of the people in all aspects of their life.  For Christians who attempted to live against this…well, let’s just say life would not have been easy!  So the beast(s) is all in reference to the life that Christians had to face within secular Rome.

But this beast falls short of Christ is many ways.  First, remember that the number seven represents completion and wholeness in this book.  Gemetra was a popular “game” in which letters were given numerical values.  Nero’s name is calculate to this numerical reference of 666.  Think about this for a second: 6 is just one short of the number that represents perfection, 7!  So everything that this beast does, from signs to actions, poses as the real think that people should be worshipping!  It is almost messianic perfection…but not quite and this is where we begin to see the victory coming in the end of the book!

As you read this chapter, think about these questions:

• How can or will our response to government change in light of this text?  What is the proper response to governing powers?  How do we determine what should be opposed and what should be defended?
• What does it mean to persevere for people from the period of this book as well as for modern humanity?
• What are the marks that define you?  Why do you bear them?

This Wednesday we will conclude our study of Revelation.  It’s been a long ride and we’ll see if we can see a more wholistic picture of the book.  E-mail me if you have any questions or topics that you would like to discuss!

Oh, those four horsemen!

Revelation 6: 1-17 ,7:1-17, 8: 1-5

Last night we had some interesting conversation about the seven seals…the first four were the famous four horsemen of the apocalypse.  These four point us to the challenges of history: war, famine and death.  Yet the first seal and horseman revealed a Christ-figure who did not call out these three issues for humans but illustrates that God comes before and is present with us throughout history.  These problems and more continue even to today.  We should pause and ponder if there are solutions, if they have been tried, or way none exist at all. 

The fifth seal doesn’t really give us anymore hope as all of the “souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given” were revealed.  This would have been a reality for the Christian readers of this period for whom martyrdom was familiar.  And the sixth seal?  Well, no more hope here either.  Natural destruction takes place and NO ONE is safe from it!  But one question follows that seal: Who is able to stand?!

As a reader you may think that the seventh seal would come right up…but another literary license is taken here.  A whole chapter comes between the sixth and seventh seals!  And this section brings up other well-known Revelation tidbits.  The passage opens with the 144,000 saved souls.  Before you wonder whether you are in the 144,000 saved, remember that this book is all about wholeness.  This round number arrived at by multiplying the number of tribes of Israel (12) and looking at 1,000 as an Old Testament illusion to a division in the military, we realize that the actual number itself is not what we are to ponder.  Instead, it is the completeness of the whole image.  We must look at the 144,000 as well as the innumerable others in the second half of the passage.  This is really what it is all about.  The number is complete, perfect and includes every tribe and nation as a marked and sealed people. 

And finally, we get to the seventh seal after a chapter long break…and it’s silence in heaven.  It is here that people’s prayers are recieved and heard by God as illsutrated in the golden censer.  In the silence, there is listening which must happen before we act.  So wonder to yourself after getting through all of these seals, what is the purpose of silence?  What are the benefits of silence?  What, then, can you take away from the whole experience of reading these sections?

One of the things I realized throughout our conversation is that it can be quite hard to get our notions about Revelation out of our heads.  Thoughts about prediciting the eschaton (the end times) through mathematical calculations or reading the visions as illustrations of what will occur are strongly held stereotypes about the book.  But I point us back to the title of this text, Revelation.  Notice it’s not RevelationS…it’s Revelation.  One revelation.  One depiction that must be viewed in its entirety to be fully understood.  So keep on with it despite the challenging images and culturally normative understandings that can cloud our understandings.  You’re doing tough work but I hope that you feel rewarded with the fruits of your labor (if not, you should!).

Next week we will be talking about the Beast…yet another image and idea that we connect with Revelation!  Come for more indepth discussion about this book next Wednesday and learn what this might be all about!