Tuesday, August 23, 2005

Good Morning!

Good morning from Atlanta! Monica reminded me yesterday that this coming Sunday is promotion Sunday, and I believe that there is a promotion service during the Sunday School hour in the sanctuary. How many of you will be involved in that service, either as teachers or as proud parents?

The new unit for this week is Unit 17 -- God as Loving Parent

Focus Scripture for the Week: Isaiah 66:13

As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted.

Today's Scriptures: Psalm 68:1-6

Today's Discussion:

-- to me, the Psalms are sometimes hard, not to read necessarily, but to find the lesson. In Jesus' teachings in the gospels or Paul's (usually) straightforward writing, the lesson is usually right in front of you, in pretty plain language. When you go to the poetry, or better yet, the lyrics of the Psalms, it isn't as straightforward. But to think about it, that isn't much different than trying to get the meaning out of the lyrics of songs we know today -- the lyric is a different type of expression of thought, and understanding Bob Dylan or the Black Eyed Peas or King David can be as equally as daunting.

-- that said, I think we were directed to today's scripture to get some words of encouragement about God intentions towards us -- "a father to the fatherless" David writes -- "a defender of widows". Verse six is a bit difficult, depending on the translation, but essentially it says that he gives to those who don't have -- places "the lonely in families".

-- the thing that gets lost a little bit in this kind of language is the idea of how it applies to us. We can read language like that found in this psalm and think that -- "OK, God helps those who are without, those who are less fortunate, those who are powerless -- I knew that" and think that it doesn't apply to us, those who do not feel that we are without, or less fortunate, or powerless. But the point we need to take from this, and from this unit, is that that same care and concern is there for us -- we are not overqualified to receive God's love and concern. The flip side of the thought that we don't need God because things are going well for us is the idea that God doesn't worry about us because things are going well for us. God worries about us every second of our lives, regardless of how well we are doing. Actually, he probably worries about us more when things are going well.

Question for Sunday:

-- in the last 24 hours, did something big or small or even tiny happen in your life that God did for you? Pay attention during the next 24 hours and see if you notice God working in your life.

Today's prayer request: Our bosses and others in positions of authority at our workplaces.

Part of our Christian calling is the idea of serving faithfully in our roles as employee and citizen. Let us pray for those in authority at our workplace -- pray for them to make good decisions, to be fair and to be honest.

Today's class member prayer:

Ron Ray

Have a great day.

Jay