Friday, July 15, 2005

Good Morning!

Sorry I didn't send anything out yesterday -- I was in traveling in Nashville, and the hotel's internet service wasn't working, so I couldn't get on line.

FYI, I will be at church this Sunday.

The new unit for this week is Unit 11, The Means of Grace

Focus Scripture for the Week: 1 Peter 1:2

May grace and peace be yours in abundance

Today's topic: Acts 2:37-47, 2 Peter 1:3-11, Luke 22:14-23, Mark 6:45-52

-- these are the four remaining verses for our study for this week -- the one that I found most interesting was the one from 2 Peter.

-- there are two things in particular that I really liked about this passage. First, the first verse would be a good memory verse -- "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Our lesson for this week is about how we tap into that power, through our participation in the various means of grace. We are all somewhat like electrical appliances -- we have to be plugged in to a power source in order to work, and the means of grace are how we do that.

-- second, in the 2 Peter passage, in the remainder of the passage, there is a sense of our constant improvement, of growing in faith and our Christian life. Verse 8 says "if you possess these qualities in increasing measure . . . ". Peter here is referring to the same concept that Wesley adopted thousands of years later -- that idea of moving on to perfection, that the story of our Christian life is about striving to be better everyday, and that comes from "plugging in" as often as we can to the source of the power that will move us in that direction.

-- Just a reminder of the five, as outlined by Wesley-- reading scripture, prayer, hearing the Word preached, communion and fasting.

Today's prayer request: Alex Lloyd, Monica's nephew

Alex is a long term prayer request, due to his hip condition and the treatment he is receiving to correct it. He is currently recovering from his surgery of a few weeks ago, and appears to be doing well, but there is a long way to go yet.

Today's class member prayer:

Lynn Rocksvold

Have a great day.

Jay

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Good Morning!

Last call for this week for study books -- let me know if you need one.

The new unit for this week is Unit 11, The Means of Grace

Focus Scripture for the Week: 1 Peter 1:2

May grace and peace be yours in abundance

Today's topic: 2 Corinthians 6:1 - 10

-- for me, one of the keys in understanding today's reading is understanding the word 'commend' (verse 4 -- "as servants of God, we commend ourselves"). I sort of know that word, but it is not one that I use, and in the scripture version I'm reading (the NIV), I can't quite get my arms around Paul's meaning, and particularly how this applies to our section on the means of grace. The online definition that seems best to fit the way the word is used today is "present as worthy of regard, kindness, or confidence; example :"His paintings commend him to the artistic world"

-- what I'm seeing is two thoughts -- one is that we should not receive God's grace in vain -- my take away from that is that God's grace is meant to sustain and strengthen us for the work we are called to do, to be his people. As recipients of that grace, our duty is not to sit back, but to be his people in this place. The second thought, the longer portion of the passage today, is about how that grace can sustain us in all situations. In this passage, Paul is talking about his own hardships, but they can apply to us -- Paul is saying that, as a servant of God, he presents himself as worthy in every way, regardless of the difficulty of the situation. He is testifying that the grace of God prepares him and sustains him for the work he is called to do, no matter how difficult.

-- from the Wesley reading, there was a line that I thought was interesting -- I think it is in the fifth reading -- where he says "that Christ has ordained certain outward means, for conveying his grace into the souls of men." There is something about the idea or image of us taking in God's grace; of that grace going into our souls, that is a compelling thought or image for me. For communion, it is easy to make that connection or image, because we are literally taking something into our bodies. Stepping back a bit, it isn't that much of a stretch to see some of the other means such as -- prayer, scripture, preaching -- as also consumptive activities -- ways of taking in God's grace. Fasting is at the opposite end of the spectrum from communion -- while communion is a symbolic meal -- fasting is the exact opposite, but it is still intended as a way for us take in God's grace into our souls.

Today's prayer request: Space shuttle astronauts and family

The space shuttle is scheduled to be launched today, and there is much apprehension about it -- let's pray for a safe launch and trip for the astronauts.

Today's class member prayer:

Carl McKinney

Have a great day.

Jay

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Good Morning!

Wanted to check and see who needs a study book. Email me and let me know by Wednesday and I will try to have new ones for you at church on Sunday.

The new unit for this week is Unit 11, The Means of Grace

Focus Scripture for the Week: 1 Peter 1:2

May grace and peace be yours in abundance

Today's topic: Hebrews 12:12-17

-- we were talking in class on Sunday about good verses to remember -- verse 14 here is a good one -- "Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy."

-- that verse also raises this issue of holiness, which we have talked about before. As the verse says, we are called to be holy, and that to me is an intimidating thing. But when you lay out or define what holiness is about, it really isn't. It is a lot about how we conduct ourselves -- our language, our actions, our relationships with others. We sometimes use a lot of different words for the concept -- living right, being moral, being a good person, doing the right thing -- but those tend to lessen our obligation, or better yet, tend to obscure our goal and/or the reason that we should live in certain way. We are called to be holy because we belong to God, and we are charged with living live like he has instructed us.

-- but part of getting to holiness is partaking of the means of grace that we outlined yesterday. Think about it -- if we pray daily, read our Bible daily, go to church regularly, it makes it much easier to live life as God wants us too -- the more often we connect with God, and the more different ways that we do it, the more we are able to do what he wants us to do. And think about the means of grace, communion and fasting. If we took communion every day or every couple of days, like Wesley did, how would that change how we live? The same thing for fasting - if we were going all day without eating, for the specific reason as an observance of our faith -- how much would that focus us on other ways that we should be living?

Today's prayer request: Alex Lloyd, Monica's nephew

Alex is still recovering from his hip surgery, and we still need to remember him as he has a way to go before he is fully recovered.

Today's class member prayer:

Megan Douglas

Have a great day.

Jay

Monday, July 11, 2005

Good Morning!

Wanted to check and see who needs a study book. Email me and let me know by Wednesday and I will try to have new ones for you at church on Sunday.

The new unit for this week is Unit 11, The Means of Grace

Focus Scripture for the Week: 1 Peter 1:2

May grace and peace be yours in abundance

Today's topic: 1 Peter 1:13-25

-- this is an important unit and an important concept for us to grasp. We have talked in a general way about the need for daily Bible study and prayer, and what the benefits to us might be. This unit really gets into expanding that idea, and gives us some reasons to believe why it is important.

-- as noted in the Reflections section, Wesley felt that there were five activities that were means of grace -- activities that, if engaged in them with the right frame of mind, would help us draw closer to God, and that served as a conduit for God's grace to grow within us. The five are:

-- prayer
-- fasting
-- Bible study
-- hearing the preached word
-- communion

-- as we look at this list, we probably see two that we do most days (prayer and Bible study), one that we do about once a week (preaching), and one once a month (communion). And then there is fasting. Fasting is something that most people don't do, for any variety of reasons. One of them, I think, is that fasting is something that you do out in the world, and could possibly be noticed by the world. We can pray and do Bible study in the privacy of our own home, and we hear preaching and do communion at our church, but fasting is something that we do all day.

-- more on this as we move through the week.

Today's prayer request: A prayer of thanks

Dennis has generally turned out to be not the disaster that people had feared -- we need to give thanks for that, and to pray for the people who did have some damage from the storm.

Today's class member prayer:

Ron Ray

Have a great day.

Jay