Friday, August 12,, 2005

Good Morning!

Hope everyone had a good week, and look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

The new unit for this week is Unit 15 -- Holiness of Life

Focus Scripture for the Week: 1 Peter 1:15

As he who called you in holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct.

Today's Scriptures: Romans 12:1-8, Romans 12:9-21, Matthew 25:31-46

Today's Discussion:

-- the last three readings for the week.

-- this week has been one where I think that the scripture readings, and the sequence of them, had a very clear pattern. The unit this week is about holiness, and I think that the scripture gave us a very good perspective of all the aspects of what that means, especially in the Wesleyan tradition.

-- the passage from Romans, especially the second one, really gives us instruction on holiness as regards our relationships with other people. Mostly, when we think about personal holiness, we then to think of it as strictly things related as things we should or shouldn't do -- our language, our honesty, etc.

- the passage from Romans extends that to our relationships with others, all under the banner of love and how we deal with others, and how we are to reject evil, especially as it may poison our relationships with others. I think that the passage from Romans is just a wonderful set of life instructions -- ones that I especially think we should remember is the call in verse 21 -- "do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" and verse 17 "do not repay anyone evil for evil" -- great wisdom that you can apply everyday to your life.

-- the passage from Matthew, I think in the context of our unit, extends this idea of what holy living is about to concern and care for others. As we have read, Wesley felt that reaching out to others, especially the poor, was a key part of the Christian life. We can think of this passage as outlining the idea that personal holiness is not just about not doing bad things, but proactively doing good things.

Question for Sunday:

-- in the past week or two, do you remember a moment where your actions were specifically guided by scripture that your remembered?

Today's prayer request: Ron Ray and Brad Douglas

Ron and Brad go down to Auburn University today and begin the weekend Executive MBA program. Its tough to go back to school and keep working and do everything else you have to do in life. Just need to remember them over the next few months as they juggle all these responsibilities

Today's class member prayer:

Kyle Findlay

Have a great day.

Jay

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Good Morning!

Just fyi, Administrative Board meeting is tonight at 7P, if you are a member.

The new unit for this week is Unit 15 -- Holiness of Life

Focus Scripture for the Week: 1 Peter 1:15

As he who called you in holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct.

Today's Scriptures: Hebrews 12:1-16

Today's Discussion:

-- one of my favorite bits of scripture is the beginning of this passage -- "since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses" -- this is encouragement to all Christians to live the right kind of life, as those who went before us in the faith are watching us. I think that this scripture particularly resonates for us at Pleasant Hill, because of the history of our church at this same spot for 170+ years. I know that I like to sit in the old sanctuary before our class begins, and think about all of those who had worshiped there in that very same building, beginning way back in the 1870s. And then we also have the cemetery, which is also a reminder of that great cloud of witnesses that particularly surround us at Pleasant Hill.

-- we had talked earlier in the week again about how we should take from our class the idea of encouragement -- the idea that you are part of a group that has a common purpose, and that all aspire to a common goal, and how that should help us stick to our devotional efforts and living the right way. This passage in Hebrews just expands that to a much bigger audience.

-- I think the other thing I get from this passage is the idea that living a holy life takes strength and effort. It is not an easy path. I think that we would all agree to that idea -- that the calling to live a holy life is difficult. I think that a lot of that difficulty is because living a Christian life is counter to what the world is all about -- it is easy to slip into a worldly life. And that is why we need encouragement -- from each other, and from this cloud of witnesses who have gone before.

Question for Sunday:

-- what is the most difficult part of living a Christian life today?

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:

Nicole McKinney

Have a great day.

Jay

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Good Morning!

First day of school for a lot of kids and parents today.

The new unit for this week is Unit 15 -- Holiness of Life

Focus Scripture for the Week: 1 Peter 1:15

As he who called you in holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct.

Today's Scriptures: 2 Peter 1:3-11

Today's Discussion:

-- more direction and instruction on how to live a Christian life.

-- the commentary in my Bible on this passage has a great thought. Our faith must go beyond what we believe; it must become a dynamic part of all we do. That was Wesley's example, his faith was his life, and it informed and shaped everything that he did.

-- one thing again to notice about our scriptures this week - they all have been balanced in the sense that they both warn us of things we should not do, and then encourage us to do things that are positive. This passage is no different -- there is the reference to living in a way to "escape the corruption in the world", and then there is the instruction, in this passage, about the qualities we need to cultivate as a Christian -- goodness, knowledge, self-control, perserverance, etc.

-- I think there is something to the fact that Peter presents these as a sequence, and not exactly as a list -- it is another way of showing the fact that we are to grow as Christians, that we are to "move on to perfection" as Wesley calls it.

-- On a completely different topic, the commentary for my Bible notes that this book of the Bible -- 2 Peter -- was the last book admitted to the New Testament by the church authorities.

Question for Sunday:

-- if the intention of the class is for you to become a better Christian - to help you "move on to perfection" -- is that happening yet for you?

Today's prayer request: Teachers and principals

Need to pray for all of the teachers and principals as they start the new year -- to thank God for their committment to children, to ask God to bless them and support them through the year.

Today's class member prayer:

Matt Rocksvold

Have a great day.

Jay

Tuesday, August 9, 2005

Good Morning!

The new unit for this week is Unit 15 -- Holiness of Life

Focus Scripture for the Week: 1 Peter 1:15

As he who called you in holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct.

Today's Scriptures: James 1:19-27

Today's Discussion:

-- like yesterday's passage, this is a brief teaching on how we as Christians should live our lives.

-- the picture that is coming into focus, from yesterday's reading and today's, is perhaps a much more complex picture about holiness than we may have first thought. In this section of scripture, there is talk about the things we would expect -- turning away from immorality and evil -- but there is also talk about being slow to anger, about humility, about keeping a tight rein on our tongues, and helping windows and orphans.

-- being holy is not just about the "thou shalt nots" - not just stopping your cussin' or drinkin' or lyin' or chasin' women (or men) or whatever other personal contact that is considered unChristian -- there is more to it

-- holiness encompasses the time we set aside for God everyday for prayer and study, the way that we related to people in terms of respecting them, and the things that we do to help others, either with resources or just with our kindness and consideration.

-- the readings this week from John Wesley will give us some more perspective and depth to this idea as we move through the week.


Question for Sunday:

-- what behavior in your life is the biggest barrier to you moving towards holiness? Is it something that you need to stop doing, or start doing?

Today's prayer request: Natalee Holloway's family and friends.

Natalee's mother just returned to Aruba after coming back to the U.S. for a few days. One of the main things she did was to attend the regular prayer service that Natalee's friends and classmates had been having every week since she went missing. It was going to be one of the last services that everyone could attend since they were about to go their separate ways to colleges and work. She wanted to tell them that it was OK to move on with their lives.

I think we need to pray for God to give her family some resolution -- either to find Natalee, or to give them permission to move on with their lives.

Today's class member prayer:

April Walker

Have a great day.

Jay

Monday, August 8, 2005

Good Morning!

Good to see everyone on Sunday. Hope you have a good week. Just an fyi on Alex Lloyd, Monica's nephew, who has been on our prayer list for a while. Monica updated the class on Alex's condition Sunday -- he is doing great, he is out of his cast and is zipping around to the point that Monica says we should take him off of the prayer list, which is great news.

Also, given our discussion about Scientology yesterday in class, here is a link to good overview article -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology. One point that it corrects is something I alluded to in class -- Scientology is different from Church of Christ, Scientist, or "christian science", which is a completely different group. There is a link in the article above to an entry about that group as well.

The new unit for this week is Unit 15 -- Holiness of Life

Focus Scripture for the Week: 1 Peter 1:15

As he who called you in holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct.

Today's Scriptures: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Today's Discussion:

-- scripture today is a great starting point for the unit, as a way of getting at what this unit is about. The Reflections section also does a good job of summarizing this unit as well, and the thing that I immediately notices is how much that sounds like what the mission of our class is about. So, in some sense, this unit should be particularly useful for fleshing out what it is this class is about.

-- note that in the Reflections section, there is a reference which some may not be familiar with -- it mentions "societies, bands and classes" -- those are terms for various Methodist small group gatherings in Wesley's day -- one could argue that, given the purpose of our class, that we would have been considered a "band" in Wesley's day rather than a "class", but that is just an interesting aside.

-- in verse 12, there is an interesting reflection on our conversation yesterday about celebrity and Christianity and Hollywood -- verse 12 says to" make it your ambition to live a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands." How many celebrities do we you know who lives a quiet life and minds their own business? Maybe this is one reason why Christians in Hollywood are not as visible as the Scientology types.

-- on the other hand, our cultural obsession with the celebrity publicity runs very much counter to the instruction "to mind your own business". The energy that our culture has expended in the minding the business of the weekly drama that is the Jessica Simpson - Nick Lachey marriage is proof that that is good advice.

-- one of the key ideas underlining the Thessalonian scripture is the idea of respect as a way to open the door to witness -- Paul's admonitions to the Thessalonians in this section are intended to also have the effect of winning respect for Christians so that they can share their message.

Question for Sunday:

-- how quiet a life do you live? What does living a quiet life in today's world mean?

Today's prayer request: Space shuttle crew and families

Space shuttle's return has been postponed until tomorrow due to weather, but let's pray for their safe return.

Today's class member prayer:

Valerie Waters

Have a great day.

Jay