Friday, August 26, 2005

Good Morning!

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 103:1-13, John 12:44-50, Psalm 23

Today's Discussion:

-- the three scriptures above cover our last three for the week.

-- the two psalms provide some very well know assurances about the depth of God's love for us. Actually, to make it more specific, when you read that scripture, you should really focus on the fact that that scripture is assurance of how much God loves "you" specifically, not just "us".

-- the other thing we should get from these psalms is the constancy of God's presence with us. God is not like a genie in a lamp, who comes to help us and grant us our wishes when we summon him by rubbing the lamp. He is watching us always, with us always. I think that many people have tried to structure their relationship with God like Aladdin's with the genie. They try to do things on their own, because they believe there is a limit of how much God will do for them, and then when "they" are ready or in need, the pray for God to do something, expecting that, like the genie, God must obey them

-- again, in the spirit of the unit for this week, we should be reminded that the title was "God as Loving Parent", and the scriptures this week, and today in particular, gives us the assurance that God loves us, watches over us and wants the best for us. When we live like we believe that, then we live a different life.

Question for Sunday:

-- can you think of one thing that you do that helps to remind you that God cares for you?

Today's prayer request: The people of South Florida

Hurricane Katrina is moving off shore this morning, but a lot of people have power outages and other issues to deal with, even though this was a Category 1 storm.

Today's class member prayer:

Lynn Rocksvold

Have a great day.

Jay

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Good Morning!

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: Matthew 12:46-50

Today's Discussion:

-- the scripture today gives us a different take on the implications of God as a loving parent. If God is our Father, than those who believe in him are brothers and sisters in the faith as well.

-- just as we sometimes fail to appreciate or to embrace the idea of God as concerned parent who is active in our day to day lives, we also fail to feel or fully embrace the brotherhood or sisterhood of those in our church family. The idea of "brothers and sisters in Christ" is something we hear but don't really know what to do with, primarily because it expresses a closeness of relationship in theory that doesn't is difficult to see in reality.

-- we should think of that concept of "brothers and sisters in Christ" as something we should strive for; it is a thought that gives us a model for our church relationships. One of the ways we can strengthen that is prayer for each other, which is why we have a daily prayer for a class member on the email each day. Another way is to have the confidence that while we are separate, we are sharing the some of the same thoughts each day as we try to live the life that we are called to live. This is just a bit of what Jesus meant in verse 50.

Question for Sunday:

-- what can we do to build a better sense of brotherhood/sisterhood among our group?

Today's prayer request: Our troops in Iraq

We have not remembered these men and women much since Jay Michael's return, but we still have so many over there in Iraq and in harm's way, and another 1,500 are going in the next week or so. We just need to pray for their safety and courage.
Today's class member prayer:

Carl McKinney

Have a great day.

Jay

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Good Morning!

Good morning again from Atlanta! Back home today though. On the Promotion Sunday question, I think we will go ahead and have class as scheduled for those who don't need to be involved with the promotion service.

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: Luke 2:41-51

Today's Discussion:

-- today's scripture is the story about Jesus accidentally being left behind in Jerusalem by his parents on a visit there. That isn't as bad a reflection on Mary and Joseph as it might seem. As I have heard it explained, the men and women traveled in separate portions of a caravan. The younger children, and older girls would travel with the women, and the older boys would travel with the men. Jesus, at 12, was just at the age where he might have been in either group. So it was essentially is "he with you -- no, I thought he was with you" scenario.

-- I think that the thing I take away from this scripture, as regards our unit topic, is what Mary and Joseph did - when Jesus was lost, they went back to find him. It's what any parent would do -- to come to think of it, it's what Beth Holloway did in Aruba. A parent's first instinct is to go and find their child and bring them back. That's what God does for us -- he is always searching for us, finding us as we go astray. It is a different spin on the idea of prevenient grace, that topic we studied earlier in this study.

Question for Sunday:

-- do you have a story about how God found you after you had drifted away from him?

Today's prayer request: Amanda and David Edwards' daughter Kasey.

We need to continue remember Kasey -- she isn't sick, but she is having a terrible time adjusting to school -- she's been acting up a great deal, and Amanda and David have been called to school once already, and the school has said that they will suspend Kasey for a week if it happens again. Kasey has been diagnosed with ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), and they are still trying to find medication that works for her in treating this. This has been a very trying situation for all of them, and Amanda said that they could really use all of our prayers.

Today's class member prayer:

Megan Douglas

Have a great day.

Jay

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

Monday, August 22, 2005

Good Morning!

Hope everyone got a chance to make it to class on Sunday morning. Sorry that I couldn't be there, but I'm sure you guys were able to have some good discussion. Note with the unit, we have just 10 units to go. Hope that you have been enjoying this study, and it isn't too soon to start thinking a little bit about our next study. We would be starting that around November 1, so be thinking of some ideas and let me know.

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: Luke 13:31-35

Today's Discussion:

-- the part of the scripture for today that connects with our topic this week is verse 34, which refers to God's willingness to take us under his wing as mother hen might protect and love her chicks. That is a view of God that we tend not to see or live like we see.

-- so many times, we tend to treat God, not as a parent, but the distant but nice rich uncle, someone who we reluctantly have to call on infrequently when there is trouble or a need; the person we call on when we have exhausted all of our other options. But God is closer than that to us.

-- thinking of God as a parent, and really having a feeling that he wants the best for you, is one of the most empowering feelings for a Christian. It is a feeling that gives you permission to bring so much to God through prayer, little things and big things. And if we are going to have this daily relationship with God, a lot of it is going to be about little things, because big things don't happen everyday. I'm a big believer in the philosophy of if you take care of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves. I believe that this is particularly true in this case -- if you have a relationship with God where you talk about the little things daily, the big things will take care of themselves.

Question for Sunday:

-- do ration your prayer with God, limiting what to ask him for so that you don't "use up" all of your favors?

Today's prayer request: Amanda and David Edwards' daughter Kasey.

We need to continue remember Kasey -- she isn't sick, but she is having a terrible time adjusting to school -- she's been acting up a great deal, and Amanda and David have been called to school once already, and the school has said that they will suspend Kasey for a week if it happens again. Kasey has been diagnosed with ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder), and they are still trying to find medication that works for her in treating this. This has been a very trying situation for all of them, and Amanda said that they could really use all of our prayers.

Today's class member prayer:

Joey Harbarger

Have a great day.

Jay