Friday, November 4, 2005

Good Morning! 

 

I'll most likely not be there on Sunday -- this is our last tourney until next spring.  I don't know if our new books will be here in time for people to pick up on Sunday, if they are, I'll leave in the class room; if not, I'll have some introductory material about Narnia for us to use during the week.

 

For today, no commentary, but just four quick "encouragement" scriptures for us to read.  They stand alone as words to live by.

 

Today's Scriptures:

 

But as for you .... pursue righteouness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.  Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called.

 

1 Timothy 6:11-12

 

Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love.

 

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

 

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

 

1 Peter 1:15

 

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

Romans 12:21

 

 

Today's prayer request:    The poor

 

The poor will always be with, Jesus said.   We just need to remember those who are poor in our community and our nation, and pray that we do what we can to address their needs, as we are called to do by Christ.

 

Today's class member prayer: 

 

Jay Waters

 

Have a great day.

 

Jay

Thursday, November 3, 2005

Good Morning! 

 

Today's Scripture:

 

May grace and peace be yours in abundance.

 

1 Peter 1:2

 

-- one of the things that I'd lke to make sure we learned/took away from the study we just finished is the idea of grace, and particularly the idea of the means of grace.  This is the way that Wesley talked about the ways that God can channel his grace to us.

 

If you'd like to refresh your memory, go to page 90 of our last study to read the Reflections section.

 

The five means of grace identified by Wesley were prayer, fasting, Bible study, hearing the preached word, and the Lord' Supper.  Note that none of these are essential to our salvation, they are all about ways that God can enrich and transform our lives.  When we feel stalled or distant or indifferent in our relationship with God, these are the ways that we can overcome those feelings.

 

The more that we can engage in these means of grace, the closer we draw to God and the more of his grace we can receive.

 

Today's prayer request:   Our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

Pushed to the back pages of the news somewhat, but we still have thousands of men and women there who are in danger every single hour of every day.  We need to continue to pray for their safety and their continued courage.

 

Today's class member prayer: 

 

Andrew Peebles

 

Have a great day.

 

Jay

Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Good Morning! 

 

Today's Scripture:   

 

Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love.

 

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

 

The interesting thing about this verse is the mixing of the ideas of courage and strength with love. We often think of love as something soft.  But to live out the command to have all you do be done in love is not easy.  There are people and situations we encounter where love is difficult to bring into the equation.  There are time where those around a situation do not want you to address it with love, but with meaness.  That is where it takes courage and strength to extend love to others, in spite of what your first instinct or the instinct of others might be.

 

I had an occassion yesterday where I was writing a short memo about a proposal a newspaper had sent in to one of our clients.  It didn't really make sense of the client to advertise in this newspaper, and I had some various points to make in the memo about why the client should not do it.  At the end of my memo, I had the temptation to be catty and mean-spirited in my summary, in an effort to be funny and flip,  but I fortunately backed away from putting that in the memo. There was a meaness about it that I recognized at the last minute that I didn't like.

 

I'm not making a bid deal of this all -- in the grand scheme of things, it probably didn't mean anything one way or the other.  It is just an example of one of those little things that I think adds up over time to make the culture what it is, and it was an opportunity for me not to contribute a little bit more to the meaness that is around today.  I think those are the kind of little things, little opportunities that we are confronted with everyday that we can influence with our faith.

 

Today's prayer request:   Our church

 

Need to remember our Pleasant Hill church family, and pray that our church continue to be a place of ministry to the community that we serve.

 

Today's class member prayer: 

 

Melissa Herring

 

Have a great day.

 

Jay

Tuesday, November 1, 2005

Good Morning! 

 

Hope you had a good Halloween.  You may or may not know it, but today is All Saints Day.  Here is a quick blurb about All Saints Day from the UMC web site:

Christians celebrate All Saints' Day on November 1 or on the first Sunday in November. The day celebrates the lives of all the "saints," that is, Christians who are no longer living among us. Those who have died since the previous November 1 receive special recognition. One of the most familiar scripture passages usually heard during All Saints' Day observances refers to the saints who have gone before us as "so great a cloud of witnesses" (Heb. 12:1, NRSV).

Interestingly, a ran across another blurb on the UMC site that noted that All Saints Sunday was John Wesley's favorite service -- I didn't see anything more to explain the why or what of that statement, but it is an interesting point.

Today's Scripture:   

 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great crowd of witnessess, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perserverance the race marked out for us.

 

Hebrews 12:1

 

This is one of my favorite scriptures.  In Hebrews, it follows a long section where Paul writes about all of those who had been faithful to God over the centuries -- such as Abraham and Moses and Jacob and Joseph.  The point Paul was making is that we have all of this history of those who have been faithful to draw upon to encourage us to be faithful.  I think at Pleasant Hill, it is easy for us to think about those who have gone before us, because of the history that surrounds us.  People have been worshipping at our spot for almost 175 years, and we should be able to draw encouragement from that long history of faithfulness.  I try to go into the old sanctuary every Sunday before our class, because I get such a feeling of connection to those who have gone before us here in this place.  I feel that great crowd of witnessess around me at that time, and I do feel a part of that tradition of worship.

 

I think that on today, it goal is to connect and remember with those who have gone before who inspires your faithfulness.  Is it someone from the Bible that you connect with, or is it a family member or friend whose faithfulness inspired you? 

 

Today's prayer request:   Prayer of thanksgiving

 

Let's give thanks for all those who have gone before us, who have lived out a life of faith and who continue to inspire our faithfulness.

 

Today's class member prayer: 

 

Susanne Russell

 

Have a great day.

 

Jay

Monday, October 31, 2005

Good Morning! 

 

So, we have finished the Wesleyan Spiritual Reader.  I appreciate everyone for sticking with it -- it was a long study - 26 weeks is six months -- but I hope that you found it to be interesting, and more importantly valuable in your personal spiritual formation.

 

We are going to begin a new study next week, a short study, about the new movie coming out about The Chronicles of Narnia, which was a book by note atheist turned Christian C. S. Lewis.  I've been doing some research on this, and he wrote that he didn't expressly set out to write a "Christian" story, but that, because of his faith, the Christian part of the story just came into it.  The movie opens on early December, and I thought that we would spend about six weeks on this -- which would carry us up to Christmas.  I also thought that we could work out a time one Sunday and go as a class to see the movie. 

 

Then, with the first of the year, we can work on something else - most likely the Purpose Drive Life book, which I think would lend itself to a beginning of the year, New Year's Resolutions type of study.  That would run about six weeks as well, so it won't be long either.

 

For both studies, going forward, I think that it is important not to get out of the habit of the daily study.  So for this week, I'll continue to send our emails, with a daily scripture and prayer requests.

 

This is also a good time to check on participation.  If you'd like to opt out of the daily email, for whatever reason, just reply back and let me know.  If you are following along, but can't get by the church to get a book this Sunday, let me know and I will send one to you.  If you know of someone who wants to receive the daily email, let me know and I will add them to the list.  As always, all of the emails will be posted to the class website, leapclass.blogspot.com.  In the next few days, I'll probably add some links to Narnia content.

 

NOTE:  Tonight is Truck or Treat at the church.  I think it begins at 6P.  If you are out and about, come by and say hi!

 

 

Today's Scriptures:   

 

May grace and peace be yours in abundance.

 

1 Peter 1:2

 

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

 

Hebrews 4:7

 

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

 

1 Peter 1:15

 

Today's prayer request:   Trick or treaters

 

Lots of kids from our family, friends, community and church will be out tonight -- let's pray for them to be safe from every harm.

 

Today's class member prayer: 

 

Kyle Findlay

 

Have a great day.

 

Jay