Monday, February 20, 2006

Good Morning

 

Just to follow up from our discussion yesterday, here is the definition of holy, from the online dictionary:

 

ho·ly  

ADJECTIVE:
ho·li·er , ho·li·est

1. Belonging to, derived from, or associated with a divine power; sacred.
2. Regarded with or worthy of worship or veneration; revered: a holy book.
3. Living according to a strict or highly moral religious or spiritual system; saintly: a holy person.
4. Specified or set apart for a religious purpose: a holy place.
5. Solemnly undertaken; sacrosanct: a holy pledge.
6. Regarded as deserving special respect or reverence: The pursuit of peace is our holiest quest.

In all of these, the idea of being different or separate than is present.  There is also the idea of the divine, of being worthy.

Today's Reading:  Revelation 3:14-22; read pages 152 - 155 in Barclay; stop at "The Wealth That is Poverty"

 

-- continuing on with the last of our churches, Laodicea

 

-- the thing for today that jumps out from Barclay is the idea of indifference.  Neither cold nor hot, the church at Laodicea drifts along, with no clear point of view or energy devoted to their faith.

 

-- I guess that the question or application to today's church could be this -- we have all talked and discussed the idea that we live in a culture that is hostile to Christianity, but in thinking about it, much of the attitude from the culture is that Christianity doesn't really matter. And many Christians react and adapt to the culture's attitude by accepting that sense of indifference to their faith -- that Christ and Christianity isn't vitally important.

 

-- There is also the danger of tolerance in feeding our indifference -- if all beliefs are just as good and worthy as your own, why be that invested in one belief system or another.  "They're all the same" is the cry of the indifferent.  I can imagine that the church in Laodicea as a very tolerant church that got along with the whole town just swimmingly.

 

Today's Scripture

 

For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.

 

1 Thessalonians 4:7a

Today's prayer requests:   Saundra Aaron

This is Valerie's brother's mother-in-law, who is being treated for breast cancer.  Need to continue to remember her as she continues her treatment and her family.

Today's class member prayer:

Krystle Hatton

Have a great day.

Jay