Thursday, February 9, 2006

Good Morning

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 3:1-6; read pages 127-131 in Barclay; stop before "Imperatives of the Risen Lord"

 

-- two quick notes as we continue on with Sardis.

 

-- the first point that Barclay covers today is that the Sardis church was dead.  When I had first read that, I took it to mean ineffectual and lifeless -- he takes his commentary in a slightly different direction, into the idea that they likely had fallen into some sort of sin or sins, which was causing them to be a dead church.  My sense is that, in the other letters, Christ had already called out the churches that were sinning directly about their sins.  I don't think that in this case, the game would change and Christ would use symbolic language to talk about a church that was sinning.    My take is that when the scripture says that the church was dead, that it was doing nothing, it wasn't reaching out, it wasn't advancing the word. 

 

-- the second point Barclay fixes on today is the idea of watchfulness -- that we need to be on guard for slipping into sin, into lethargy in our faith.  It gives me the mental impression of someone tiptoeing through a minefield. --While it may seem that dangers and sin are all around, the more I thought about it the more I think we are a little better off than someone in the middle of mindfield.  It's more like what my youngest brother experiened when he visited Cambodia a couple of years ago.  That country had a civil war that featured a lot of planted anti-personnel mines.  They were visiting some ruins, and the guides warned him that they needed to stay to the path and be safe -- that if they strayed from the path, they would likely step on a mine.  I think that is more like our task, to stay on a path that others have laid out for us and tested it to be safe, to avoid the landminds that are all around us in our culture.

 

Today's Scripture

 

And do this, understanding the present time.  The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

 

Romans 13:11

Today's prayer requests:   Margaret Rose Severance

Brigette's grandmother has been battling complications from a broken leg.  She needs our prayers to help her recover more fully from the broken leg and the complications and immobility that has resulted.

Today's class member prayer:

Danny Walker

Have a great day.

Jay