Friday, March 31, 2006

Good Morning

 

-- Don't forget -- We are going to have a Sunday School Class meal on Monday, April 3, at 6P at the home of Ron and Michelle Ray.  All you need to bring is a dessert and your soft drinks.  We just need to let Michelle know who is coming -- email her at mray@vulc.com by today to let her know, and to get directions.

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 7:1-3; Pages 20-21 in Barclay, stop at "The Winds of God"

 

-- short reading today as we start chapter 7.

 

-- note that we are still, for the next several days, going to still be at the point after the opening of the sixth seal.  The seventh seal will not be opened until chapter 8.

 

-- Barclay's commentary for today is about setting up the bigger picture of chapter 7.

 

-- Chapter 7 is a bit a the lull before the storm -- it talks about God preparing/marking the faithful prior to the next wave of tribulation and difficulties.  Barclay lists three elements to this view/theme of this chapter -- a warning to all of what is to come; assurance to the faithful that no matter how difficult it gets for them, God has sealed them; and a promise to those faithful that the times after the tribulation will be peaceful and joyful.

 

-- That said, this is an example of the dual nature of Revelation.  There is a reason we have a fear and a hope meter in class -- or at least why Brad does -- fear is the primary thing we focus on with Revelation, and this chapter is another example as to why.  Part of that is that we overlook or gloss over the elements of home in the book, and this chapter is a good example of this -- we don't see the elements of assurance and promise in this chapter, we certainly get the warning.

 

Today's Scripture

 

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him.

Colossians 2:6

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

Jay

Thursday, March 30, 2006

Good Morning

 

-- Don't forget -- We are going to have a Sunday School Class meal on Monday, April 3, at 6P at the home of Ron and Michelle Ray.  All you need to bring is a dessert and your soft drinks.  We just need to let Michelle know whose coming -- email her at mray@vulc.com by today to let her know, and to get directions.

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 6:15-17; Pages 18-20 in Barclay, stop at "Rescue and Reward"

 

-- continuing with the effects of the opening of the sixth seal. This is a passage that should start moving Brad's Fear Meter up a bit.

 

-- as Barclay notes, this passage is one that continues John's reference to the language and images from the Old Testament and other Jewish scriptures of the end times.  As on some other things/images, I think that we have a pretty good of way of imagining what this vision looks like because of our exposure to movies/TV shows.  The images that came to me were from War of the Worlds last year, when people of every level were fleeing to wherever they could to hide, powerless before the aliens.  There are two big exceptions to this comparison though:

 

-- one is that in War of the Worlds, the people were trying to flee at least to the places where the aliens were not at.   There were some safe places here and there.   In this scene from Revelation -- where can you go to flee from God?

 

-- secondly, one of the things that sort of gave hope to the humans in War of the Worlds was the basic human struggle to overcome an adversary, to find a way to fight and win, regardless of how hopeless it seems.  However, who thinks that they can fight God and win?

 

-- So my take on this comparison is that the refugees in War of the Worlds had far, far more hope than those who are around during the opening of the sixth seal.  And given how desperate and utterly hopeless the people were in War of the Worlds, it is hard to imagine a situation even more hopeless and fearful.

 

Today's Scripture

 

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all

Titus 2:11

Today's prayer requests:   John Ciza, co-worker with Ron Ray

Please pray for John Ciza.  He works with me on the Trading Floor.  The paramedics took him to hospital on Wednesday with dizziness, numbness and chest pain.  I’m not sure yet if it is serious or not.

Ron

Today's class member prayer:

Michelle Ray

Jay

RE: Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Please pray for John Ciza. He works with me on the Trading Floor. The paramedics just took him to hospital with dizziness, numbness and chest pain. I’m not sure if it is serious or not.

Ron

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Good Morning

 

Remember that www.leapclass.blogspot.com has all of our back emails and links to various Methodist church resources.

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 6:12-14; Pages 15-18 in Barclay, stop at "The Time of Terror"

 

-- opening of the sixth seal.

 

-- lots happening here.  Barclay's commentary is long, but essentially he is simply detailing for us the imagery from other portions of the scripture the imagery of the end times that John outlines here - the earthquakes, etc.  The point that Barclay is making is that John's description of all this natural diasters and calmities is completely consistent with all of the other end-times imagery from other biblical writers.

 

-- Barclay does say at the end of the passage that we shouldn't take John's language and descriptions here literally.  I can see that with other portions of Revelation, where the fantastical nature of what John writes makes you believe that he is really trying to describe something else.  But in this case, an earthquake is pretty straightforward, a dark sky in the middle of the day is pretty straightforward -- I don't know what he could be talking about other than -- literally -- that he was seing earthquakes and the day becoming dark.

 

-- in the spirit of people trying to figure out John's writings and how they apply to their times, we can look to the past to see some examples of what John "saw" in his vision.  We haven't had this happen to us in our times, but in fairly recently --- in 1883 -- there was an enoromous volcanic eruption at Krakatoa, which caused all manner of climate change, and cold summers in the US, and several weeks where days were darkened from the ash in the atmosphere.  You can imagine that a lot of people at that time thought that the end times were here, given the bizzare effects of the volcanic eruption.

 

Today's Scripture

 

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, be self-controlled, set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1 Peter 1:13

Today's prayer requests:   Corey, Megan's student

Corey has been on a prayer list for a while, for the seizures that he had been having and the long wait to have some tests run..  Here is an update from Megan:

His neuro-oncologist says that the tumor is not life threatening and will recheck him in 6 months.  As for his "spells", the seizure like activity (seizures have been ruled out), doctors don't know what they are or why he is having them.  His mother is taking him to another neurologist for a second opinion about the spells. Thank you for all of your prayers. 

Today's class member prayer:

Monica Harbarger

Jay

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Good Morning

 

Remember that www.leapclass.blogspot.com has all of our back emails and links to various Methodist church resources.

Today's Reading:  Revelation 6:9-11; Pages 13-15 in Barclay, stop at "The Shattered Universe"

 

-- second of two sections on his passage.

 

-- this section introduces some really interesting thoughts.  The first bullet talks about the martyrs cry of how long, and this reminds me very much of one of the famous sermon topics from Martin Luther King, when he preached along a refrain of "How long? Not long"  But even in heaven, there are those who don't understand or realize or can see what God's plan is, or how he is working it out.  I may be reading this wrong, but here is a group that is in heaven and apparently not happy or content.

 

-- the third bullet point notes that the explanation given to the martyrs is that there are more to join them -- more to be killed, to be sacrificed, before it will be time for God to move.  There is an sadness to that for me.

 

-- the second bullet point is the most interesting and possibly controversial -- the cry of the martyrs is that God avenge them and punish those that had persecuted and killed them.  "Vengence is mine, said the Lord" is what the scriptures say, and the martyrs are not disputing that, but simply asking God when he will be taking his vegence, because they are ready for him to do it.  There is an apparent eagerness to see that happen that is at odds with our image/impression of our state of mind and emotion in heaven.  The passage that Barclay includes in his commentary from the Christian philsopher Tertullian, about his coming delight to see his persecutors tormented in hell, is really at odds with what we consider Christian attitudes. Barclay notes that we shouldn't criticize these thoughts until we have gone through what they had gone through -- burning at the stake, being tortured and eaten by lions and killed for sport in front of thousands -- but this attitude, this thought, is just one of the more subtle reasons I believe some early church scholars didn't want to include Revelation in the Bible.  This is not a passage about turning the other cheek, or forgiveness, or loving your enemies. The four horsemen get a lot of the credit for making Revelation a scary book, but this passage is very dark in its own subtle way.

 

Today's Scripture (from Bobby's sermon on Sunday)

 

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

1 Thessalonians 4:7

Today's prayer requests:   Angie, Brigitte Severance's co-worker

Angie was on our prayer list a week or so ago.  Here is an update from Brigitte:

Good morning!  Angie's surgery went well.  It is a grade 1 tumor, which is the best.  She has some numbness on her left side that they hope is not permanent, but only time will tell.  She is still nauseated and her head is still hurting, but that is to be expected.  She came home Friday, and is glad to be home.  She is asking for continued prayers as she is debating on radiation treatment vs no treatment.  Thanks for all the prayers!

Today's class member prayer:

Brad Douglas

Jay

Monday, March 27, 2006

Good Morning

 

- Back from spring break and ready to go.

 

-- We are going to have a Sunday School Class meal a week from today, April 3, at 6P at the home of Ron and Michelle Ray.  All you need to bring is a dessert and your soft drinks.  We just need to let Michelle know whose coming -- email her at mray@vulc.com by Thursday to let her know, and to get directions.

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 6:9-11; Pages 11-13 in Barclay, stop at "The Cry of the Martyrs"

 

-- first of two sections on his passage.

 

-- as mentioned yesterday, the thing that immediately came to mind reading this one was the story of the Afghan man who was on trial for converting to Christianity (Abdul Rahman), who was in danger of being executed for converting to Christianity.  The charges have been dropped, but the concern is that he might be killed after he is released by hard-line Muslims who believe strongly that the death sentence is justified.

 

-- The idea of souls beneath an altar is frankly creepy to me, but I'm trying not to be influenced by my own cultural references and ideas of things like Halloween, etc.  Obviously, given how these people had died -- for their witness for Christ -- this is an honored position.  But on the other hand, they want to be avenged, as noted from their cry, and the idea of the agitated and disturbed soul is not, to me, consistent with my understanding of a heavenly soul at rest. These souls are not at rest, and actually, in the scripture, are told to rest a little while more.  There is more on this thought in the next section of our study.

 

-- in John's writing, he said that when the fifth seal was opened, he saw these souls beneath the altar -- you just wonder what it is he saw -- he didn't see the martyrs, he saw their souls.  Interesting to imagine.

 

Today's Scripture (from Bobby's sermon on Sunday)

 

Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

John 3:20-21

Today's prayer requests:   Dr Page

Dr. Page is Ron and Brad's finance teacher at Auburn, who has lymphoma, and is not doing well.  We need to remember him as he struggles with the disease and the treatment.

Today's class member prayer:

Wes Russell

Jay