Friday, April 14, 2006

Good Morning

 

Remember that this week we will three worship services -- our two regular services at 8:45A and 11A, and a sunrise service at 6A.  There will be breakfast served after the 6A service.

 

Today is Good Friday, and is the day that Christ was crucified. More information about Good Friday is available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 7:15, pages 39 - 41, stopping at "The Bliss of the Blessed"

 

-- a long passage in Barclay to make two short points

 

-- one is the subtle way that John makes the point that heaven is going to be open to all, it is for all -- the universality of salvation and service to God.  At the time John wrote this, that was a hard thing still for a lot of Jews to accept.

 

-- the other is the idea of God dwelling with these saints, or as is expressed in my translation, that he will spread his tent over them.  Again, in the midst of all this craziness in Revelation, we come across a passage of great hope and encouragement and victory.  It is often lost in the overall tone of the book, but again, a full reading of the book like we are doing helps us to find these nuggets of hope.

 

Today's Scripture (this week, passages from Luke about the Easter story)

 

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining.  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."  When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Luke 23:44-46

Today's prayer requests:   Those who are unchurched.

There are going to be a lot of people who attend church services this week who only attend once or twice a year on days such as Easter.  We need to pray for them, that they might find a reason to break that habit and to make a committment to more regular attendance and a more regular relationship with God.

Today's class member prayer:

Nicole McKinney

Jay

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Good Morning

 

My internet was down yesterday morning, so I wasn't able to send anything out.

 

Remember that this week we will three worship services -- our two regular services at 8:45A and 11A, and a sunrise service at 6A.  There will be breakfast served after the 6A service.

 

Today is called Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday on the Christian calendar, and is the day that the Last Supper was held.  More information about the derivation of the term Maundy is available at the official online reference site of the LEAP Class - Wikipedia - at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maundy_Thursday

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 7:13-14, you should read through page 39, stopping at "The Service in the Glory"

 

-- the lessons for today and yesterday are about the robes of those who have come through the Great Tribulation, how they have white robes that have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.

 

-- Barclay makes a very strong and interesting point about a very subtle turn of phrase in this passage -- the idea that the saints are the ones who washed their robes -- the robes weren't washed for them.  It is this idea that we have to reach out and grasp and take hold of the salvation that is offered to us, and Barclay offers up the way we can do that -- through penitence, through faith, and through the means of grace, which in the Methodist tradition, are prayer, reading the Scriptures, hearing the word preached, communion and fasting.

 

-- We'll need to see how Barclay addresses this question -- these saints are described as those who have come through the Great Tribulation, though it seems to me that John has not yet described what most people consider the Great Tribulation.  Seems like a little disconnect in the conventional wisdom on Revelation.  If the book is strictly chronological, it may be that the Great Tribulation was the first six seals, which may be a time we are already going through.  However, from what I can tell, that would be the minority opinion of what this is about.

Today's Scripture (this week, passages from Luke about the Easter story)

 

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."  In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you."

Luke 22:19-20

Today's prayer requests:   Margaret Rose Severance, Brigette's grandmother

She has been on list for a while, as she recovers from her broken leg -- getting around on walker now, but still needs our prayers.

Today's class member prayer:

Matt Rocksvold

Jay

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Good Morning

 

Remember that this week we will three worship services -- our two regular services at 8:45A and 11A, and a sunrise service at 6A.  There will be breakfast served after the 6A service.

 

Today's Reading:  Revelation 7:13-14, pages 35-36, stop at "The Saints Who Have . . . "

 

-- the interesting point in today's reading to me is the one that Barclay makes about the Jewish view of blood -- that it represents/symbolizes the life (not just life), and God forbade them to eat meat that still had lifeblood in it (Genesis 9:4).  As I read elsewhere, a commentator said that God didn't want them to eat/drink blood, not because it was too vile or gross, but because blood was too sacred.  They were to seek their life from God, not from any creature.

 

- that said, it starts to pull together when you think about communion, and the idea that Jesus sets before us a ritual that involves our symbolic drinking of his blood, you start getting the idea of his life, and becoming one with him.

 

-- for the lesson today, the point that Barclay makes is that blood of the Lamb represents the sacrafice that Christ made in order to restore the relationship between God and man.

 

Today's Scripture (this week, passages from Luke about the Easter story)

 

Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.  For the time will come when you will say, "Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed! Then they will say to the mountains "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!"

Luke 23:28-30

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

Corey has been on the prayer list for a while, and we need to continue to remember him and his family as they deal with his spells/seizures and try to determine the cause.

Today's class member prayer:

April Walker

Jay

Monday, April 10, 2006

Good Morning

 

Holy Week is this week.  Here is a link to a page that talks about the days of Holy Week.

 

http://www.cresourcei.org/cyholyweek.html

Today's Reading:  Revelation 7:13-14, pages 33-34, stop at "The Blood of Jesus Christ"

 

-- Short passage today -- the thing that sticks with me today is the point that Barclay makes about translation -- that the elder says the ones in the robes have come through "the" great tribulation, not just "great tribulation".  My Bible reads that way as well.  The point is that there is a very specific time that this is referencing.

 

-- one thing that I was thinking about, based on our conversation yesterday in class, is the idea about the timing of the opening of the seals, and the end times, and what time frame this refers to. The thought that we had yesterday is that the opening of seals up through the sixth seal could refer -- not to the end times per se, but to the march of history up until now from the time of Christ's cruxification.  And actually, the more I think about it, that timing works out, because we need to remember when John was writing this book -- probably 90 years or so after Christ.  All of the things that we discussed as being the possible explanations of the seals -- the great plagues, the World Wars, etc -- were in the future to John at the time John wrote this.  All of history was pretty much in front of John when he wrote this.

 

-- the hard part (actually the impossible part) is to get a sense of what part of Revelation's story is in front of us. 

 

Today's Scripture

 

He said to them, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's"

Luke 20:25

Today's prayer requests:   Saundra Aaron

Valerie's brother's mother-in-law continues to go through treatment for cancer.  Need to remember her and her family in her struggles.

Today's class member prayer:

Brigitte Severance

Jay