November 24, 2019, 2 Peter 1:1-15 – Post 2 – ISSL Reflection

V.
I closed the other day with two questions – (1) What is the first step we take toward this knowledge? And (2) What steps do we take as we begin to gain this knowledge?

Recall that the “knowledge” we are considering is

“… the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord…. through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness …. For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith … with knowledge … [to] keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

First step? Maybe that step is by “him who called us by his own glory and goodness …”

Can we take seriously that the first step, the first movement, is from “Him” towards us?

If that is true in any sense, what do you think about that? How do you feel about it? And, how do you think you want to react?

VI.
Did you notice we are encouraged to –

“ … make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.”

Maybe that suggests our first step is “faith.” I’ll leave you to consider what kind of “faith” this might be.

VII.
I do want us to notice the sequence here – faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, mutual affection, love.

Maybe the old statement that “all you need is faith” does not paint the entire picture.

Initially, I asked us to pay attention to how often Peter mentions “knowledge.” Now, please note that “knowledge” is not the starting or ending of how Peter wants us to “support” our faith.

How am I going to “support” my faith in the ways that Peter marks out?

What will today and tomorrow look like for me if I can take his encouragement seriously and “support [my] faith”?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

November 24, 2019, 2 Peter 1:1-15 – ISSL Reflection

I.
As we turn this week to the beginning of this letter I think it helpful to notice two things.

First, Peter knows he is not sharing with his readers anything they do not already know,

“Therefore I intend to keep on reminding you of these things, though you know them already …”

And second, this may be close to the last time, if not the last time, he is able to encourage them,

“I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to refresh your memory, since I know that my death will come soon …”

While it might seem at first, since according to his own testimony he is writing only about things they already know, this letter might lack urgency, on the other hand, since he might not have time to encourage them again, it does carry in the words a sense of urgency.

As you turn to read and meditate on this passage, what do you notice that you already know but need to “refresh your memory.”

II.
2 Peter 1:1-15 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature. For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For anyone who lacks these things is short-sighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.

Therefore I intend to keep on reminding you of these things, though you know them already and are established in the truth that has come to you. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to refresh your memory, since I know that my death will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

III.
It’s hard to miss that he is at least writing to them about “knowledge” –

“May grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord…. through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness …. For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith … with knowledge … [to] keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

What kind of “knowledge.” The kind that is obtained from studying concepts, facts, theorems and such?

Or is this a knowledge of a different kind.

Maybe a knowledge that comes by first hand experience of something? A knowing that comes from living “up close and personal” with not just the object of this knowing but with the subject of this knowing.

If that is the case, how do you and I go about increasing in this knowledge that he thinks his readers (and maybe us) already have?

IV.
What is the first step we take toward this knowledge?

What steps do we take as we begin to gain this knowledge?

We’ll take up those questions again after we spend some time with them.

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

November 17, 2019, 1 Peter 1:13-25 – Post 3

X.
“Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.” (1 Peter 1.21)

I wonder if we could use this sentence and most especially the first words, “Through him you have come to trust in God …” as a lens through which to read and reflect on this entire passage?

“… you have come to trust in God … faith and hope set on God.”

What does the passage offer us as what that life looks like and how it is lived? Consider the life lived by “trust … faith … hope … in/on God”?

XI.
Might we also take sentence as a lens through which to look at our own life? When, where, how is our life lived by “… trust in God … faith and hope … set on God”?

And if need be we can ask ourselves when is our life not lived that way?

But first look for the signs that you life is lived by that kind of faith.

XII.
Harry Emerson Fosdick has a wonderful book entitled “The Meaning of Faith.” He starts the volume showing many of the ways that “faith” is a natural part of living our everyday, work-a-day lives. He is not writing of divine faith or theological faith but a “natural” faith. The kind of faith that we exercise when we drive down a certain road and know we will arrive at our friend’s home. Fosdick gives many (and better) examples.

Of course, he does move on that write of faith in God, divine faith.

Allow me to point to a few words Fosdick pens as he contrasts faith and fear –

Fear imprisons, faith liberates;
fear paralyzes, faith empowers;
fear disheartens, faith encourages;
fear sickens, faith heals;
fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable —
and, most of all,
fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life,
while faith rejoices in its God.

  • from, Harry Emerson Fosdick, “The Meaning of Faith,” p 187.

May we find The Way that begins to leave fear behind and begins to walk with faith.

chalres
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

November 17, 2019, 1 Peter 1:13-25 – Post 2

VI.

Let’s read over the passage again today and look for the contrasts you see in the passage.

For instance, “reverent fear.” Does “reverence” and “fear” create contrasting images of ideas for you? Or do they somehow “fit” together?

What else in the passage offers “commentary” on that image?

VII.
Maybe, “perishable” and “imperishable.”

What do you see named in the passage as “perishable” or “imperishable”?

You could go another step. What does this suggest to you that you might encounter today as “perishable” or “imperishable”?

VIII.
We read of “discipline” and “obedience.” I am not suggesting these two are in contrast but more likely different facets of the same mindset and behaviors.

What do think contrasts with “discipline” and “obedience” that might be named or just implied in the passage?

IX.
As you read the passage, open yourself to some of these thoughts and see where you are lead.

We’ll talk later,

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

November 17, 2019, 1 Peter 1:13-25

I.

On my first reading of this passage I had a sense of “overload.”

There is a lot going on here.  It starts with “… prepare … disciple … hope … conformed …”  And toward the end, “… withers … endures … good news … to you”

So let’s start at the end, “ … to you.”

Read the passage slowly (a couple of times) and pay attention to what is written “to you.”

II.

1 Peter 1:13-25 (New Revised Standard Version)

Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct;  for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.

Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.  For

“All flesh is like grass

    and all its glory like the flower of grass.

The grass withers,

    and the flower falls,

but the word of the Lord endures forever.”

That word is the good news that was announced to you.

III.

Now that you have read the passage once or twice prayerfully pay attention to what speaks to you with the most intensity.

What do you hear?  What draws and holds your attention?  I am tempted to offer suggestions, but today I am going to resist that.  This is to be about the relationship between this Scripture and you and where the Spirit speaks.

IV.

Why are you drawn to the words that hold you?

What today (or yesterday or last week) has prepared you to hear the passage this way?

And, what does the drawing offer you for your path today, tomorrow, this week?

V.

Don’t leave this work too quickly.  Let it settle in your soul and see what opens.

charles

{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

November 10, 2019, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 – Post 3

VIII.
I have asked you to pay attention to what Paul writes about being “… imitators … [and] … example.”

Actually, thus far I have mentioned being an imitator and asked you to recall persons (and groups) that are maturing in Christlikeness and in that call for your imitation.

Paul then adds, “ … so that you became an example to all …”

How? By mere imitation?

I don’t think so.

Left on one level imitation might be only about surface behaviors and even maybe superficial.

As we look to those who are maturing in their relationship with God and in Christlikeness we can learn from how they treat others and relate to others, how they worship, and from their acts of piety.

IX.
That last phrase, “acts of piety,” might sound strange or even archaic.

Maybe we should use terms more in use today – spiritual disciplines, spiritual practices.

Some folks seem to have a problem when others speak of spiritual practices. For them it seems to diminish the concept of “saved by grace” and might lead to some form of “works righteousness.”

In my understanding, at its root, a spiritual practice is a way of offering ourselves to God to be formed by God into the disciple of the Kingdom he knows we are called to be, made to be, and are already in part.

X.
Did you notice Paul wrote, “…our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit…”?

That is the power and the Spirit that can inhabit our practices.

The practices open a means for God to form us.
So if our practices are our offering to God, when the offering plate come pass us next, when another child of God, by whatever means asks something of us, what will we offer?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

November 10, 2019, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 – Post 2

V.
Let’s pick up where we left off Monday.

Who and what is on the list I asked you to think about? Where have you encountered something of the lifestyle Paul saw in the folks he was writing to?

I think of a college professor, two pastors, a congregation who restored my faith in churches, a Sunday School teacher of a high school boys class (who was later “fired” as the teacher of that class, but that’s a story for another day). And a woman who volunteered to help in the “cradle role” ministry of a church, who when I was seven introduced me to church. And let me not forget a group of people who have made their mark on the world by caring for mentally disabled folk in a setting that is more home than many homes I have been in.

Who/what shows up on our list?

VI.
Paul told the folk they were “imitators of us and the Lord.

Imitators, of Paul and his companions. Really?

Was Paul trying to brag? Trying to impress the people in Thessaloniki that any accomplishments they might have made were because he was their mentor?

I suspect not.

Maybe he knew we learn from one another. As we see Christ-like behavior modeled we have an opportunity to begin to try it on, live it out, and more to the point – grow into Christlikeness.

That still goes on today. Thank God, it does.

VII.
“We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers …”

Who are you thankful for?

Who is in your prayers?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

November 10, 2019, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

I.
This week we focus our attention on the first few sentences of a letter of Paul to the church in Thessaloniki. After the typical start to Paul’s letter where he invokes “grace and peace” for the community he writes, “We always give thanks to God for all of you and ….”

Why? Why do Paul and Silvanus and Timothy “always” give thanks for that community?

Read over these sentences often enough so you come away with the same sense of thanksgiving that Paul and his companions had for those folks.

II.
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 (*New Revised Standard Version)

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.

III.
So, what do you hear? What in Paul’s description of the these folk would give you cause for thankfulness?

Faith – Love – Steadfastness – Beloved and chosen by God – power in the Holy Spirit – conviction – imitators of Jesus – persecuted yet joyful – examples to others – welcoming – idols left behind – serving God – patience

Do Christian folk like this provoke you to thankfulness?

IV.
But wait – do we have to read about these kind of Christians in the first century to be provoked to thankfulness?

Where have you encountered this kind of Christ-like life style today?

In what churches, Sunday School classes, small groups, mission groups, classes, homes, workplaces … have you seen this way of being face to face?

Now – I don’t want to just ask this question, and have you read these words and then go on to ask another question or make some other statement.

I want us to stop right where we are and using Paul’s description as our template find where we have encountered this style of being Christian.

Maybe you want to get some paper and pen/pencil and write down specific places, times, people who have provoked you to this level of thankfulness and prayer.

So, who, where, when, what do you recall …. ?

We’ll talk more later.

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

November 3, 2019, 2 Corinthians 13:1-11 – Post 3

XI.

Before we leave this portion of Paul’s letter, allow me to mention one more item Paul writes,

Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves.

XII.

Maybe we could start to implement Paul’s direction by going over this letter and find the things, the ideas, the behaviors, the relationships that to Paul indictes one is “living in the faith.”

Then we could create a checklist so we could check off if all of us are doing the things we should be doing.

But sometimes such a checklist could lead us astray.

XIII.

There is nothing wrong with a careful reading of the letter to see what Paul writes about as “living in the faith.”  If we do embark on that path, please include 1 Corinthians in your careful reading.

But if we take our checklist and being applying it to the others in our community, our church, to see how they live up to list, we have taken a first step I don’t think Paul intended.

He encourages us to examine ourself, to test ourself.  Not to start by testing the walk of others.

XIV.

A checklist might take us astray in another way also.

Paul speaks to us about “living in the faith”

The faith we live in is not just a matter of do’s and don’ts.  It is about what we do but it is more. It is about behavior, but it is more.

It is about relationship.  I don’t think Paul would disagree with Jesus when Jesus said we are first to love God.  To me loving God includes seeking God, giving ourselves to God and paying attention to what God is about in the world.

XV.

And that brings me one more thing to mention today, The Prayer of Examen.

In its simplest form the Prayer of Examen is taking time, with God’s help, to review your day, to seek what in the day drew you close to God and what in the day hindered your closeness to God, and then to consider what that tells you about “living in faith” tomorrow.

At Discipleswalk.org I have posted several times about the Examen.  You can find links to those posts here http://discipleswalk.org/?s=examen&x=0&y=0 

XVI.

Friends,  Go in Peace to live in the Faith, more and more each day.

charles

{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

November 3, 2019, 2 Corinthians 13:1-11 – Post 2

VI.
What is Paul’s overarching concern as he gives these closing words to the church at Corinth?

He does mention his authority as an apostle. If you skim back over previous remarks in the letter you will see that has been under attack. But to my reading while that is still on his mind, it is not his primary worry.

Let me share some things I notice.

VII.
Paul writes –

Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?
We pray to God that you may not do anything wrong.
This is what we pray for, that you may become perfect.
Put things in order,

Being “in Christ” is phrase encountered a number of times in Paul’s letters. And if they are “in Christ” and “Jesus Christ is in you,” then he pleads with them to see the path they are on.

Is isn’t just to do a few things “right.” It is to “become perfect,” and “to put things in order.” To live as we are called to live as one who belongs in the family of Jesus, as a disciple of Jesus, as one brought to the Kingdom of God.

That word, “perfect.” Too much? I don’t think Paul is setting up a standard that is impossible for us. I think he is calling us toward being all we can be “in Christ.” I recall Jesus calling us to “perfection” Does it help to hear it as a call to maturity. A call to living more and more as a citizen of the Kingdom of God? And does it help to know you are not alone. You are “in Christ.”

VIII.

agree with one another, live in peace

I suspect Paul is not simply telling us, “get along with each other.” I suspect he is reminding us we live in community with one another. Just as we are “in Christ,” we are also “in community” with one another. We are there to stand with each other and support each other on the walk to maturity.

IX.

Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves.

And he asks us to take his warnings, his instruction, his encouragement not just as words to be heard and forgotten, but as a means to “examine” ourselves and notice the places we are already on the path to maturity and the places we need to correct steps that are not on the path to maturity.

X.
Have I been fair with the words of Paul? How do you read him?

We’ll talk more later.

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}