letters to an unknown god/Your God asks the Impossible.
Connect
"Why should I go to church when the church is filled with people who gossip, tell lies, and generally act like hypocrites with their ‘holier than though attitudes? They don't even follow their own rules. What can I get out of a place like that? Man, I don't need it!"
Consider:
- Have you ever been challenged like this by someone who does not believe in God?
- How do we explain the shortcomings of Christians to those outside the church?
- Does being a Christian mean trying to follow an impossible set of rules?
Grow
Over the past few weeks the sermons have followed the theme of responding to questions that those outside of the faith have of Christians. This Sunday, the message addressed the question of how impossible it is to live up to all the rules that are part of our faith. All of the Commandments and expectations seem to place barriers in front of us as we fail over and over again to live the life that God calls us to live. In the Gospel, John 14:15 [1] we are challenged, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."
Read:
- John 14:15-21 [2]
Consider:
- Is God really expecting us to follow all of the rules?
- How did Jesus show us what it means to "keep my commandments?"
- How does he provide a way for us to fulfill his will?
Your God Asks the Impossible
In Sunday's sermon Pastor Beth Warpmaeker explained that Jesus didn't come to earth to hand us a list of rules. His message was clear in the Bible stories that demonstrate over and over what God expects of us. He asks us to love God and to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. When he had dinner with the tax collector, when he asked for a drink of water from the unclean woman at the well, when he cleansed the outcast leper, he showed us how to tear down the barriers that keep us from loving each other. Jesus didn't follow every cultural rule; in fact he broke many of the norms of the day to teach us what it means to be in a living relationship with God and our neighbors. All of the rules and commandments were fulfilled in Jesus death and resurrection and the barriers to living in relationship with God were taken away. "For in him we live and move and have our being...for we are his offspring." Acts:17:28. As Pastor Beth said, we should not let the barriers get in the way of seeing the humanity of each other, for "God is using us to bring about change-one relationship at a time."
Read:
- Acts 17:22-31 [3]
- Sunday's sermon [3]
Consider:
- What are the barriers in our own lives that interfere with reaching out to others? In our neighborhood, in our world community?
- How can we remove the barriers that keep us from sharing God's love?
Close
"Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen."
St. Francis of Assisi
Prepare
Want to get a jump on next Sunday?
Read:
- Acts 1:6-14 [4]
- John 17:1-11 [5]
Words for the Week
Try this contemplative approach to reading scripture called lectio divina.
Take a deep breath and find a little silence within yourself. Then:
Read the verse a few times with a listening heart filled with unhurried expectation.
Reflect on this question, "What are you saying to me in this verse today, God?"
Respond by talking to God about your real feelings, thoughts, questions, and doubts.
Rest by simply being with God who knows you and loves you.
Monday
8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.-Romans 13:8 [6]
Tuesday
17This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. --John 14:17 [7]
Wednesday
18I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.-John 14:18 [8]
Thursday
"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."-Luke 19:10 [9]
Friday
They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world."-John 4:42 [10]
Saturday
9 The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.-Romans 13:9-10 [11]