This week's Scripture. Exodus 1:8-2:10 and Psalm 124 (or Isaiah 51:1-6 and Psalm 138); Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20

In this week's gospel lesson, Jesus asks "Who do you say I am?" The disciples give answers they probably have heard, but Simon - renamed Peter form πετρα - petra - Greek for rock - immediately says that Jesus is the Messiah - χριστοσ (Christ) - the Son of the Living God. Jesus replies that only God could have made this known to him, and that upon this rock, He will build his church, giving Peter the keys of the kingdom. 

 

In "How Do We Know What God Is Like?" The Very Rev. Dr. Ian Markham gives us many looks at what God is like. What is God like?  In "Who do you think you are?" Paul Bellan-Boyer does what Jesus does. He turns the focal point on us. Why does Jesus do this?

 

Bellan-Boyer says ; "Self-awareness, knowing ourselves, helps us relate to God.

The Jesuits use a daily prayer of self-examination, which asks things like:
· [God,] When did I sense your presence the most in my day?
· When did your presence seem farthest away from me in my day?
· How were you loving me in my day?
· How were you loving me even when your presence seemed far away?
· How did I respond to your love in my day?

 

Why is it important to know who we are? Who do you think you are?

 

 

Sunday School Lesson - August 14 - Year A - Pentecost + 9

Scripture this week:  Genesis 45:1-15; Psalm 133; Isaiah 56:1, 6-8; Psalm 67; Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32; and Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28.

 

 

Dr, Jan Love addresses unity, conflict and differences of opinion in the church, and suggests that the gospel account of the Canaanite woman seeking healing for her daughter offers Christ's example of resolving conflict in a positive, healing manner.

 

"The kind of unity described in Psalm 133-a community of faithful followers on a journey with God to a beloved home-never obliterates differences, disagreement, and conflicts. Unity among believers does not require uniformity, which would not only be boring but also a denial of the rich variety of God's good creation among humans and their communities.

 

The kind of unity described in Psalm 133 does require, however, that we engage each other and our conflicts over differences to make them productive rather than destructive. Such unity requires that we see conflict as an opportunity to deepen our faith rather than destroy our adversaries, whether they be across the world or across the table in a local church meeting.

When we within the body of Christ choose to listen deeply, we will discover new ways of hearing about each other's encounter of and witness to Christ. Moreover, we will likely learn more about the wonders and mysteries of our own faith when we listen, really listen to others, even those with whom we will never fully agree. Then we will know more fully the unity to which God calls us-a unity so large, a love so expansive, and a mutual encounter so riveting, just like that of Jesus and the Canaanite woman, that we find new ways of healing ourselves and our communities."

In "Who Gets to Enter the Temple," The Rev. William Blake Rider asks "Is everyone entitled to mercy?" What do you think?

Sunday School Lesson - August 7 - Year A - Pentecost +8

This week's scripture: Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28;  Psalm 105: 1-6, 16-22, 45b;  1 Kings 19:9-18;  Psalm 85:8-13; Romans 10:5-15;  and Matthew 14:22-33.

How and when do we encounter the risen Christ? This week we study Matthew's account of Peter walking on water and starting to sink, summoned by Jesus. What did it take for Peter to do this? Why did he start to sink? What did Jesus say to him? What was Peter's response?

The Rev. John Jewell gives us four different themes to remember and apply as we analyze, or better, live through this story with Peter in his sermon "If you want to walk on water...you gotta get out of the boat!" First, he says if you're going to make any gains, you have to take risks - and Peter was certainly a risk taker in this story, and on other occasions, too. Can you recall some of his daring acts, speech or bravado? How about some of his weakest acts, and even acts of cowardice and shame?

Jewell says we encounter Christ in faith, fear, as friend, and in the foundational statement that "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!" How is this evident in the gospel account this week? How is this evident in our own lives? Jesus tells Peter to "Take heart, take courage" - θαρσαι - tharsai - the same thing he says to the paralytic lowered into his presence by his friends, and to the woman who touched his cloak, as he healed them. He said that their faith has made them whole.

How and when have you encountered God? It is written that we may entertain angels unawares. How does God come to Elijah who has run for his life, and withdrawn in despair?

Sunday School Lesson - July 31 - Year A - Pentecost +7

 The Scripture. Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 17:1-7, 16; Isaiah 55:1-5; Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21.

The feeding of the 5,000. Something St. Mark's does well. That's the subject of our gospel lesson this week. Looking at it through modern, and post modern points of view, many ask how that could happen. Katerina Whitley tells us "Now, the temptation is great – and thousands have succumbed to it – to try to explain away what happened that day, on a deserted stretch of land near the Sea of Galilee. Interpreters have tried to rationalize the resulting abundance of food. The reaction is understandable: It is frightening to stand in the real presence of the creative energy of God! In order not to be afraid, we try to explain it according to the laws of nature. But we cannot. When the eternal enters the temporal with such force, our finite minds either close up or become arrogant. So it doesn’t help to argue about the word “miracle” when we are confronted with this story. What matters here is that they were all fed." Read all of Katerina Whitley's message.

Note how Jesus makes this happen. Again, Katerina Whitley, "Jesus sets an example for his church in this act of feeding the five thousand. The living Christ wants us to take what we have and offer it to God, no matter how little it is, no matter how meager our resources are. When it comes to the needs of his people, God will not take no for an answer. God will bless, but the rest is up to us. We bring the resources, and we do the work. It was the disciples who were asked to organize the people and who served the food that continued to increase because it was blessed by the loving energy of the Creator. How can the church do less?"

A few weeks ago, we asked, "What is enough?" This week we learn that what we bring to God is enough, with God's blessing, and with God's help, all will be fed, be filled, and will have an abundance to share with our brothers and sisters. Amen. And thank you St. Mark's - compassionately feeding all people.

Sunday School Lesson – July 24 – Year A - Pentecost +6

 

 

The scripture this week: Genesis 29:15-28 , Psalm 105:1-11, 45b, Psalm 128, 1 Kings 3:5-12, Psalm 119:129-136, Romans 8:26-39 and Romans 8:26-39.
In our Gospel reading this week, Jesus gives us five parables in rapid succession - glimpses of the kingdom of God. The Rev, Charles Hoffacker treats us to a lesson about the kingdom of God from the briefest, and often over-shadowed parable - the parable of yeast and the leavening of bread. I have mentioned it several times over the last couple of years - we are going to have to have a class where we all bring in some baked bread, and talk about its significance for us. What do we learn about the kingdom of God from this parable? What do we learn about how we can see and experience the kingdom now? What is the significance of being able to recognize, experience and live in the kingdom of God now? How does this affect our relationships with God and each other - even with "strangers, others, and even our enemies?

 

Once again The Rev. Dr. M. Craig Barnes captures our attention with the catchy title of his sermon "The Problem with two spouses," using the story of Jacob, Leah and Rachel to teach us about our relationships with not only our spouses and family, but with others - especially when we see that the other person is not who we thought he or she was. How we deal with that, and how we even see others tells us a lot about ourselves, and our relationship with God, and how God's love can transform us, our relationships, and how we see others: 

 

"...the people who were supposed to love you hurt you. When we are hurt, the temptation is great to put as much distance between them and us as possible. But Jesus is persistent in calling you to return the hurt with love. Sometimes it seems like there is no human way you are going to be able to do that. And that is exactly the right starting point. There is no human way to love this person. You will have to turn to something sacred. If you choose to be more loving, the first place to turn is not to your strained relationship, but to your God who is love. (1 John 4:8) And what do you find when you turn to God? The most amazing grace - God really knows you and God really loves you. Most of the time we think we can have this one or the other - either we can be really known or loved; but if we want people to love us, then we are terrified of letting them know all the truth about us. God really knows and really loves you. That fills our hearts with so much gratitude that the love spills over into our relationships. If your heart is not filled with gratitude, even for the Leah or Jacob in your life, then you missed the miracle of the Gospel."

 

And finally we have that strong and reassuring statement of faith and grace in Paul's letter to the Romans: "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."

 

Sunday School Lesson - July 17 - Year A - Pentecost +5

This week's scripture is the story of Jacob's ladder and a different sower parable in which Jesus tells us to leave the weeds with the wheat, along with beautiful Psalms and wise words of wisdom from the Wisdom of Solomon that the righteous must be kind. 

The Rev. Dr. M. Craig Barnes offers important life lessons from Jacob's story, and Jacob's dream - our dreams.  One of his insights about Jacob, and us,  is: "You see, when it comes to dreams, the only good ones come from God. And God insists on just giving them to us. The most important dreams are things like being loved, having a child, beholding beauty, discovering your purpose in life, finding joy in your work, or finding a friend who will stick with you through anything, even the truth. Those dreams, the things for which we yearn most in life, come only as blessings from God. And blessings can only be received. There is, however, one thing we can do to prevent ourselves from enjoying these sacred gifts. We can insist on getting them for ourselves. That is the great flaw in Jacob's life. And my life. And maybe yours also. We keep trying to achieve what we can only receive as a gift.There is, however, one thing we can do to prevent ourselves from enjoying these sacred gifts - the stuff of our dreams. We can insist on getting them for ourselves. That is the great flaw in Jacob's life. And my life. And maybe yours also. We keep trying to achieve what we can only receive as a gift." Read more from Day 1.

The Rev. Dr. Joanna Adams gives us answers as to  "Why can't we pull up the weeds from the wheat?" Consider: "On a vastly greater and more serious scale, there are extremists all over the world today who believe they have a mandate from their god literally to destroy those whom they deem to be enemies of God. Surely the Christian church in a world so polarized and filled with terror because of religious excess, surely Christ's people have a special responsibility to bear witness to a better way." She says that Jesus tells us to just leave the weeds alone? What does she mean "Weeds to wheat?"  Read more from Day 1. [The ocean sunset picture was taken by a friend, Alan Rezek, July 2011.]

Sunday School Lesson - July 10 - Year A - Pentecost +4

Link to this week's scripture  Genesis 25:19-34 ; Psalm 119:105-112; Isaiah 55:10-13; Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13; Romans 8:1-11; Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

Such beautiful psalms this week, and Jesus' parable of the sower. Sarah Dylan Breuer offers a different perspective on this parable than we usually consider. She considers the sower in "God is a Foolish Farmer,, from her blog, Dylan's lectionary blog." Think about her discussion of a koan as we read, not only this parable, but all of God's word. She says "the story pulls us out of entrenched patterns of relationship and ways of being in the world; it dislocates us from what’s comfortable to free us to establish new kinds of relationship, new ways of being... There is room in your heart and in mine for more compassion, more peace, more freedom than we'd thought...The Good News we experience as we wrestle with scripture in community is well worth the hard work we put into it... we need to be born again, and again, and again..."

She also considers the worries and concerns of "scarcity" in her church, St. Martins: "There's been a lot of talk at St. Martin's about scarcity, about guarding closely what's precious because it seems to be rare. Money is tight; time is hard to spare. Even when we're looking at less tangible and measurable qualities we value, like love and blessing, there's sometimes a sense that the good things God has for us are in such limited supply that the only kind of good and responsible stewardship is to guard it very carefully, give it only to those we're sure are worthy, protect it like the last egg of the rarest endangered bird. Predictions of peril and doom provoke a great deal of anxiety, and living on a knife edge like that not only causes constant unrest, but also tends to shut down the kind of creative and life-giving vision that energizes us to live more deeply into God's dreams for us as individuals, in community, and for the world. That's not the Good News God has for us:

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
-- Romans 8:15-17

"The kingdom of God has come among us. God has blessed us richly, and God’s people have been entrusted with that which is most precious in the world. But ironically, these priceless commodities only gain value – the seed of God’s word only bears fruit – when God’s people scatter it absolutely heedless of who is worthy to receive it."