Hearing and answering God's call

Scripture:1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20) and Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18  • Deuteronomy 5:12-15 and Psalm 81:1-10  • 2 Corinthians 4:5-12  • Mark 2:23-3:6

 Our Scripture this week is full of hearing and responding to God's call. What do we hear and heed in our busy lives? Who does God call? How? How can we hear God''s call? As we read this week's Scripture, we are invited to consider the value of human life, of all life, especially when reading beautiful Psalm 135, and Jesus' teaching about feeding the hungry, and healing on the Sabbath, telling us that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath, and the Sabbath is made for humankind. Read The Rev. Kate Matthews' "Listening, Hearing, Acting," and The Rev. Danáe Ashley's "Bread, Law and Spirit, who considers questions we ask, such as "Why am I here? What is my purpose? What am I supposed to do with my life," discussing ways of discerning God's call to us, and what is life affirming, and what is not.

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
139:1 O LORD, you have searched me and known me.

139:2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away.

139:3 You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

139:4 Even before a word is on my tongue, O LORD, you know it completely.

139:5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.

139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.

139:13 For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

139:14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.

139:15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

139:16 Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed.

139:17 How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!

139:18 I try to count them -- they are more than the sand; I come to the end -- I am still with you.

Experiencing the Triune God

Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8 and Psalm 29  • Romans 8:12-17  • John 3:1-17

If St. Augustine confessed that he didn't understand the concept of the Trinity, I don't profess to understand it. But maybe that is the problem. Trying to understand it. Two articles this week have helped me appreciate it, though. See The Rev. David Lose's "Trinity:Three-in-One, Plus One!" and Dan Clendenin's "Trinity, Mystery, and Mercy." Particularly poignant in this article are the characterizations of God from the "The Shack" by Paul Young.  "What Young has written — and his critics are right about this point — is really a doctrine of God in story form. But it's no Athanasian Creed with technical abstractions. He pictures the trinitarian God who welcomes us back to the shack as El-ousia, "a large beaming African-American woman" (Father), a "small, distinctively Asian woman" named Sarayu who collects tears (the Spirit), and a Middle Eastern man dressed like a laborer (Jesus).The main character Mack discovers that God isn't like he thought. He's not the product of his projections, or the neat formulas of academic theology. He's perfectly good. He intends to heal and not humiliate us. Mack learns to trust him fully and believe that God is near. That's the good news on Trinity Sunday."

Come Holy Spirit, Come

Scripture: Acts 2:1-21 or Ezekiel 37:1-14  • Psalm 104:24-34, 35b  • Romans 8:22-27 or Acts 2:1-21  • John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

This is the Sunday of Pentecost, what some call the birthday of the Church. Tongues of fire dance around each of those gathered, each speaking in different languages but hearing and understanding what the very Breath (ruah - πνεῦμα) of God breathed into them. They were witnessed to, and taught all things to enable them to witness to the world. In "Pentecost B - Breathed Into," from Journey to Penuel:Wresttling to See the Face of God,  the author tells us that Pentecost is much more than the birthday of the Church, and much more than a personal spiritual experience. We are called to witness to the truth of God's redeeming love.

All of our authors tells us that the Spirit comes to witness to us and teach us in times of discomfort, and even in the midst of hatred and hostility, sadness, and uncertainty, and to comfort, guide us, support and sustain us with its holy presence. See Sister Kym Harris' Commentary and Reflection. Last week, on Ascension Sunday, Jesus used another term to describe the Spirit, which can only come as he departs - παράκλητος - paraclete - The Advocate, The Comforter.

Finally, consider Dan Clendenin's "The Comforter has Come: Everywhere, Always, For All," a nice transition into the Spirit from Alan Rezek's wonderful teaching on Science and the Bible.

 

The other Lord's Prayer ... for us

Scripture:  Acts 1:15-17, 21-26  • Psalm 1  • 1 John 5:9-13  • John 17:6-19

In John's gospel this week, we look at the "other Lord's Prayer." It is Thursday before Friday's crucifixion, and Jesus is praying for God to protect, comfort, to sanctify us in truth, to be one as he and the Father are one, and to make our joy complete. The prayer is not just for his disciples, but for all of us. In chapter 16 of John's gospel, Jesus tells us of the work of the Holy Spirit - the paraclete (παράκλητος) - the Comforter, the Advocate.

It is interesting to think about what Jesus does not pray for. It is clear that we are to be in the world where life is not easy. What does Jesus pray for us? See The Rev. David Lose's "The Other Lord's Prayer." What should we pray for? See Lose's companion article "Prayer and Mystery." 

Jesus asks that we be sanctified - set apart. What does he mean? What does that mean for us? See Jerrod McCormack's  "In the Space In-Between."

I have called you friends... love one another

Scripture: Acts 10:44-48  • Psalm 98  • 1 John 5:1-6  • John 15:9-17

We have a remarkable and important lesson to learn about the church this week from our Scripture readings. We learn that we are loved as friends, chosen by God and charged to bear good fruit, fruit that will last, and to keep God's commandments, which Jesus says is to love one another as he has loved us.

What does this mean for the church? We see congregations getting older, people moving away, diminishing numbers. Should we worry, be concerned? What are we to do? See John15:10 &11.

The church of Jesus Christ will prevail. It may not be the same church we have come to know and love, but it will prevail. How? Why? Dan Clendenin offers us food for thought in "A Church That Changes." In "even astonished - a reflection on Acts 10:44-48," The Rev. Rick Morley has hope that the church in Acts was "astounded" and not disgusted and dismayed when Gentiles asked to be baptized, and Peter himself admitted he had been wrong and allowed the Gentiles to be baptized, seeing that they were filled with the Spirit.

What does it mean to be "chosen" by God? Does that mean a select few? See Katerina Whitley's "Love One Another."

We see the love abiding in the Son and through the Son to and through us, which leads to obedience to the command Jesus gave us - to love one another as he loves us - so much that he laid down his life for us, and that by loving others, we see, as did Peter, that this means all of God's children. In loving one another, we bear good and lasting fruit. Worry? If we abide in his love, and love one another, Jesus tells us that his joy will be in us, and that our joy will be complete.