Jeremiah 18:1-4 The Work of God's Hands

In this text, Jeremiah the prophet is called by God to go to the house of a potter. There he observes the potter at work - beginning a creation, finding it not to his liking, collapsing the vessel, compressing the clay, and beginning again. And the word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah, making the work of the potter a metaphor for the way God works with (in this case) communities and nations.

If we read a little further, we hear Jeremiah sharing both a word of warning and a word of encouragement. If Israel turns from evil, God "will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring upon it"; but then, if Israel does evil, God will again change course, and not bring about the intended good.

Usually, we hear this passage in an individual way - God is the potter, and we are the clay. Surely, that is true. But it is also true that in this case, the text really addresses the community - the nation of Israel. Thus we are invited to think about the sovereign power of God, the issue of free will, and the possibility that God might change course in mid-stream (in response to human action?).

So what do you think?
- Is God's "plan" a fixed and determined course of events?
Then what about our free will?

- How does this text speak to your life individually?
What about our life together as a church?

- What does this say about the covenant, the promise, God has made
to be God, and to claim the people as God's own?


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Hospitality - Jesus' Way!

This week, we are reading from Luke, chapter 14. Jesus is still with "those Pharisees" and they are watching him closely! Now they're at dinner ... Skip over the healing part, we covered that last week. This time, (see vs. 1, then 7-14), he's directing the seating ... and then the invitations ... offering his biblical world etiquette lessons, if you will. "Don't sit at the honored seat - then you won't be embarrassed! ... And don't invite people who can invite you back - invite those who can't pay you back!"

Just a few questions:

Are these just etiquette lessons, designed to keep us from being embarrassed, or do they say something about life lived in God's way?

How is it that we seek blessings, rather than trying to live our lives as a blessing?

What happens to us when we experience the gracious (and totally undeserved) place of honor from God?

Just some wonderings ...


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Bent Over? Or Standing Straight?

This week's gospel lesson is Luke 13:10-17 - the story of the woman who had been crippled for eighteen years - bent over so that she could not stand up straight, look anyone in the eye, or raise her hands in praise to God. In her day, it was believed she was suffering from an evil spirit. Today, we suspect she was suffering from arthritis. But regardless of the cause, she invites us to think about ourselves.

What is it that keeps us bent over today?
- that keeps us from being the people God made us to be
- that keeps us from being the church God calls us to be
- that keeps our world from being the kingdom of God here and now

And what healing might Jesus have to offer us?



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Love One Another ...

John 13:33-35 - Jesus said, "Just as I have loved you,, you also should love one another." The context is the last supper - we know what happens next. But should it inform how we read this commandment? Are we really supposed to die for each other? And even if we are, can we set that aside to think about the more common, everyday things we can do to love each other.

It is suggested that the NRSV translation of "you also should love one another" would be better translated "so that you can love one another" How might that alter our understanding of this passage?

In any case, how is it we love one another?
What do we do?
And what do we do if we do not want to?
Is it ever harmful to love another?
Much to think about ...


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Fishing, Peter & Jesus

John 21:1-14
The disciples, having gone back to fishing for fish, suddenly encounter Jesus again. And there are several opportunities for response:
- Put your nets out on the other side of the boat.
- It's the Lord!
- Come and eat!

What would you have done?
I think Jesus issues those same kinds of invitations today.
What do we do now?


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Life in Jesus' Name

John 20:19-31
This week, we will be reading the story of Jesus' appearance to the disciples (minus Thomas), then again when Thomas is present. There is lots to be said about doubt and faith, but I suspect most of it has been said. What catches my attention this year, is the very last line of the passage "... and that through believing you may have life in his [Jesus'] name."

What does life in Jesus' name look like?


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A Long Obedience ... The Practice of Work

"Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering." (Romans 12:1 - The Message)

Paul suggests that all the work we do ought to be an offering to God; not just our Christian service, but all of our work. In my mind, this makes all of our work into ministry. Not just our mission work - and not just those easily identifiable "ministry-type" vocations like teaching and nursing - but all of our work. I hear him including the work we do for pay in the public workplace, the work we do as volunteers in any arena, and the work we do in private for family and friends.

Do you think about your work this way?
In what way is your work ministry?
In what way is your work service to God?
In what way is your work service to others?

What difference does it make to you to begin to think about work this way?

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And finally ... not without grace!

So - this is the last piece of this conversation about belonging ...
We belong to God - to each other - all together ... but not without grace!
This is hard to separate from the piece about love -
If we love one another, should that not overcome all the sruggles of being in community? But I think we know from experience, it might not.
It also takes grace - God's grace!
What do you think?


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Belonging ... but not without love

We belong to God - and to each other - all together!
But not at any price.
Not without love and justice and grace
Especially not without love.

"What if I could speak all languages of humans and of angels? If I did not love others, I would be nothing more than a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." (1 Corinthians 13:1)

Paul goes on - or if we had all knowledge, or if we gave up our very lives - if we do not do these things with love, they are not worth anything. I hear a primary commandment for our lives together - to love one another. It's not new - it's what we already know. But do we live it? And how?

And what if there is one among us who is not (or at least seems not to be) living in love? Does that mean they cannot belong?

What do you think?

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Belonging ... Part II

So, if we all belong to God,
then what is our relationship to each other?

Does this mean we belong to each other also?
Or maybe with each other?

And what does it mean for us to belong to/with each other?
Through anything?
In any circumstances?
With no limits?

"Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this. ... We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ."
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer in "Life Together")


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Belonging ...

In Conamara, when someone asks a child who he is, the child is not simply asked for his name. The question is "To whom do you belong?"

Who are you?