Weekly Study Notes Leading to Sunday October 08

PERSONAL DAILY STUDY

This week we study Ecclesiastes 3.   You may recall the passage begins with the declaration that “for everything there is a season.” The first section of the reading is familiar however we will go further and consider the good words which follow.  I am confident there is a message for us today with the conflict and division we experience. 

In addition we will read from Luke 12 about learning to not worry and how we ought to focus our lives into the things of God.

Monday: Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

A time for everything.  Do you know what time it is today? Right now?  How has the season changed for you in the past months? Days?  Which of these seasons have you found fruitful in the past few hours?

Tuesday: Ecclesiastes 3:9-13

• What does the author say is the best thing workers can find from their toil?  Do you agree? Why?

Wednesday: Ecclesiastes 3:14-15

·         This is one of my favorite passages in the Bible.  What can we learn about God from these two verses?  List the qualities of God.

Thursday: Ecclesiastes 3:16-22

·         This passage is a bit darker in tone and even is sometimes quoted to make a case for the spirit of our pets going to heaven.  Verse 22 may be the key verse in this section. 

Friday:   Luke 12:22-34

• What does this passage teach us about worry?  Instead how should we present ourselves in relation to the world around us?  What is the “Father’s good pleasure/”

Saturday:  Ecclesiastes 3:1-22

·         Take time to read the section again and let the scripture speak to you.   

• What does this passage tell us about God?
• What should be our response?

Sunday:        Reflect and Worship

Sermon Scripture: Ecclesiastes 3:14-15

Sermon Title: “Turn, Turn Turn”

SMALL GROUP STUDY GUIDE

Icebreaker:  Share something nice about the change of seasons.

Opening: Name a God moment from this past week

Read: Ecclesiastes3:1-8, 14-15

Study Questions to Ponder:

• When do the seasons change? Who is in charge of this?
• Why are opposite activities needed in different seasons?
• Share about the anxiety created by changing seasons.
• What season are you experiencing today?  Why?

Share Your Personal Plan: to Worship, Study, and Serve this week

Closing with Prayer and Blessing

Study Guide For the Week Leading to Sunday October 01, 2017

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost - Green

PERSONAL DAILY STUDY

This week we study Galatians 5 and 6.   This passage contains the Apostle Paul’s writings on Christian freedom. The free will to make our own choice is theological bedrock.  We build our lives upon and around this ability to choose our own actions.  We can choose with wisdom or we can choose poorly.

We will also take a look at Luke 6 to consider a motive for our decisions based in extreme love.

Monday: Galatians 5:1-12

• What appears to be taking place for Paul to be so concerned about freedom? What must some people be trying to teach the folks?

Tuesday: Galatians 5:13-15

• How does Paul suggest our freedom should be put to good use? What is the great commandment?

Wednesday: Galatians 5:16-26

• Take time to consider the list of the works of the flesh verses the works of the Spirit.  Note the ethical counseling offered in verse 25 and 26.

Thursday: Galatians 6:1-10

• This passage again offers ethical standards for us to follow. How can you see Christ in these ideas? Why are they difficult for us to follow?

Friday: Luke 6:27-49

• To love with extreme passion calls us to a new place in our discipleship? What would it mean to love our enemy? Can you follow one who offers this as our path? 

Saturday: Galatians 5:1-15

• Take time to read the section again and let the scripture speak to you. What does this passage tell us about God?  What should be our response?

Sunday:        Reflect and Worship

Sermon Scripture: Galatians 5:13, 14

Sermon Title: “Real Life Freedom”

SMALL GROUP STUDY GUIDE

Icebreaker:  Share a time when you felt free.

Opening: Name a God moment from this past week

Study Questions to Ponder:

• Why is Paul concerned with freedom?  What is to be gained or lost?
• How do you describe your freedom in Christ Jesus?
• Describe a church which can love in extreme ways.
• What is the golden rule?

Share Your Personal Plan: to Worship, Study, and Serve this week

Closing with Prayer and Blessing

Dead People Don't Speak

People encouraged me to speak.  I held powerful positions in the church, I should speak up.  Some suggested my silence was violence. They said, I was hurting others by holding back my voice. 

I have realized in the last few months that dead people do not speak. Now I was not literally dead, but my heart had been deeply wounded and I understand my silence on some topics has not been for lack of care or concern.  Rather, I had lost my voice and could only shake my head in sorrow. 

I am healing and regaining my voice.  What I say may not be pleasant to some.  Others may weep with me, or still others may find refreshment in my sharing. I only have what is in front of me; my own experience.

The lie of our culture is certainty. As a scientist and as a clergy I learned to be certain.  And God is on the side of certainty.  This is wrong.  Science requires certainty.  And yet historically certainty holds back new scientific discovery.  In my experience, certainty is a hallmark of individuals with personal agendas.  They are certain of many things; never mind the details and possibilities.  Jesus did not teach certainty. Instead Jesus offered friendship and peace with our neighbor, especially our enemies.

I find I am uncertain about just about everything, except God.  I find strength in the ability to question assumptions without discarding.  Strength comes from honoring our enemies into hearing their story.  Strength is in carefully holding persons, even the prickly ones, to a higher place of grace which neither divides nor passes judgement.  And to attempt all this without becoming anxious or infected.

If this is where the church is headed, a place where we dialogue and care for one another as we learn from each other, then I am in.  If however, the church is headed down the path of supporting competing individuals who are certain of their certainty, then I am out.  Not out of the church, just out of that dialogue where power is the real meat on the table and grace is just something said before fighting begins over the scraps in an attempt to fill personal goals. 

My spirit has been wounded, even unto death.  And the valley of dry bones has been my dwelling place. I had lost my voice.  But I have a taken time to rest by still waters.  Today I have less need to build a proper fence around my ideas.  As I let go of certainty, and cling to faith, I find my voice re-emerges.

So the next time you begin to chew on someone for being silent, pause to consider your position of certainty.  Consider your willingness to listen and your need to control.  And then reach out to one who may not be breathing because, dead people do not speak.