Saddle Up and Move Out!

For 2/3/2013
Do you feel as though you were destined for some kind of role or responsibility in this life? Whether it might be as caregiver, engineer, leader, athlete, parent or some other? What was it that reinforced that feeling? Jeremiah writes about his experience of being identified by God for a specific role:

1:4 This is what God said:

5 “Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you.

Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you:

A prophet to the nations—that’s what I had in mind for you.”

6 But I said, “Hold it, Master God! Look at me. I don’t know anything. I’m only a boy!”

7-8 God told me, “Don’t say, ‘I’m only a boy.’ I’ll tell you where to go and you’ll go there.

I’ll tell you what to say and you’ll say it. Don’t be afraid of a soul.

I’ll be right there, looking after you.” God’s Decree.

The Message Version

This is the story of Jeremiah’s anointing as a prophet some thirty years prior to the exile of the Jew’s of Judah to Babylon. How would you feel if you were in Jeremiah’s place? What words particularly catch your attention?

• How intimately does God know us, do you feel personally formed by God’s hands – God’s handiwork? Do you feel similarly about all human beings? How about all of creation?

• Do you think that God has a plan for us as we are being formed in the womb? How much does God have to do with the path our lives take? Where is God in the paths that evildoers take?

• After God issues this charge to Jeremiah he reacts with the words in verse 6. How would you characterize his response? Are resistance and doubt unusual when considering taking on a responsibility?

• What is the difference between those responsibilities in the church (and elsewhere) you have accepted and those you resisted? What made the difference when you overcame resistance and accepted?

• What would have been your reaction to God’s response in verse 7 if you were Jeremiah? Would you feel confidence, trepidation, or even servile? How did you feel when you overcame your doubts about being able to do something?

• How do you think that the assurance of verse 7 actually works out in real life? How were God’s directions and words transmitted through Jeremiah? Is Jeremiah a robot?

• When have you done something that you felt was done with God’s presence? How did that presence come into play in the actions and words you used?

God revels the nature of the job to Jeremiah:

9-10 God reached out, touched my mouth, and said, “Look! I’ve just put my words in your mouth—hand-delivered!

See what I’ve done? I’ve given you a job to do among nations and governments—a red-letter day! Your job is to pull up and tear down, take apart and demolish,

And then start over, building and planting.”

The Message Version

• The touching in verse 9 might be more substantive as the word touch can be translated strike. Do you know of people who have seemed to have the Lord’s words in their mouths on occasion? What kind of messages did they deliver; assurance, inspiration, warning?

• Jeremiah was to speak words people did not want to hear, unpopular words. Who can you think of who has spoken these kinds of words that really needed to be heard? What were the various reactions? Can you think of messages being spoken today which are unpopular to some but need to be heard – and acted upon?

• What is a red letter day? How important is the work that Jeremiah is called to do?

• What kind of responsibilities does verse 10 tell us Jeremiah will have? God wants both demolition and rebuilding; is one easier than the other? Must demolition many time precede effective building? Can you think of times when this was true? Is it hard to let go, forget, reject? What are some ways that we can be convinced to do this? How might our spiritual lives play into our ability to both successfully tear down and rebuild?

• In the recent past we discussed spiritual gifts which are to come to us on our rebirth as Christians:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

1 Corinthians 12:4-7

• How do you think that this call to us compares with Jeremiah’s call? What are some similarities and differences? Will confidence in the presence of spiritual gifts help us overcome our inertia, change and build?

Closing Litany

Where can I go from your spirit?

Or where can I flee from your presence?

If I ascend to heaven, you are there;

if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning

and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,

even there your hand shall lead me,

and your right hand shall hold me fast.

Amen

Next Week’s Lectionary Scriptures: Exodus 34:29-35, Psalm 99, 2 Corinthians 3:12 - 4:2, Luke 9:28-36, (37-43)



Get With It!!

For 8/5/2012
All scriptures are from The Message Version


We are not sure who wrote the letter to the church in Ephesus but it certainly is in the spirit of Paul to whom it is attributed. He writes to them about living life in the real world where being in community, especially in times of trial can be difficult. Paul speaks to the tools and power that those who rely upon the Spirit have to transform a group of people into a vital faith family. Think of those times when you had experienced a real sense of togetherness and those others when divisiveness seemed to pull your faith community apart – what lay behind success and failure? Reflect upon that as you read from Ephesians 4:

1-3In light of all this, here's what I want you to do. While I'm locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don't want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don't want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.


4-6You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.


• Where does the letter come from, where is the writer? What does he want them to do for him? With what does he want to infuse the congregation?
• What are some ways that a congregation can determine just what road God has called them to travel? What do you think that your faith community is true to that process when it faces change or conflict? Would you have liked to have seen anything done differently during those times?
• What do you think that we should do to ensure that we stay on God’s path instead of wandering? What might be some signs that we are continuing to be faithful to this exhortation by the writer of Ephesians?
• Do you think that he suppose that it is easy to stay on the path, the natural thing to do? What does he warn against? How often have you seen these things happen in congregational life?
• What does he stress in verses 4-6? What have you seen as reinforcing oneness in the congregation and what be some ways in which oneness can be strengthened in the days ahead?
• What are some things that work against oneness? What might cause differences and conflicts? What do you suggest we do to combat them?

But what are some ways that the Spirit prepares us to be effective?
7-13But that doesn't mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift. The text for this is,
He climbed the high mountain,
He captured the enemy and seized the booty,
He handed it all out in gifts to the people.
Is it not true that the One who climbed up also climbed down, down to the valley of earth? And the One who climbed down is the One who climbed back up, up to highest heaven. He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ's followers in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church, until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other, efficient and graceful in response to God's Son, fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.

• How do you think that this scripture applies to life in your faith community? What do you take from it as encouraging and what questions do you have?  Have you seen evidence of these gifts in the work of your spiritual family?
• What are some methods and practices we can follow in order to maximize the emergence of the spiritual gifts we do have as a congregation? What will suppress them?
• Are the gifts we have necessarily limited to the talents of the members of the faith community? What else might the Spirit lead us to that could be considered as benefitting its life and work?
• What concerns do you have as you think about the next 6-9 months in the life of your faith community?  Does anything you have read so far seem helpful?

To be effective we need to grow up spiritually:
14-16No prolonged infancies among us, please. We'll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors. God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.


• Where do you feel that truth telling has gone on in your life and the life of your faith community and where may it need to come into play in the future? What is the key to effective truth telling and what are some practical ways to do it?
• What is the last image he gives us of Christ’s presence? What does it mean to you? How does it apply to congregational life? Do you think that challenges and change can be a time of growth? How do we ensure that growth happens?

Closing Prayer

Holy One, whose love has been poured into our hearts through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, and who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish far more than we can ask or imagine, we pray that you would equip us for the work of ministry and for building up the body of Christ. Amen.

Next weeks Lectionary Scriptures: John 6:35, 41-51, Ephesians 4:25 - 5:2, Psalm 130 or Psalm 34:1-8, 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 or 1 Kings 19:4-8