widespread connections

Good afternoon sisters and brothers,
Today's reading is not very interesting on the surface, since it is mostly a list of names. The cool thing about it is that it emphasizes the personal networks that tie together the church. At the end of this letter, to a church Paul had never been to he sends personal greetings to particular people in the community that he does know. Even though he has never been to Rome, Paul has important connections to many Christians there through letters and travel and networks of friendship. What a powerful testimony to the fact that we are one community in Christ no matter how far apart or how different we may be.
May it be so for you and for me,
Sam

Romans 16:1-16

I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, ²so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well. ³Greet Prisca and Aquila, who work with me in Christ Jesus, ⁴and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. ⁵Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert in Asia for Christ.

⁶Greet Mary, who has worked very hard among you. ⁷Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives who were in prison with me; they are prominent among the apostles, and they were in Christ before I was. ⁸Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. ⁹Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. ¹⁰Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the family of Aristobulus. ¹¹Greet my relative Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. ¹²Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa.

Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. ¹³Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; and greet his mother—a mother to me also. ¹⁴Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who are with them. ¹⁵Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. ¹⁶Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

another perspective

Good evening friends,
Today's reading gives us a window on Paul's final travels from a different perspective: his letter to the Romans. He writes this at the beginning of his last journey to Jerusalem, hoping that after going to Jerusalem he will go to Rome on the way to Spain. As it happens, God will send him to Rome, but as a prisoner. Even in chains, Paul is faithful to his calling. May it be so for all of us.
God bless,
Sam

Romans 15:14-24

¹⁴I myself feel confident about you, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. ¹⁵Nevertheless on some points I have written to you rather boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God ¹⁶to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to boast of my work for God. ¹⁸For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to win obedience from the Gentiles, by word and deed, ¹⁹by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and as far around as Illyricum I have fully proclaimed the good news of Christ.

²⁰Thus I make it my ambition to proclaim the good news, not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on someone else’s foundation, ²¹but as it is written, “Those who have never been told of him shall see, and those who have never heard of him shall understand.”

²²This is the reason that I have so often been hindered from coming to you. ²³But now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you ²⁴when I go to Spain. For I do hope to see you on my journey and to be sent on by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a little while.

God in creation

Good afternoon friends,
As we talk about evangelism in different cultures in Acts, we'll take a quick detour over the next couple of days to look at the gospel's call and power for all people in Paul's letter to the Romans. This is one of the most important letters in the Bible for clearly explaining the meaning of the gospel. In today's passage Paul explains that nature and the world itself testify to God enough that even without teaching, we should be able to recognize God. Instead of searching for the God of the universe, we tend to create our own gods and look to them to try to control our world. God is the only one who deserves our worship. We'll see where Paul goes with this argument tomorrow.

God bless,
Sam

Romans 1:16-25

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. ¹⁹For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; ²¹for though they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. ²²Claiming to be wise, they became fools; ²³and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.

living sacrifices

Good morning sisters and brothers,
We've been following Romans for some time. Paul has made a case that God reaches out to save a sinful world as a gift through Jesus. He discussed the relationship between that grace and God's eternal covenant with Israel. Now he goes on to spell out what grace means for us in more practical terms. Today he writes it means being on God's side, not the side of worldly sin.

We also see Jesus and the disciples talking about what people think about Jesus. Peter finally puts it together and discovers that Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus promises that the church the apostles will build will never be destroyed. That's a powerful promise we can claim today as we seek to follow in the disciples' footsteps.

See you in church,
Sam


Romans 12:1-8

1I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.



3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.



6We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.



Matthew 16:13-20

13Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”



15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

clay pots

Good morning sisters and brothers,
At the end of yesterday's reading Paul approached the question of why many Jewish people didn't follow Jesus with the idea of God's choice. Today he fleshes out that argument a little bit. He argues that God chooses who will open their hearts to God and whose heart God will harden. He uses the image of clay to illustrate the same point. God shows power and mercy in many different ways, including choosing surprising people to lead the way. When we look at Paul's life we see one way this works: God hardened Paul's heart to persecute the church and then showed the depth of his grace by calling him as the most famous apostle. God's calling is surprising, and he is not done with any of us yet.

God bless,
Sam

Romans 9:14-24

14What then are we to say? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. 17For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18So then he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses.



19You will say to me then, “Why then does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? Will what is molded say to the one who molds it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use? 22What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction; 23and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24including us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

discipleship

Good morning friends,
Today Ramadan begins. During Ramadan Muslims fast from dawn to dusk to refocus their lives on God. Reflection, prayer and serving the poor are important components of Ramadan. This Ramadan, the Yemen Peace Project, an organization my brother helped found, is encouraging people to skip a meal per week during Ramadan and donate what we would have spent on food to humanitarian relief in Yemen. There's more information here, and I'm happy to answer any questions I can. I hope you'll join me in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Yemen.

Today's reading begins an important section in Romans. The first 8 chapters have discussed God's grace in Christ at length. Chapters 9-11 deal with a question close to Paul's heart, why have most Jewish people not accepted Christ and what does that mean? In this first section Paul talks about how being part of God isn't just about your family line or community. That's an important word for us too. Being a member of a church isn't what faith is about. We are called to live our faith and nurture our connection to God through active discipleship. Soren Kierkegaard puts it well: "Sitting in church doesn't make one a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes one a car." Let's use this Ramadan to recommit ourselves to faith and justice.

God bless,
Sam

Romans 9:1-13

1I am speaking the truth in Christ — I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit — 2I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. 4They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; 5to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

6It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all Israelites truly belong to Israel, 7and not all of Abraham’s children are his true descendants; but “It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.” 8This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants. 9For this is what the promise said, “About this time I will return and Sarah shall have a son.” 10Nor is that all; something similar happened to Rebecca when she had conceived children by one husband, our ancestor Isaac. 11Even before they had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose of election might continue, 12not by works but by his call) she was told, “The elder shall serve the younger.” 13As it is written, “I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.”

marriage and struggle

Good morning brothers and sisters,
Our Old Testament reading takes us back to the book of Genesis and tells the story of how Abraham's son Isaac got married to continue the family line. Our passage from Romans is a favorite of mine because I can identify with Paul's struggle. We often know what God wants from us, but we have a hard time doing it. Fortunately, we are not on our own.

Blessings,
Sam

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67

34So he said, “I am Abraham’s servant. 35The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become wealthy; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. 36And Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master when she was old; and he has given him all that he has. 37My master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live; 38but you shall go to my father’s house, to my kindred, and get a wife for my son.’



42“I came today to the spring, and said, ‘O LORD, the God of my master Abraham, if now you will only make successful the way I am going! 43I am standing here by the spring of water; let the young woman who comes out to draw, to whom I shall say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,” 44and who will say to me, “Drink, and I will draw for your camels also” — let her be the woman whom the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.’

45“Before I had finished speaking in my heart, there was Rebekah coming out with her water jar on her shoulder; and she went down to the spring, and drew. I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ 46She quickly let down her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she also watered the camels. 47Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ So I put the ring on her nose, and the bracelets on her arms. 48Then I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD, and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the right way to obtain the daughter of my master’s kinsman for his son. 49Now then, if you will deal loyally and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so that I may turn either to the right hand or to the left.”



58And they called Rebekah, and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will.” 59So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse along with Abraham’s servant and his men. 60And they blessed Rebekah and said to her,
“May you, our sister, become
thousands of myriads;
may your offspring gain possession
of the gates of their foes.”

61Then Rebekah and her maids rose up, mounted the camels, and followed the man; thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

62Now Isaac had come from Beer-lahai-roi, and was settled in the Negeb. 63Isaac went out in the evening to walk in the field; and looking up, he saw camels coming. 64And Rebekah looked up, and when she saw Isaac, she slipped quickly from the camel, 65and said to the servant, “Who is the man over there, walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “It is my master.” So she took her veil and covered herself. 66And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. 67Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.



*Sunday

Romans 7:15-25a

15I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.



21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness?

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Paul does something very interesting in this passage. A criticism Paul seems to have faced was that by telling people they didn't have to follow the Law of Moses he was encouraging people to behave badly. In other words, Paul was giving people too much freedom with his teaching, and that was risky. Paul turns that argument around in a very helpful way by saying that sin takes away our freedom. He argues that when we sin we give up our freedom and become slaves to sin. While freedom is extremely important for Paul, he believes that we choose who we obey. We can either obey sin, which is slavery to evil, or we can obey God's calling and be slaves of righteousness. We'll be chewing on this passage a bit more in worship tomorrow; I hope to see you then.

Saturday blessings,
Sam

Romans 6:12-23

12Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. 13No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.



15What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, 18and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.


20When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death. 22But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

baptized into death

Good morning sisters and brothers,
We pick up Paul's Letter to the Romans today (and Sunday in worship) after being away from it since before Lent. This letter is one of the most important in the Bible; it's also pretty challenging. To bring us up to speed very quickly, Paul begins the letter by explaining how both Jews and gentiles should know God but fall short of what he wants. God steps into that situation by forgiving our sins by grace through Jesus Christ. He explains that sin came into the world through one man, Adam, and forgiveness comes into the world through the one man Jesus Christ.

As we begin chapter 6 he explains one way of seeing how that forgiveness works. Sin is part of who we are naturally: it's in our bodies and spirits because everyone is separated from God. When we become part of Christ's body in baptism we die with him and the "death" of baptism breaks the power of sin in our lives. Now by God's grace we are alive again but free from sin. Don't feel bad if you have a hard time following Paul's argument; we're going to have a little time Sunday to chew on this idea some more. The point is that in Christ we are free from whatever holds us back from life and freedom.

Blessings as you live in that loving freedom today,
Sam

Romans 6:1-11

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? 2By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? 3Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.



6We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7For whoever has died is freed from sin. 8But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

introducing Romans

Good morning brothers and sisters,
Today we begin reading Paul's Letter to the Romans. Romans is one of the most important letters in the New Testament because it is the clearest and fullest presentation of the gospel from Paul's point of view. While most of his letters were written to churches he had founded to deal with the particular situation there, Romans was written to a church Paul had never visited to introduce his ministry to them. The letter was probably written in 57 CE (AD) from Corinth. It is a challenging letter and one we will all benefit from reading together. While it is challenging, I think you'll also enjoy it and find it inspiring for your faith. I'll also be preaching on Romans for many of the next several weeks. It would be great if you could find a chance in the next week or so to read the whole letter on your own so you'll have a sense for the big picture as we read it slowly together.

One thing that we notice as we read Paul's writing is that he relates everything to the Old Testament. Paul's letters were all written before the Gospels, so Paul hadn't read them. Instead, his experience with Christ was based on his conversion experience on the road to Damascus and his work to fit that experience of God's grace in Jesus with the prophetic promises about the Messiah. Paul basically never refers to Jesus' ministry other than his crucifixion and resurrection. The whole letter is about God's salvation of all people by grace through faith in Christ. Even when we struggle with Paul's writing or our faith, we can always cling to God's amazing love.

Blessings,
Sam

Romans 1:1-15

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, 3the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, 6including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 7To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.


8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. 9For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, 10asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. 11For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— 12or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. 13I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. 14I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish 15—hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.