one kingdom under the Lamb

Good morning brothers and sisters,
This Sunday we celebrate World Communion Sunday, which reminds us that the church is one body throughout the world. Related to that, our passage for today shows us the Apostle John's vision of God's throne room. Surrounding God's throne are four living creatures with four faces, several wings and eyes. There are also 24 elders surrounding the throne. John has just wept because an angel presented a sealed scroll that John knew was important, but no one was worthy to open. We'll see in the passage that Jesus, the Lamb of God is worthy. In him people from every nation and language become one body.

May it be so for us too,
Sam

Revelation 5:6-14

⁶Then I saw between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders a Lamb standing as if it had been slaughtered, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷He went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne.

⁸When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹They sing a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God saints from every tribe and language and people and nation; ¹⁰you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God, and they will reign on earth.”

¹¹Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, ¹²singing with full voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” ¹³Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing, “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” ¹⁴And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

unity in Christ

Good evening friends,
We often think about common ideas or beliefs holding the church together. The truth is both at the local congregational level and for the church worldwide, our unity is in Jesus Christ. In Christ, the universe was created. In Christ God became human and reconciled all creation back to God through the blood of the cross. Christ is the head, unity and foundation of the church. When we cling to him, there's nothing we can't do as a church.

God bless,
Sam

Colossians 1:11-20

¹¹May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully

¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; ¹⁶for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. ¹⁹For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

the covenant sealed

Good morning sisters and brothers,
As this section of legal material fleshing out the Ten Commandments comes to a close, Moses and the leaders of Israel ratify a covenant with God that includes these laws. Covenants in that time were sealed with sacrifices and here both the people and the altar that symbolized the covenant with God were splashed with blood. As we remember each month at Christ's communion table, the new covenant based on God's grace in Jesus is sealed in his blood. We are still a people of covenant, tied to God by love and calling.

God bless,
Sam

Exodus 24:1-8

Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship at a distance. 2Moses alone shall come near the Lord; but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.” 3Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord.



He rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5He sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed oxen as offerings of well-being to the Lord. 6Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar. 7Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, “See the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”