growing in grace

Good evening friends,
I hope this beautiful Sabbath day has been a good one for you full of rest and community and joy. Tonight's reading comes from Paul's letter to the Colossians. Like in Ephesians, Paul lays the foundation for our life on our salvation through Christ and presents Christ as a goal for our growth. The way Paul outlines the Christian life is a good way to think about it. Christ was the agent of the world's creation. He reconciled us to God through the cross. As we come to faith we become one with God through Jesus and continue to grow as we follow him. We grow in faith not because we are afraid or because we want to earn forgiveness. Instead, we grow in faith because we recognize God's amazing love for us and respond with gratitude. That sounds like a good plan for me.

blessings on your evening and see you tomorrow,
Sam

Colossians 1:3-20

³In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel ⁶that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. ⁷This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, ⁸and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.

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.

opening the scriptures

Good afternoon friends,
First, please keep the people of Boston and all those affected by the terrorist attack in Boston in your prayers. Our reading for today shows us the risen Jesus meeting his disciples. Notice that his first concern is convincing them that he is really risen. From there he moves to getting them ready for their mission. Their mission is to bear witness to Jesus and to proclaim forgiveness in his name. An important part of getting the disciples ready for that mission is helping them understand the scripture. Scripture is still important as we prepare for our mission now.

God bless,
Sam

Luke 24: 36-49

³⁶While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ³⁷They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

⁴¹While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate in their presence. ⁴⁴Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

training in godliness

Good morning brothers and sisters,
We get a cool glimpse into the early church in Paul's letters, and a unique perspective in the two letters to Timothy. Timothy was a young leader in the church, whom Paul took under his wing. He thought of Timothy as a spiritual son, and the intimacy of their connection comes across clearly. As a young pastor, these letters have been a special source of encouragement to me.



The two things I especially want to lift up in today's reading are Paul's idea of training in godliness and the importance of public reading of scripture. Often we treat church as an event, as an important part of our week that gives us strength, but we don't always think of it as training. Spiritual life isn't something that just happens, and it's not a static situation. Like school or athletes training for competition, we should approach our faith life expecting to make progress, expecting to work hard to get better at faithfulness. An important part of that training is scripture reading, both publicly and on our own.

God bless you in your training today,
Sam

1 Timothy 4:6-16

⁶If you put these instructions before the brothers and sisters, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound teaching that you have followed. ⁷Have nothing to do with profane myths and old wives’ tales. Train yourself in godliness, ⁸for, while physical training is of some value, godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. ⁹The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. ¹⁰For to this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. ¹¹These are the things you must insist on and teach.

¹²Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. ¹³Until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhorting, to teaching. ¹⁴Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. ¹⁵Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. ¹⁶Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Seek heavenly things

Good morning brothers and sisters,
Paul urges his readers to put their faith into practice. When we become Christian our old self dies and we begin a new life centered on Christ. In that life everyone is equal and we are all called to grow in Christ's image. That's the calling for all Christians. Being a Christian is first of all about following Christ. Thinks like traditions, institutions, even community are consequences of following Christ together.

God bless,
Sam

Colossians 3:1-11

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, ³for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

⁵Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). ⁶On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. ⁷These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. 

⁸But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. ⁹Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices ¹⁰and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. ¹¹In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

doubting Thomas

Good morning sisters and brothers,
Today's reading comes from John's account of Jesus' resurrection. In John, Jesus appears first to Mary Magdalene and then, in today's passage, to the 11 apostles. This is the story of "doubting" Thomas, a character many of us might identify with. Doubt is a part of faith, but trusting Jesus goes deeper than our doubts. Don't let your doubts make you feel like you're not a disciple, because discipleship is about the journey. At the same time, doubts that keep us from moving forward do hinder our development as people and as believers. When doubt leads to exploration and growth, it's a huge blessing. Take your doubts to God in prayer and study; you may be surprised what you learn.

God bless,
Sam

John 20:19-31

¹⁹When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²²When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” ²⁴But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” 

²⁶A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” ²⁸Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” ³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. ³¹But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

God's field

Good morning brothers and sisters,
Paul has just finished talking about how he and other teachers do share wisdom with spiritually mature Christians, though the wisdom they share is different than the world's wisdom. Now he continues by describing that the Corinthians aren't mature yet. Paul has to feed them milk instead of solid food in terms of his teaching. The mark that they are immature is that they are divided and people make too much of who their teachers are. Paul describes teachers, specifically himself and Apollos, another important early Christian teacher, as servants of God. Like field hands, Paul planted and Apollos watered, but the growth comes from God and it is God's field. Different churches, different denominations, different political affiliations; it's easy to make too much of the subsets in our life. The point is that we belong to Christ as members of the one church, the one body of Christ. We are one in the Lord, and as one we will grow strong.

Since we're thinking about unity, this week is the week of prayer for Christian unity. During this week keep the worldwide church in prayer and pray that the unity we already have in Christ would become more visible. On Monday there will be a service for Christian unity sponsored by the North East Church Cluster at St. John the Evangelist on Humbolt St. The evening begins at 6 with a soup supper and the service begins at 7. I really hope to see you there; these ecumenical services are fun and inspiring. I've been sad in my time here how few people from Laurelton attend them. In addition, we could really use a few ushers for the evening. Let me know if you're interested.

Blessings,
Sam

1 Corinthians 3:1-10

And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? 4For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human?


5What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. 6I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. 9For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building. 10According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it.

Christ in community

Good morning all,
I'm sorry for getting behind on the readings while I was camping. Now I'm back after a lovely Laurelton weekend in the woods, and we're back on track. Before we get into the reading for this morning, I'd like to invite you to join in with several of us from our recent Wednesday night group in exploring and growing in another spiritual style. The Three Colors of Spirituality website (3colorsofyourspirituality.org) offers a program called "28 days of discipline." You pick one of the spiritual styles you'd like to grow in and subscribe to get daily emails containing a spiritual discipline to push you in that style. Several of us are starting the 28 days of discipline in the sharing style and should be getting our first email today. We'll also be sharing our experiences through a blog. This should be a great opportunity to try something new and it's easy to sign up. Let me know if you have any questions.

Our reading this morning is often used as a charge to a newly married couple during the Presbyterian wedding ceremony, but that's not what Paul had in mind when he wrote it. Basically, these are guidelines for living in a Christian community. Not surprisingly, Christ is at the center of living together. Christ's love rules in our hearts, Christ word lives within us, empowering us to teach and admonish one another as we work together to grow in faith. With Christ marking all our actions, we overflow with gratitude and sing out with joyful praise. That sounds pretty good to me. May we all be on the lookout for reasons to praise the Lord during this new week.

Blessings,
Sam

Colossians 3:12-17

12As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. 17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.