Good afternoon friends,
In our passage for today the writer imagines wisdom in human form. It's worth noticing that wisdom is female, and she calls out offering her blessings to everyone who seeks her. The other thing to notice here (and basically everywhere the Bible talks about wisdom) is that wisdom is closely connected with seeking God and doing the right think. Ethics and wisdom are inseparable, and both are available to everyone.


God bless,
Sam


Proverbs 8:1-13

Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice?
2On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;
3beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
4“To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live.


5O simple ones, learn prudence; acquire intelligence, you who lack it.
6Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right;
7for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
9They are all straight to one who understands and right to those who find knowledge.
10Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold;
11for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.
12I, wisdom, live with prudence, and I attain knowledge and discretion.
13The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.

church decisions

 Good afternoon friends,
Today's reading shows us that not everything was smooth sailing in the church. Christianity was still a movement within Judaism, so many leaders in the church believed following Jesus required following all the Jewish traditions. This is the first example of the leadership of the church gathering to figure something out. Like then, figuring out conflict and controversy requires listening to each other and to God.

Blessings on your Saturday,
Sam

Acts 15:1-11

Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’ ²And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders. ³So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the believers. ⁴When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. ⁵But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.’

6 The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. ⁷After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, ‘My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. ⁸And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; ⁹and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. ¹⁰Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? ¹¹On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.’

turning back

Good evening friends,
Stephen has been reviewing Israel's story. Now he starts getting to a main point: Israel has often turned away from God and God's messengers. Moses provided faithful leadership, and God saved the people from slavery, but the people got scared and build a golden calf. The thing to remember as we read this part (and most of Acts) is that we Christians are just as bed at listening to God. It's often helpful to think about Israel or the Jewish leaders as Christian religious leaders or as you and me. Do the criticisms still fit? More often than I want to admit it, they fit me.

God bless,
Sam

Acts 7:39-46

³⁹Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make gods for us who will lead the way for us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’ ⁴¹At that time they made a calf, offered a sacrifice to the idol, and reveled in the works of their hands.

⁴²But God turned away from them and handed them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘Did you offer to me slain victims and sacrifices forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? ⁴³No; you took along the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; so I will remove you beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴“Our ancestors had the tent of testimony in the wilderness, as God directed when he spoke to Moses, ordering him to make it according to the pattern he had seen. ⁴⁵Our ancestors in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our ancestors. And it was there until the time of David, ⁴⁶who found favor with God and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob.

Spirit's power

Good morning friends,
Today's reading is from John's gospel and includes some of Jesus' important teaching on the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells the disciples that they will do even greater works than he has done through praying and his name and through the power of the Holy Spirit. With a promise like that, there's no reason we can't do great things for God's kingdom.

God bless,
Sam

John 14:12-17

¹²Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

¹⁵”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

holding on to our faith

Good evening friends,
Here comes our next installment of Paul's letters to Timothy. Paul remembers that Timothy (like many of us) inherited his faith from his mother and grandmother. Still, Timothy has had to make that faith his own for it to be effective in him. Paul also remembers him in all his ministry to hold tight to the faith he has learned. The teaching we learn growing up in the church or that we learn about later in life is our check to see if we're following God the right way.

God bless,
Sam

2 Timothy 1:5-14

⁵I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. ⁶For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; ⁷for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

⁸Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, ⁹who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, ¹⁰but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

¹¹For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, ¹²and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. ¹³Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

judgment and office

Good evening friends,
I want to remind you of a great event next Sunday. The choirs of all our UPT churches will share their gifts at a joint event at 3:30 pm on Sunday at Third Presbyterian. It would be wonderful to have a big turnout to support all the choirs. If you'd like to bring cheese or fruit or cookies, that would be very welcome as well.


This passage is familiar to many of us. It's one of the first passages I think about when I think about faith and politics, which is what we'll be reading, praying and talking about between now and the election. Obviously, I'm not going to try to tell you who to vote for. Both candidates have strengths and weaknesses. As Christians, our job is to seek God's will in our lives, and that includes the life of our nation. We probably have different ideas about what that means, so I'll be interested to hear from you too. This passage gives us a great sense for what's most important to God, by showing us how God will judge us at the end of time. If it's important to God, it's good to keep these things in mind as we choose candidates for office.

Blessings,
Sam

Matthew 25:31-45

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, ³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.

³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ ⁴⁰And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

⁴¹Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴²for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

let the children come

Good night/good morning brothers and sisters,
This passage may be familiar to many of us, but it's a great fit for this week as we consider children and the church's responsibility to support kids, healthy families and communities. The disciples try to protect Jesus' time or dignity or something in the face of parents bringing their children to Jesus for a blessing. I'm not sure what their concern was. In some way, they seemed to feel that children were not worthy of their great teacher's attention. As we see, Jesus felt differently. In fact, a child's curiosity, engagement and openness provides a model for how all of us should approach the kingdom of God. How can we do better? I hope many of you will join UPT for prayer in front of the school board offices (131 W. Broad) on Sunday morning at 8. I'd also like to invite all children/youth and the young at heart to join in a youth led worship service at Brockport Presbyterian Church. We continue Jesus' legacy by honoring, protecting, and ministering with children today.
God bless,
Sam

Mark 10:13-16

¹³People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁵Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.