a house of prayer for all peoples

Good evening friends,

Today's reading is a great reassurance for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider or outcast (probably all of us). God's plan in restoring the temple and bringing home the exiles of Israel and Judah goes wider than a chosen people. All people are chosen. Whoever wants to follow God and be part of God's family is welcome. There is a place for everyone.

God bless,
Sam

Isaiah 56:1-8

Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. ²Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil.

³Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.” ⁴For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, ⁵I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 

⁶And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant— ⁷these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. ⁸Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.

faith and works

Good morning friends,
First, I'd like to remind you that as part of our Vacation Bible School series on Wednesday evenings from 6:30-9 we are hoping to have a portion for adults as well. It would be great to have interested adults take part tonight; the kids have been having a great time.

Paul's point today is that God calls some surprising people to follow and sometimes the people we expect to hear the word don't listen. Part of the problem is that those who grow up with a knowledge of God sometimes fall into the trap of thinking we can earn our salvation through our deeds or by belonging to the right church. In reality coming to God is about our faith in God's grace; it has nothing to do with earning God's love. Our calling is to accept God's love and to live that love for others.

Blessings on your day,
Sam

Romans 9:25-33

25As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” 26“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called children of the living God.” 27And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved; 28for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth quickly and decisively.” 29And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left survivors to us, we would have fared like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah.”


30What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith; 31but Israel, who did strive for the righteousness that is based on the law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law. 32Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33as it is written, “See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

church discipline

Good morning friends,
Today's reading is a challenging one, so bear with me (and Paul). Paul raises a situation he has heard about in the Corinthian church: a man living with his father's wife. He has also heard that the church is "arrogant" about this; maybe that means they talk about how Christ has saved them and live too loosely as a result. Paul says the church should mourn because their community is made impure by immorality like this. He argues that they are responsible to put the man out of the community until he repents of his sin. By keeping him in the community it sends the message that his behavior is OK and risks "leavening the whole batch" or corrupting the whole church. The church is made holy by Christ's sacrifice, so we are called to keep it that way.

Paul's point is that the church needs to support each other in doing the right thing and call each other out with love when they do the wrong thing. That way everyone is built up in their faith and their faithful living. Notice too that he doesn't want the church to shun outsiders who are immoral. Those of us in the church are held to a higher standard because of God's transforming love. We reach out to those outside with love, not judgment. We build up our sisters and brothers by helping each other see where we might be going wrong. We do all this with great humility because we are all sinners and we never see the whole truth. I'd love to hear your thoughts and questions by email or (even better) on the blog.

God bless,
Sam

1 Corinthians 5:1-13



It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father’s wife. 2And you are arrogant! Should you not rather have mourned, so that he who has done this would have been removed from among you? 3For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present I have already pronounced judgment 4in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing. When you are assembled, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5you are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.



6Your boasting is not a good thing. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. 8Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.


9I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons— 10not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. 11But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. 12For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? 13God will judge those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you.”