Daily Lectionary Readings for August 9, 2010
Psalms 12
Judges 12:1-7
Acts 5:12-26
John 3:1-21
Psalm 12
v.6 "The promises of the Lord are pure."
Pure. Sure and certain are certainly qualities of the Lord's promises as well, but pure is a wonderful quality to highlight. My promises tend to have motives left and right and agendas to spare. God's promises are pure. Another reason for me to really look closely at whose promises I'm prioritizing.
Acts 5:12-26
This passage has a couple of those verses that I think are critical to communities of faith today. Verse.14 talks about the addition of "great numbers of men and women". Verse 16 again uses the words "great numbers" to talk about those responding to wha the Apostles are doing. Acts has these type of references throughout. Someone was paying attention to how many folks were participating. Numbers mattered. Not for their sake, but for what they were indicative of - a powerful response to the representation of God's good news. Numbers are no final measuring stick, but there does seem to be clear indication that when God is at work in the midst of people, other people get curious about what is going on. Our actions and our witness become irresistible invitations, not because of any magic in us, but because people are getting glimpses of God.
John 3:1-21
A follow-up on the above in the context of this passage. Nicodemus is one of those folks who is in the group that can be identified as a person drawn to the message and person of Jesus. Nicodemus gets portrayed often as a little dense and a little cowardly. A little dense for not getting what Jesus is talking about and a little cowardly for coming to Jesus under the cover of darkness. I think there is something to the simple fact that Nicodemus came to Jesus at all. Surely not a popular move among his colleagues should he be found out. There is risk involved, but he sees something and is drawn to it. When we are able to really present Jesus and Jesus' message people will be drawn to it.
Preaching Notes...
While this blog is still in the defining stages I think one of the things I want to do is make the occasional note to myself - sort of thinking out loud - about what the upcoming preaching schedule looks like. Towards that end...
Having just spent the past four Sundays around the theme of Treasure Seekers (borrowed our recycled VBS theme and used lectionary passages to explore how we seek the treasure of relationship with God) am now looking to go to Hebrews for three Sundays. Each of the three passages have a positive emphasis; May opt for some other title, but working connecting theme is "Encouragement From Hebrews".
Hebrews 11:29-12:2 - "You'll Never Run Alone"
examples of OT folk who were faithful. We have access to the same God they did - surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses we have that example and support as we run with perseverance the race set before us.
Hebrews 12:18-29 - "Speaking Hope Into A Shaky Today"
Love the image of the Kingdom that cannot be shaken. How attractive is that in the wildly unpredictable kingdom we are living in now
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15,16 - "The Part Of Our Lives That Is Potentially Not Worship (Doesn't Exist)"
Connects continuous worship (v.15) with concrete measures that show up in our lives (v.16)
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