Ephesians 2:11-22 In 1871 two archeologists found a piece of engraved stone from the Jerusalem temple with Greek writing on it. It held a stern warning: “No foreigner is to enter the barriers surrounding the sanctuary. He who is caught will have himself to blame for his death which will follow.” This was one rule they were, evidently, pretty strict about. No gentiles were permitted to enter the temple. But it was not the only rule. There were degrees of acceptability in the temple worship of the time. The outermost area of the temple was called the court of the gentiles, and it was a large, open, public area. Anyone could come into the outer court. But within this courtyard there was a barrier, called a soreg, which surrounded a wall defining the perimeter of the outer court of the temple. The outer court was also called the court of the […]
Continue readingMonth: July 2018
No Longer Strangers, Part 1: The Family
Ephesians 1:3-14 This week we begin a new series focusing on Christian community. Using the letter to Ephesians to explore this basic question: how to live as a community of faith in the best ways we can. The church has changed an awful lot over the past 2000 years, but something that has not really changed is the struggle we have to be an authentic Christian community. Ever since the beginning, this has been a hard task for the church, because it is a fight against our tribal instincts. Human beings have always had a tendency to cluster into groups of people who are “like us.” In whatever ways are important to us, whatever values are foremost in our minds, these are the markers we look for in creating community. And this is precisely what the church of Jesus Christ is working to overcome. The very radical thing that the […]
Continue readingOccupy
Scripture References: 2 Samuel 5:1-5,9-10; 2 Corinthians 12:2-10 The beauty of following a story through a series of Sundays is being able to see how characters develop. You think back to just a few weeks ago when we were reading about the boy who ran around with a slingshot in his back pocket, following the sheep around the pasture, running errands for his dad and his big brothers. You think about this little boy who bragged to the soldiers of Israel, I could beat that old giant any day! And they laughed him off. And then he did. That cute little boy from the hick little town of Bethlehem, ruddy and innocent – look at him now. He’s king over all Israel, ruling from his new stronghold, the city on a hill, the city of David. All the tribes of Israel came out to see him, they praised him and […]
Continue readingWeapons of Righteousness
2 Corinthians 6:1-13 1 Samuel 17:32-49 There is a film called, “In the Valley of Elah.” Tommy Lee Jones is a retired army sergeant, Hank, who is looking for his son, Mike. Mike has recently returned home from his tour in Iraq, and then disappeared. The film is about Hank’s search for Mike and the things he finds along the way. I had to watch it a couple of times before I understood the title. I know it was in the valley of Elah that the army of Israel faced off against a monster, their worst nightmare. In the valley of Elah, the people of God faced Goliath and found they had nothing, no one to match, and they were paralyzed by fear. At the valley of Elah, Israel looked at their weapons, their armor, themselves, and saw that they came up short in a particular, fatal way. Both armies […]
Continue readingWhat We Give
Scripture texts: 2 Samuel 1:1,17-27; 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 Ours is a culture that believes in charity. It’s a value we share, that it is good to give to those who are in need. We believe that it is good to give, but not that we should be compelled to give. It should be something that comes from the heart, so each one should have the right, and should be encouraged, to give freely; to give as much as one has made up one’s mind to give. I think we got this idea from the Apostle Paul. Paul tells the Corinthians that he wants them to be generous, basically for their own sake, but that he does not want to compel them to be generous. Because that would sort of defeat the purpose. He really wants them to want to do good. And you just can’t force that on someone. That […]
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