Day 42: Luke 21; 2 Timothy 3-4

Luke 21

Widow's mite. "All these others made offerings that they'll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn't afford--she gave her all!" Do I miss my offerings to God...are they a sacrifice? If so, of what? What might it be like to give in such a way that impacted my lifestyle? Do I? Can I? Will I?

Good words facing election day: "Many leaders will show up with forged identities claiming, 'I'm the one,' or 'The end is near.' Don't fall for any of that. When you hear of wars and uprisings, keep your head and don't panic. This is routine history and no sign of the end." Pluck that puppy out of context...why doesn't that happen? The whole section speaks to our tendency to tear one another apart.

Vengeance Day, as opposed to Judgment Day. What does that do to end times theology?

When we see leaves beginning to show, one look tells us summer is around the corner. The same is here, when you see these things happen, God's kingdom is about here. If kingdom is a present reality, on earth as it is in heaven, especially as Luke presents in this gospel, do we simply keep looking around the wrong corners, as surely things should be different by now...

"Jesus is proclaiming a way of life that has its feet on the ground, that's reasonable and whole and practical but that's vastly different and superior to what we're used to. Death isn't the worst thing that can happen to us. Suffering isn't either. Nor rejection, poverty, or illness. The worst thing is to be without meaning, without love, without purpose, without hope--without God. But we aren't ever without God, not cut off. The simplest act of faith puts you in relationship with God--so don't be terrified, for not a hair of your head will perish." EP

2 Timothy 3-4

3:1-5 goes right along with what Jesus was just saying in Luke 21. Don't be naive. These things will happen. "They'll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes, they're animals. Stay clear of these people."

"Anyone who wants to live all out for Christ is in for a lot of trouble; there's no getting around it. Unscrupulous con men will continue to exploit the faith. They're as deceived as the people they lead astray. As long as they're out there, things can only get worse."

"Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another--showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us."

Christ himself is the judge, of living and dead. You. Keep the Message alive. Sound teaching isn't junk food or comfort food. It's solid food. Spiritual food with empty calories is what a lot of people eat, but it doesn't nourish the soul.

God be with you. Grace be with you.

Day 41: Luke 20; 2 Timothy 1-2

Luke 20

"Show us your credentials. Who authorized you to speak and act like that?" Do we still ask the question, especially if we've not had the experience of being convicted by the Holy Spirit, and certainly if we haven't been convicted of...that?!

Let's kill him, the heir, and we can have it all to ourselves. The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. It will make persons stumble and fall. The religion scholars and high priests wanted to lynch him on the spot, but they were intimidated by public opinion. They knew the story was about them. Ever been on the receiving end of a parable you needed to hear? Not too comfortable.

Trying to get around Jesus, to trip him, to make his "stuff" mean something else so that you/we can be right. What's Caesar's? What's God's? Sadducees, who don't believe in resurrection, asking Jesus about resurrection. Talk about a trap!

"God isn't the God of dead men, but of the living. To him all are alive."

"Watch out for the religion scholars. They love to walk around in academic gowns, preen in the radiance of public flattery, bask in prominent positions, sit at the head table at every church function. And all the time they're exploiting the weak and helpless. The longer their prayers, the worse they get. But they'll pay for it in the end."

2 Timothy 1-2

The handing down of faith from generation to generation.

We can only keep on going by the power of God, who first saved us then called us to this holy work. We had nothing to do with it. It was God's idea, a gift prepared for us in Jesus long before we knew anything about it. Paul reminds Timothy that the power of God is what keeps him going, not his own power. It is God who saved us, not we ourselves. It is God who called us to this work, not our volunteering for it. We had nothing to do with it. It was God's idea. And it came to us as gift. Timothy could rest in spite of his insecurities, and so may we.

Pass on what you've learned to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others. Carry out your orders. "You are the leader. Take your share of the suffering. Throw yourself into this work. Take it on the chin if necessary. Forget about being younger. Forget about being less capable. Forget about your feelings of insecurity. Just be the leader...and lead.

Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won't be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple. Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words. If they're not backed by godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul.

"Run away from infantile indulgence. Run after mature righteousness--faith, love, peace--joining those who are in honest and serious prayer before God. Refuse to get involved in inane discussions; they always end up in fights. God's servant must not be argumentative, but a gentle listener and teacher who keeps cool, working firmly but patiently with those who refuse to obey. You never know when God might sober them up with a change of heart and a turning to the truth, enabling them to escape the devil's trap, where they are caught and held captive, forced to run his errands." 2:22-26

The Challenge of Godliness...summed up in that last passage.

Day 40: Luke 19; 1 Timothy 4-6

Luke 19

Tax man. Insulated by money. Still interested in getting to Jesus, though perhaps not by conventional ways. Jesus finds him, calls him, claims him. Z was an outcast in his day. So, having just typed that, what do I think of the big money funders of this political season? Does that give me a more charitable view of them? Jesus received Z, and then he repented and made restitution. Do I have that much faith in the power of God (over the lure of cash) for this day and time? Hm... Making me think here, in a direction I had not anticipated going....Z was likely used to "possessing" people--EP says, "He was delighted to take Jesus home with him." But Jesus wasn't to be bought out. He's always after change of heart, change of life. Z was talking about his present philanthropy, at least in the tense that EP uses. That's different from what I remember...thought the philanthropy was resultant from his encounter with Jesus.

Parable of the talents/money/reliable servants. "Risk your life and get more than you ever dreamed of. Play it safe and end up holding the bag."

"His master needs him." The colt's owner? The colt? Could be either, or both. Jesus weeps over Jerusalem.

EP: Life of Jesus isn't a success story; it's a salvation story.

1 Timothy 4-6

"Some will give up the faith and chase after demonic illusions put forth by professional liars...Everything God created is good, and to be received with thanks. Nothing is to be sneered at and thrown out. God's word and our prayers make every item in creation holy." Bothered. What is the creation theology of those (like those at the district day with the Bishop) who suggest that GLBTQ persons are not created by God? As if there is another creator in the world? They were wholesale condemned as unclean and irredeemable. I know folks with whom I disagree who might not got that far, but where is the line of demarcation?

Concern in pastoral epistles is "sound" teaching. Timothy is told to clean up the mess, to teach sound truth, which leads to a healthy body. Words in Ephesus had gotten sick. Gossip was rampant. So was rumor, fantasy stories. Timothy served up truth to get people healthy again.

Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. Read Scripture, give counsel, teach. Keep a firm grasp on your character and your teaching.

Legitimate and illegitimate widows. Interesting. Can understand what he's saying... ( must be +60, married only once, have a reputation for helping out with children, strangers, tired Christians, the hurt and troubled). Any Christian woman who has widows in her family is responsible for them. They shouldn't be dumped on the church.

Don't appoint persons to church leadership positions too hastily. If a person is involved in some serious sins, you don't want to become an unwitting accomplice. Keep a close check on yourself.

"A devout life does bring wealth, but it's the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that's enough."

Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble.

"Pursue a righteous life--a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses...Go after God who piles on all the riches we could ever manage--to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they(rich in the world's wealth) do that, they'll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life."

Day 39: Luke 18; 1 Timothy 1-3

Luke 18

Irony of judge not giving justice(though she was a woman, barely a person, widow). Widow puts the weakest and least influential people on equal footing with the recognized power figures in society. Widows were at the absolute bottom of authority and influence. Not listened to at all. After a lifetime of being ignored, it's hard to "pray consistently and never quit." In prayer before God, we we are all equal. "How much of that persistent faith will the Son of Man find on earth when he returns?" Will we be like the widow? Or the others?

Tax Man and the Pharisee. "God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner...if you're content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself."

"Children are the kingdom's pride and joy... Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you will never get into it."

"What must I do to deserve (inherit) eternal life?"
"Why are you calling me good?"
"Sell everything you own and give it away to the poor. Then come follow me." "He was holding on tightly to a lot of things and not about to let them go." What am I holding onto that keeps me from growing closer in my walk with Christ? What "things", both tangible and intangible, get in my way?

"No chance of entering God's kingdom if you think you can pull it off by yourself (earn your way). Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it."

Peter...checks to see if the disciples had done what was necessary...

Blind man by the side of the road. "What do you want from me?" Jesus asked. "Master, I want to see again." What is it that you want from Jesus? Do you have an answer for his question? "The healing was instant. He looked up, seeing-and then followed Jesus, glorifying God." His response to his healing was worship.

1 Timothy 1-3

Development of leaders who will lead after Paul. Ephesus had been a model church, but by the time Timothy is sent there, Ephesus had become a mess. The religion of culture had invaded the pure gospel of Jesus Christ and threatened to destroy it.

"The whole point of what we're urging is simply love--love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. Those who fail to keep this point soon wander off into cul-de-sacs of gossip...The way you say it an to whom you say it are as important as what you say. The Law code isn't primarily for people who live responsibly, but for the irresponsible, who defy authority, riding roughshod over God, life, sex, truth, whatever!"

"Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners." All those sinners who make you want to pull your hair out have a Savior. Jesus is the one who saves us from our sins. It's not our job to save ourselves or others. Jesus came to rescue, to save, to raise sinners from the dead, to restore them (and us). We all begin (again and again) in the place of needing God's help.

Does the shame of the sin you are presently dealing with cause you to shrink away from church, from other Christians, from Christ himself? Why? What's keeping you from coming to Christ, bringing the mess to him so that he can graciously deal with it? It is called the throne of grace, not the throne of judgment.

First thing you should do: pray. In every way you know how, for everyone you know. Rulers, governments. Especially with Tuesday coming up. And Wednesday.

Prayer ought to be the first thing we do, not the last. A changed world begins with us...and a changed us begins when we pray.

Jesus wants not only us but everyone saved, everyone to know the truth. Eventually the news will get out.

"Since prayer is at the bottom of all this, what I want mostly is for men (and women) to pray-not shaking angry fists at enemies but raising holy hands to God."

If childbearing reversed Eve's "bad" action, why do we still subjugate women? Do we not take
1 Tim 2: 14-15 literally?

Leaders in the church should be well thought of, commited to spouse, cool, collected, accessible, hospitable, knowledgeable about what they're talking about, not over fond of wine, not pushy but gentle, not thin-skinned, not money-hungry, must handle own affairs well, not a new believer (as if "old" believers necessarily have submitted to formation in Christ?!).

Servants in the church: serious, not deceitful, not too free with the bottle, not in it for what they can get out of it, reverent before the mystery of faith, not using position to try to run things, committed to spouse, attentive to own children, diligent in looking after own affairs.

Character descriptions, not job descriptions. "Lived truth." The way you live qualifies or disqualifies you for leadership.

Women are expected to exhibit same characteristics.

Day 38: Luke 17; 2 Thessalonians 1-3

Luke 17

"Be alert. If you see your friend going wrong, correct him. If he responds, forgive him. Even if it's personal agains you and repeated seven times, through the day, and seven times, he says, "I'm sorry, I won't do it again, forgive him."

One of the passages where we find justification (whether right or wrong) for correcting/judging those around us, whether it's a disagreement in thought, word, or behavior/deed. But the point of the passage is faith. Disciples ask for more faith. Jesus says there is no more or less faith. There is faith.

Healing 10 lepers. Go to the priest. Made clean on the way. One came back to thank Jesus. Others were physically healed. This one more so--spiritually...by giving thanks to God-"your faith has healed and saved you." He received more because he gave thanks and recognized the giver?

When is the kingdom of God. Now is the kingdom of God, if we choose to live in it today. It is already among us. The Son of Man simply comes.

It will be the same as the time of Noah: surprise, surprise. But...God put the rainbow in the sky to say never more will I wipe everything/everyone out. "Never again will everything living be destroyed by floodwaters; no, never again will a flood destroy the earth. " Pretty specific. Floodwaters. Doesn't say other means won't destroy (like allowing us to destroy one another with nuclear weapons, or something else).

If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you'll lose it, but if you let that life go, you'll get life on God's terms.

2 Thessalonians 1-3

"Thanking God for you over and over isn't just a pleasure; it's a must. We have to do it. Your faith is growing phenomenally, and your love for each other is developing wonderfully."

Paul as a priest of praise. I want to be a priest of praise!

"Eternal exile from the presence of the Master and his splendid power is their sentence." No doubt where theologies of eternal damnation come from. Have to check my Paul parallel to see where else he speaks this way. Much end times/left behind play here. Had forgotten that. Know that the big struggle of the Thessalonian community was because someone died before Christ came back. So what happens to them? Don't we ask the same thing today? Was asked in NTC discussion group.

EP: "Signs and wonders, miracles and mighty works are certainly part of the biblical story and part of the story of the Christian life, but taken out of context, apart from God's revelation of himself in Jesus, they're simply commodities that are traded at inflated values on the religious stock exchange."

Pray for us. And Obey God's Word. Notes for Obedience message on November 7 in commentary section at the end of 2 Thessalonians.

How do you come to the Scriptures when you read? Do you try to take control of the Bible or do you allow the Bible to take control of you?

"Dear Lord, help me to walk through your Word with humility, for it is sacred ground over which I travel. So many others have gone before me over that ground. Help me to learn from them, both from the steps of their faith and from the stumblings of their unbelief, from their obedience and their obstinateness, from their steadfastness and their waywardness. Give me eyes to see that the landscape of your Word is so much more vast and grand than the small parcel of ground that is my life. And grate me the grace to travel over that majestic landscape slowly, imaginatively, prayerfully, and obediently."

Day 37: Luke 16; 1 Thessalonians 4-5

Luke 16

"Streetwise people are smarter in this regard than law-abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles, surviving by their wits. I want you to be smart in the same way-but for what is right-using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior." Closest to understanding I have ever come on that parable. Still requires more digging, and more soaking into my spirit.

"What society sees and calls monumental, God sees behind and calls monstrous...now it's all kingdom of God-the glad news and compelling invitation to every man and woman." Every man and woman. Who's left out then?

"Using the legalities of divorce as a cover for lust is adultery; using the legalities of marriage as a cover for lust is adultery." Doesn't Paul say something other than this? Like, if you can't keep your hands off him/her, get married...make it legal. Interesting paradox in the presentations...

Lazarus and Dives, the rich man. Uncrossable chasm between heaven and hell. What's that do to our thinking? I do believe in heaven or hell on earth, and trust God to redeem and bring justice...though I don't like what that means, as I've lived a pretty heavenly life...am I bringing heaven on earth to those on earth in hell? Or am I ignoring them? They won't be convinced by someone who comes back from the dead.

EP: "Life on earth fashions an eternal destiny. Why should we call any day commonplace? Every time the rich man walked past Lazarus, he was building hell; and every time Lazarus refused to be embittered by the bread of poverty, he was building a home in heaven. Every step is destiny. Eternity doesn't begin when we die. It's woven into every word and action of our daily lives. What the rich man was doing was giving all of his attention to himself. All self-indulgence, all the time. The misery of the rich man is that he had no relationship with anything eternal; he was exiled from the Source of life. Hell--the place where God is not; the state in which man/woman is utterly separated from his Creator by a great chasm."

1 Thessalonians 4-5

"Keep doing what we told you to do to please God in a living, spirited dance."

Just love one another. Keep it up and get better at it.

Someone in the community died. What happens now, to him and to us? Grave isn't the last word. Image of the second coming, of the final reconciliation, of Jesus coming back for us. One huge family reunion with the Master.

Living by faith isn't escaping the world; it's engaging the world and the ultimate realities behind it. We should be hopeful, not fearful. God's coming to us in Jesus demonstrated that his coming is good for everyone. So we should be filled with hope and anticipation. The person who is afraid, feels doomed, hasn't listened closely to what God is saying. God has plans, hopes, and a future fo us.

Who knows when this will happen? Or when? Why waste time worrying? You are sons and daughters of Light and Day. Dress in faith, love and the hope of salvation.

"God didn't set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we're awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we're alive with him! So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind."

5:13-15--caring for the community of faith
"Get along among yourselves, each of you doing your part. Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. And be careful that when you get on each other's nerves you don't snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out. Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live." How am I doing? How are you doing?

God is active and moving. God comes to us. We are God's destination. God came and will come again. So how should we live? "Be alive!"

Day 36: Luke 15; 1 Thessalonians 1-3

Luke 15

Stories we can recall so familiarly that we may easily fail to see and internalize the deep meaning, the deep grace, the deep challenge to our own lives...

Lost chapter. Lost coin. Lost sheep. Lost son.

"By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently." Jesus trusted the power of the message and the Holy Spirit to bring changes in these persons' lives, and he knew that proximity was a big part of the picture. Real proximity. Genuine present proximity...not distant judgment, or alienation, or separation...love, relationship, proximity.

Is that one sheep valued over the 99? Just as much? Worthy of pursuit to bring it into the fold? So why do those in the fold get so upset? Why can we get so upset when an outsider is sought after? Can we confess that we are still "in" the human condition, that we are not all that cleaned up inside yet, despite what the outside looks like? Can we pray the bold prayer that may lead us to chase that one, "Lord, break my heart with the things that break your heart?"

Lost coin...looking in every nook and cranny...doesn't God do that around us and within us?

How do you love? Like an older brother? Or like a loving father? Are you happy where you are? How can you love like the one you want to emulate in this story? Of what do you need to let go?
When have you been part of party-throwing for one who was lost and now is found? Can we be grateful with the abundance of gifts we've been given where we are? Or do we begrudge when similar lavish gifts are poured upon those we deem as undeserving?

Does it make a difference how things or people become lost? Does that affect our response? Does it matter to God?

The story of God's search to find us begins in Genesis. Jesus is the culmination of the search-he comes to find and restore the lost.

What is the picture of God you carry with you to every dinner party, every theater, every business meeting, everywhere? How do you view the "sinners" gathered there? Is your attitude one of seeking the lost, the way Jesus did, or of standing apart from the lost and casting a disparaging glance, the way the religious leaders did?

Help me to live so that my life is a picture of love instead of indifference; a picture of grace instead of judgment, a picture of kindness instead of criticism.

1 Thessalonians 1-3

How's your sense of the future? Do you live in hope? Do you believe Christ is coming back? If so, how does that affect your view of each day, each moment? Do you live infused with hope? Paul tries to prod the Thessalonian community to live forward in joyful expectancy for what God will do next in Jesus.

Every time we think of you, we thank God for you. When God brings someone through your mind, do you momentarily say, "Thank you?" Certainly one way to pray without ceasing, to infuse life with prayer and God communication.

Taking trouble with joy and joy with trouble...Your lives are echoing the Master's Word. You are the message. Hopeful waiting...we are always waiting...how are we waiting? With anxiety? With hope. This morning, Sarah awaited the weather, which she knows always changes in central Ohio. She is frightened of storms. She saw 75% chance of scattered thunderstorms. Her anxious waiting stirred up trouble in her stomach, chest and throat...she had to be calmed to go to school...coaxed to wait differently (aided by the always changing forecast). I am trying to teach her to wait hopefully...that even if it's bad weather, it'll change...

Refusal to wait is a refusal to trust. Paul didn't counsel passivity or quietism. He did commend hopeful waiting.

When we speak we're after God approval, not crowd approval.

An artesian well of thanks. Thessaloinians beat the odds, believed in spite of opposition.

EP: "Maturity in the Christian life involves the steady conviction that God loves me, that my future is with God. At the same time, there must be a steady conviction that other believers love me, hope for me, delight in me. That I'm a pride and joy to others is every bit a part of Christian belief as knowing I'm that to God. Otherwise, I can never live freely and openly in a Christian community. God's acceptance of me paves the way for "accepting my acceptance" by others. But it's no substitute for it. Paul tirelessly tried to share with the Thessalonians-who were feeling inferior, rejected, and abandoned-the human sense of acceptance; namely, that he loved them, admired them, boasted about them, and got pleasure from them."

When unable to come himself, Paul sent Timothy to be an encourager. Trouble ahead for those who follow Christ.

Day 35: Luke 14; Colossians 3-4

Luke 14

Under watchful eye, Jesus asked the Pharisees if it was OK to heal on the Sabbath. They said nothing, so he did it.

Extreme Hospitality. Unconditional acceptance (except for those who deny?). Dinner guests and manners. Don't take the place of honor; wait to be invited there. Don't invite to dinner people who can repay the favor, people with the means to provide a meal for you. Invite the misfits from the wrong side of the tracks.

Dinner in God's kingdom. So easily distracted. We can deny the invitation without realizing it. Priorities. So God invites everyone, so that some may come. Whoever you find, drag them in. I want my house full!

Leave your family, carry your own cross, count the cost of following me. Sometimes we don't know the cost until we get in it. Have to be willing to lose it all for me...relationships, status, even your life.

Assess the future and decide if you want to get involved with the lifelong commitment that is discipleship. Am I willing to love my enemy? Am I willing to be reconciled to a sister or brother? Am I willing to find with Christ the resources I need to live obediently and act redemptively?

Colossians 3-4

Act like you're serious about living this resurrection life. Fitting follow to Luke 14. See things from Christ's perspective.

Resurrection of Christ. General resurrection of the dead in the future. Resurrection that is taking place in you and me now. Was, will be, is. Past, future, present. We are already raised from the dead so that we can experience the power of God that gives us new life. We're not taken from our lives, but in this life, we are made new. We're not removed from the present; we're transformed in the present.

Life shaped by God, not by things and feelings. Everything is made new. All divisions are abolished. "Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.

Garments of compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline, even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense, love, peace of Christ within you, thankfulness. "Let the Word of Christ-The Message-have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives."

Pray diligently, stay alert, eyes wide open in gratitude. Letter is filled with encouragement, gratitude, sound advice for community building. Bring out the best in others in a conversation-don't put them down or cut them out.

Day 34: Luke 13; Colossians 1-2

Interesting. Galileans killed for violating purity laws, and Jesus says, "Do you think they were worse sinners than all the others? Not at all...unless you turn to God, you, too, will die."

Don't chop down the non-producing trees/people. Grace gives them another year. Fruit inventory: How is my love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control?
Can that kind of fruit be found in me? Even if the ax is at my roots, God steps in and says, give her more time. We all have the potential for great and good fruitfulness.

Bent over woman. 18 years. He healed her on the Sabbath. Bad call. You untie your livestock on the Sabbath; why can't I untie this woman?!

pine nut. yeast. small, miniscule beginning but great and might influence and effectiveness.

don't worry about how many will be saved. Put your mind on your life with God. Refusal at the banquet: "Your kind of knowing me can hardly be called knowing. You don't know the first thing about me." Last shall be first.

Herod's after Jesus, but Jesus isn't frightened. Doing the work he came to do while he was here. Nothing would impede that.

Colossians 1-2

Christians in Colosse are diminishing the stature of Christ, putting him in the same boat as other god-figures. They don't see Jesus as unique. When they do make claims, they're arrogant bordering on violent, both incompatible with Christ himself. Paul's task here is to help them with their understanding of Christ, of love, humility, non-violence, of the wedding of head and heart.

"Our prayers for you are always spilling over into thanksgivings...The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope."

"The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you."

"Not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory strength God gives."

God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons.

We look at the Son and see the God who can't be seen. How do we know about God? Jesus.

Scripture gives us a picture of Jesus, the one who gives coherence to all the disconnected pieces of the puzzle of life. In Christ, everything interlocks. In him everything finds its purpose. He puts together what belongs together-reconciliation. He puts our lives together and makes them whole.

"When I became a servant in this church, I experienced this suffering as a sheer gift. God's way of helping me serve you, laying out the whole truth...God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery is this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing God's glory." We preach Christ. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less.

"I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God."

"Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. Start living it, and let your living spill over into thanksgiving. "

"Of Christ" People who've heard the call of God's love and grace, have responded to it, and have entered into a union with God. No longer spectators before God, but in the arena of God's working love, redeeming grace, and delivering power.

"In Colosse" regular folks following Christ in their day to day.

"Christ stripped all spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets. So don't put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship, holy days...all are shadows before Christ. Don't tolerate people who try to run your life...So then, if with Christ you've put all that pretentious and infantile religion behind you, why do you let yourselves be bullied by it? Don't touch this. Don't taste that. Don't go near this. "

Live it.

Day 33: Luke 12: Philippians 3-4

Luke 12

Be authentic. "Don't be bluffed into silence by the threats of religious bullies (who know and live by the law?). They can kill you, but then what can they do to you? Nothing they can do to your soul.

God doesn't overlook anyone or anything. The Holy Spirit will give you right words (for defending your faith in charges against Jesus) when the time comes.

Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life isn't defined by what you have, even if you have a lot. Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can. Building bigger barns. Don't fill your barn with self. Fill it with God.

Steep yourself in God reality. LOVE that headline. Inner life. Relax. Don't be so preoccupied with getting that you can't respond to God's giving.

Where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. Treasure, not talents, not gifts or graces...treasure. How are you handling your treasure?

Be prepared. Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities.

"I've come to change everything, turn everything rightside up...not to smooth things over and make everything nice. To disrupt and confront. Storm's coming. Know your own situation, even your guilt so that you don't get locked up---don't see this as fully punitive (but then I understand God as more benevolent than violent)...God wants us to know our own hearts, which means the good, the bad, and the ugly. Use common sense. Changing seasons/changing God time.

Philippians 3-4

Be glad in God. Don't be a knife-happy circumciser. Never read that one before. Don't cut anything off for the sake of the law...or anyone. "The real believers are the ones the Spirit of God leads to work away at this ministry, filling the air with Christ's praise as we do it." Christ took away the need for pedigree, for generations in the faith, for other privileges of birth, education, place. Christ leveled the playing field...everything else is dog dung. Dumped it so that I could be embraced by Christ--all the earthly securities and stature I had held. Not rules-God's righteousness.

EP: "The basic experience of Paul's life was of being encountered and then captured by the living Christ. God wanted Paul and he got him. Paul hadn't sought God; God had sought Paul. That was what happened on the Damascus road, and it turned Paul's life around. Paul had free and eager curiosity of a child exploring a newly encountered field frothing with wildflowers and buzzing with life. He ran to see what God was doing and to personally appropriated what had been done in him, to experientially explore all the ramifications of being forgiven, and loved, and blessed....give all my energies to being human, to living the rich experiences of grace."

What does "easy street" look like, as opposed to following the cross? How have I turned toward easy street and away from the cross? What must I let go of so that I can turn back?

"We're waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthly bodies into the glorious bodies like his own. He'll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him."

"I urge (Euodia and Syntyche, and anyone among us for whom this is applicable) to iron out their differences and make up. God doesn't want his children holding grudges. "

"Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in God. Make it as clear as you can to all whom you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute." 4:4-5

Instead of worrying, pray. Shape your worries into prayers before God. "It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life."

"I'm glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess..."

"Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am." Doesn't mean I don't need anyone else; I'm created for community. I know my center. You were the ones who helped me out.

I'm not looking for handouts, but I do want you to experience the blessing that issues from generosity. Great verse to read the week of sending out stewardship letters.

"Receive and experience the amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, deep, deep within yourselves."

EP: "The gospel of Jesus Christ creates a community in which people care for one another, taking others into their homes, feeding them, giving them a bed, and meeting their needs. Phillipians met Paul's needs by giving him money. They didn't just pray for him. They held together the physical and the spiritual.

"Paul was convinced that what he experienced in Christ can happen to anyone; everyone can experience. What he received, anyone can receive. Faith isn't given only to those with the right temperament, who who have a particular upbringing, or who have certain predisposition, or who get all the breaks. The act of faith deals with something that is basic in each and every one of us. At that level, we're met and changed and satisfied by Christ. Paul affirmed this when he wrote: 'You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus.' (v.19)

"We don't all get the same feelings out of our faith. We don't all get the same ideas out of it. We don't all get the same standard of living out of it. But we all get the same God, who takes us seriously, forgives us absolutely, loves us eternally--and supplies everything we need.

"Everything. And that should be our motivation for giving--the extravagant generosity of God."

Day 32: Luke 11; Philippians 1-2

Teach us to pray. Ask for what you need. My needs are filled. So my prayers seem to center around what I want. Hm...Even as I look at the form, my 3 squares are covered if I so choose. So am I to focus on the "other" parts of the prayer--like setting the world right (justice?), forgiving, and resisting temptation?

Ask and you'll get. Seek and you'll find. Knock and it'll open...for my needs, not my wants. Huge difference most days...and sometimes I need to be broken, given a reality check...Hm...Ask for what you need(doesn't ever refer to want). Examples have to do with daily bread, daily need, asks. How does that affect my perspective on prayer?

"Any country in civil war for very long is wasted. A constantly squabbling family falls to pieces." Makes me think of our country in recent decades...Lord have mercy...and give us wisdom, and help us to receive it.

"If you're not on my (Jesus') side, you're the enemy; if you're not helping, you're making things worse."

Blessing from the crowd upon Mary; Jesus multiplies and turns the blessing back to those who hear God's word and guard it with their lives.

Proof is Jonah. 3 Days. Turned. Obeyed. Re-gained life. But was really resentful under that fig tree in ch. 4. What Jonah was to Ninevah, the Son of Man is to this age-Jonah told them to turn or burn...and they did turn, much to Jonah's chagrin. I expect Jesus has a different reaction as turns are made, celebration vs. dismay at God's mercy. Never quite perceived the level of conflict in this illustration I am this morning.

Pharisees. Clean the surface but not the inside. I'm about the inside. "Turn your pockets and hearts inside out and give generously to the poor; then your lives will be clean, not just your dishes and your hands." Don't look for loopholes to get around love and justice. Jesus' extra harsh words at this table lead the Pharisees to begin their formal plotting for his demise (he'd just told them in his discourse that is exactly what they would be guilty of doing).

Strict rules and customs of Pharisees were to preserve Jewish identity and culture under Greek rule. But the rules emphasized external and allowed easy neglect of kingdom of God. What's more important a gorgeous window, or the view revealed through the window?

Philippians 1-2

Paul's happiest letter-infectious. Joy. Deep joy. Paul is deeply happy, with no contribution from his circumstances-he's in jail. Joy is in excess, spilling out, overflowing, splashing, uncontainable.

"Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamation of thanks to God. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart." About whom can you say this?

This is my prayer:

"That your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but love well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God."

What a prayer. Is your life and your following of Jesus making Jesus attractive to all? Does it allow everyone to get involved in the glory and praise of God?

Prayer. First thing and central. Primary. Lives out the belief that God is a personal being with a sovereign will. Prayer is a decision to include God in everything that happens with me, and that I want to participate on God's terms (needs not wants, from Luke). A person who prays is a joyful person who delights in relationships with a profound sense of gratitude.

Some folks trying to get Paul's place/position while he's in jail. Some preach Christ with a genuine heart. Always have been imposters; always will be imposters. It's OK. Christ is proclaimed. So...what does that say to us about maligning other theologies and ideologies? If Christ is proclaimed?

I've got a pulpit, even in this jail. Nothing has been squealched...in fact, it's still expanding! "As long as I'm alive in this body, there is good work for me to do." No retirement when working for the kingdom of God.

Live in such a way that you are a credit to the Message of Christ...Stand united, singular in vision, contending for people's trust in the Message, the good news, not flinching or dodging inthe slightest before the opposition..."

"If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care-then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand." Philippians 2:1-4 (The Message)

Kenosis, "pouring out", "self-emptying," "set aside". If any man has ever been tempted to be self-sufficient, it was Jesus; tempted to be proud-Jesus; tempted to us powers for own gain-Jesus. And he gave it all up. We are to do the same--set aside the privileges of our own life and life a life dedicated to humbly serving others.

Stay obedient, as you were when I was with you. Keep it up. "Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself working and willing at what will give him the most pleasure."

I'm sending Timothy to you since I can't be with you.

Day 31: Luke 10; Ephesians 4-6

Sending out the 70, 2x 2, ahead of him--never noticed that before. Go where Jesus hasn't gone yet-but where Jesus intends to go. Interesting contrast to the end of the chapter when Jesus goes ahead of us everywhere. Seems to be all about the hospitality the message, and the followers, receive--hospitality comparison to Sodom, and how in-hospitality is worst of all. "Master, even the demons danced to your tune!"

"The great triumph is in God's authority over you and presence with you. Not what you do for God but what God does for you--that's the agenda for rejoicing!"

Eternal life. Love God. Love neighbor as yourself. Who's my neighbor? With do you have most difficulty being "neighbor"? Who are you in the story? The beaten person on the street? The priest? The religious man or woman? The Samaritan? The innkeeper? The donkey? The robber?

Mary and Martha. Which are you most like? What do you fear in the other? Who is more practical, in this story setting?

Ephesians 4-6

Don't delay in answering God's call, finding and following God's purpose for your life. "Pour yourselves out for one another in acts of love, notice differences quickly and mend fences fast, too. One Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, workds through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness." One is the loneliest number that you'll ever know...maybe not. Each of us has our own gift to contribute to the oneness.

EP: "This organic, living interrelated body that we're a part of in the church needs to be coordinated, mended, put together at the joints so that it can go out into the world and do Christ's work."

"God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love--like Christ in everything."

"No more lies. No more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In Christ's body we're all connected to each other, after all. When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself as well...make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you. Watch what God does and then you do it...mostly what God does is love you. Love extravagantly."

"You can be sure that using people or religion or things just for what you can get out of them-the usual variations on idolatry-will get you nowhere, and certainly nowhere near the kingdom of Christ, the kingdom of God. Don't let yourselves get taken in with religious smooth talk. God gets furious with people who are full of religious sales talk but want nothing to do with him. Don't even hang around people like that."

EP: "Why do I resist self-examination? A big reason is I fear that if I look too closely at my life, I'll see too much that has to be done, and I don't want to take the trouble or pay the price to fix it. Meanwhile, I'm functioning. I'm getting on OK. ...but there's no life that isn't worth repairing, no life that isn't possible to redeem. This means I can pay close attention to my life without anxiety or apprehension. It doesn't make any difference if I turn up a lot of broken stuff. God is ready to deal with all of it, item by item, in love and grace." Will copy this whole section for Life's Healing Choices tonight.

Relationships. Love marked by giving, not getting.

God is strong, and God wants you strong. Armor of God. Be prepared. Use truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, prayer, and apply them to your life.

God's Word and prayer can help us cut through the clutter that can too easily overtake our lives.

"Goodbye friends. Love mixed with faith be yours from God the Father and from the Master, Jesus Christ. Pure grace and nothing but grace be with all who love our Master, Jesus Christ."

Day 30: Luke 9; Ephesians 1-3

Jesus gave the 12 authority and power to deal with the demons and cure diseases, to preach the Good News and heal the sick. Travel lightly. You are the equipment. Traveled from town to town. Wonder how long the time period was. Tend to think a day, but was more likely weeks or more, especially if they were traveling from town to town. Jesus took the disciples away when they returned, but they didn't get rest.

"You feed them." (I've given you power; you used it before; use it again?). What DO you have? God will make it more than adequate.

Who am I?
9:23-27 Strong counsel and direction from Jesus about this new way of following.

Self-sacrificing is the way of Christ. The cross. Execution. New meaning. Confrontation of the world of sin, hate and indifference with the God of love, forgiveness, and power. "Meaning of cross changed from torture and execution to incredible love and victory. The cross means a crisis--the meaning of existence becomes open, revealed. God's love confronts a person's sin, and God's love wins." EP

Transfiguration. Moses' exodus vs. Jesus' coming exodus. Disciples were sleeping. Surprise, surprise! "When they found themselves buried in the cloud, they became deeply aware of God."
Repetition of the proclamation from the sky made at Jesus' baptism. Is this like confirmation?

When they couldn't understand what Jesus was saying about his coming betrayal, they turned the conversation back to themselves, arguing about who was greatest.

Don't stop him because if he's not an enemy, he's an ally.

Do you want us to destroy these (Samaraitans) who won't receive us? What's that say to Uganda and their desire for the death penalty for homosexuals...in Jesus' name, by the way? Or for any historical action by followers of Jesus who seek (and many times succeeded) to destroy folks who wouldn't subscribe/conscribe to what we(xians) proclaimed. Forgive us, Lord! We've killed in body and in speech. Thinking of the recent UMNS story about the act of reconciliation for the Methodist pastor who slew an Indian village in the 19th century. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers.

"Follow me." No procrastination. No backward looks. You can't put God's kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day!

Ephesians 1-3

Paul seeks to knit belief and behavior together. In and for us, and we are to participate in the work. Our lives contribute as God's plan is worked out by Christ.

I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ.

Abundantly free. We already have everything we need for living the Christian life. God raised Christ from the dead. We don't have to wait for anything else to happen. The gift has been given. We can receive it, right now.

The church is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

EP: "'Works' in religious people is like the steady diet of candy to a child-it ensures that people will never be hungry for a real meal. Yet the absence of hunger is no proof of health. ...'Works' are those religious and moral acts in which we engage in defiance or as a substitute for grace. As harmless as they appear-and as beneficial as they appear-they are the saboteurs of the world of grace."

2:14/15-"The Messiah repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody....Christ treated us as equals."

"Kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone."

Paul is writing from jail. Jailed because he took up the cause of the outsiders. Hello...are you listening (I'm talking to me and my inner prophet). Got in trouble because of sharing God's plan for including everybody. Help us, Jesus!

"The mystery is that people who have never heard of God and those who have heard of God all their lives (what I've been calling outsiders and insiders) stand on the same ground before God. They get the same offer, same help, same promises in Christ Jesus. The message is accessible and welcoming to everyone, across the board."

God handles all the details. It's way over my head.

Ask God to strengthen you by his spirit, a glorious inner strength, that Christ will live in you as you open the door and invite him in. With both feet firmly planted in love you'll be able to take in the extravagant dimensions of Christ's love. God doesn't do by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

We can experience everything eternally good and true and beautiful in the universe. Now.

Day 29: Luke 8; Galatians 4-6

Continued according to plan. Of course there was a plan. It wasn't simply random travel and purpose. A plan: town after town, village after village, preaching God's kingdom, spreading the message. With the 12 and some women who'd been healed of various afflictions and illnesses.

Hadn't realized the wife of Herod's manager was with Jesus. Interesting. Women were Jesus' patrons/providers...for Jesus and the disciples. Many others joined them.

Story of the seeds and soils. Insight. Stories. Sower simply throws seed. Doesn't care where it lands. Could be seen as wasteful in some farming circles. Lavish in others. Foolish. EP: "The words, acts, intentions, creative happenings of God falling all over the place." Luke's gospel says that's the way the world is.

"God is present in the world sowing his seed, the seed thrown into every person's life into every situation, into every heart, into every nook and cranny of the universe."

Don't be misers of what you hear. We're not keeping secrets; we're telling them. We're not hiding things; we're bringing everything out into the open. Generosity begets generosity.

Obedience is thicker than blood.

Storm in the boat. "Why can't you trust me?"

Gerasene demoniac. Mob. They asked Jesus to leave-too much change, too fast, and they were scared.

Jairus and the woman with blood.

Galatians 4-6

As long as the heir is a minor--wonder what age that would have been in that time period.

Jesus came to redeem those of us who were kidnapped by the law. So now we're free to experience our rightful heritage. Child-heir-access to inheritance.

Abba-Aramaic. father, or daddy, or papa. Unprecedented intimacy with God. Suddenly we're free with God, no stiff protocals...combines intimacy with reverence. Intimacy is a freedom to share ourselves, to express ourselves, fearlessly in God's presence. We're free to be spontaneous and uninhibited.

Previously enslaved to so called gods.

Reduced to blunt, letter writing language out of sheer frustration. Tell me, how have you become so enamored with the law? Have you paid close attention to it? Birth by slave woman? Or by free woman?

Set free to live a free life. The moment any of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ's hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. "The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law."

"What matters most is something far more interior: faith expressed in love." Galatians 5:6

"Use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows."

"Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness.

Consequences of living selfishly: 5:19-21

Living God's way: affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity, a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people, loyal commitments. (Fruits of the Spirit)

Fruit is the result of an organic process.

Work out the implications of living this life of freedom. Don't compare yourselves with one another as if one were better and another worse. Each one is an original.

Nothing but the cross. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore them, saving critical comments for yourself. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed.

What a person plants, she/he will harvest. Decisions, attitudes, acts, prayers, thoughts, are seed.

6:12-13. Powerful words. "These people who are attempting to force the ways of circumcision on you have only one motive: They want an easy way to look good before others, lacking the courage to live by a faith that shares Christ's suffering and death. And their talk about the law is gas. They themselves don't keep the law! And they are highly selective in the laws they do observe. They only want you circumcised so they can boast of their success in recruiting you to their side. That is contemptible!"

What substitutes for the call to circumcision today?

It is not what you or I do; it is what God is doing, and God is creating a totally new, free life.

Day 28: Luke 7; Galatians 1-3

Luke 7

Faith of the Roman captain, that merely the words of Jesus would heal his servant, that the illness would simply follow Jesus' orders and be gone. Jesus commends his trust, and the servant is healed.

Compassionate Jesus: When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He resuscitates her son. Quietly worshipful, then noisily grateful. "God is back, looking to the needs of his people!"

John the Baptist, in prison, doesn't "get" Jesus. John must have been looking for the conquering Messiah. What happens? "The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the wretched of the earth have God's salvation hospitality extended to them." Is this what you were expecting?

What did you expect when you saw John? A messenger from God.

"No one in history surpasses John the Baptizer, but in the kingdom he prepared you for, the lowliest person is ahead of him. The ordinary and disreputable people who heard John, by being baptized by him into the kingdom, are the clearest evidence; the Pharisees and religious officials would have nothing to do with such a baptism, wouldn't think of giving up their place in line to their inferiors." (Foreshadows Jesus' later question to John and James who are jockeying for position in the kingdom of God--can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized in the baptism I am baptized?).

Anointing Jesus' feet at a Pharisee's house. Surprising she could get in the door. "She was forgiven many, many sins, and so is so very, very grateful. If the forgiveness is minimal, the gratitude is minimal." How much of faith, then, is perception of sin? Need for God? "I forgive your sins; your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Galatians 1-3

From Peterson's introduction to Galatians: "When men and women get their hands on religion, one of the first things they often do is turn it into an instrument for controlling others, either putting or keeping them 'in their place.'" It's a long history, and no doubt reason many shun religion. Paul learned that God was not an impersonal force to be used to make people behave in certain prescribed ways, but a personal Savior who set us free to live a free life. God did not coerce us from without, but set us free from within. Paul's letter to Galatians is set several years after he was there starting churches. Some old school folks came in and bound people up with rules and law. Paul writes to help the Galatians recover the original freedom they had received in Christ.

Authority to speak comes from Jesus. In the story of freedom, God is always the subject; humans are always the object. If we're to live free, it's because of God's action, not our will or disposition or politics or intelligence. Something is done to us before we act; we are acted upon by God. Life isn't naturally produced for us; it's supernaturally provided for us.

Leaders among you are turning the message of Christ on its head. The message I gave was good and true and from God. Paul's history, and the change in his understanding. He did not stay the same...in fact, he'd been where these recent preachers/visitors had been, until he met Christ, who set him free. Paul's hiatus in Arabia for solitary retreat to explore the meaning of God's love for him. We should all have an Arabia time and place. Then he began his ministry. "That man who once persecuted us is now preaching the very message he used to try to destroy!"

Spies wanted to reduce our freedom to servitude. Assigned to ministry to the non-Jews, while James, Peter and John continued to reach to the Jews. And remember the poor. Preach the good news and remember the poor. But we can do such spiritual gymnastics to decide who exactly is poor.

Peter's fear of conservative Jewish group. Had tasted freedom, but when they came round, Peter tightened back up to the hard law. He re-shifted the tide toward legalism. Paul called Peter's shape-shifting out.

"We Jews know that we have no advantage of birth over 'non-Jewish sinners.' We know very well that we are not set right with God by rulekeeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know? We tried it-and we had the best system of rules the world has ever seen! Convinced that no human being can please God by self-improvement, we believed in Jesus as Messiah so that we might be set right before God by trusting in the Messiah, not by trying to be good."

"I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God but it didn't work. So I quit being a law man to be God's man. My ego is no longer central; no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I'm no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me."

"If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily."
Rule-keeping is because someone else is looking, God or someone else. It's living by performance and show. And it imprisons us. The gospel begins with acceptance, then, with the rush of freedom into the soul that acceptance brings, the spiritual, moral, responsible life begins.

Trust in Christ, not in the law. How did your new life begin? Was it by working your head off to please God? Or was it by responding to God's Message to you?

"Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence, his own Holy Spirit, working these things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, do he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving or because you trust God to do them in you?" (3:5-6)

Persons who put their trust in Christ are children of faith. Those who live by faith are blessed along with Abraham who trusted God and was promised to be a father through whom all nations would be blessed.

"Utterly cursed is every person who fails to carry out every detail written in the book of the law." Impossibility of carrying out such a moral program. We live in right relationship with God by embracing what God arranges for us.

Habakkuk: "The person who believes God, is set right by God-and that's the real life." Rule keeping doesn't mean living by faith, but increases rule keeping.

We are all able to receive God's life, God's Spirit, in and with us by believing--just the way Abraham received it.

"The purpose of the law was to keep a sinful people in the way of salvation until Christ, the descendant, came, inheriting the promises and distributing them to us. Through the line of Abraham and Moses.

"Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law." The law was our tutor, until Christ came. The law delivered us to the place of faith, to Christ. And having delivered us, its job is done.

"By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ wasn't just washing you up for a fresh start. It involved dressing you in Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise. "

"In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ." Galatians 3:28

Day 27: Luke 6; 2 Corinthians 12-13

On the Sabbath. Does the Sabbath make any difference in how we live today? In Jesus' day, it would have begun on Friday at dusk and continued until dusk on Saturday. In our 24/7 society, when and what is Sabbath? For you? For me? Can it happen on Sunday? It can't for me, as I am employed in a vocation in which Sunday can be a heavy work day. Do you take Sabbath time? Does your Sabbath time interfere with your ability to be the hands and feet of Jesus in the world? What kind of action suits the Sabbath best: doing good or doing evil; helping people or leaving them helpless?

Selected the 12 apostles after a night of prayer as Luke tells it. He called them to the mountain with him, into prayer (?), and then came down with them.

"Everyone was trying to touch him-so much energy surging from him, so many people healed!"

Weeping for Jesus was associated with compassion, with awareness of the needs of others. And weeping will be followed by joy.

Some similarities to the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7. Has been called Sermon on the Plain.

"Love your enemies; let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grates your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and give it to them. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously...Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them! If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back?...love your enemies. Help and give without expecting a return. You'll never regret it. Live out this God-created identity the way our Father lives toward us, generously and graciously, even when we're at our worst. Our Father is kind; you be kind."

What affirmations for living as the text/message/sermon goes on. Be careful who you follow as a teacher.

2 Corinthians 12-13

Strength from weakness. "I don't want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you'd encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk...I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations."

God: "My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness." All we need to know.

Can we appreciate gifts from God, despite our real and perceived handicaps? And can we allow God to work through us anyway?

Limitations cut us down to size and then Christ can take over.

12:14-15--Do we who are compensated servants within the congregation serve with the willingness to empty our pockets, even mortgage our lives for those whom we serve? What risks do we take? How does it happen that the more I love you, the less I'm loved?

I hope you don't think we've been making our defense before you. God is the jury, God revealed in Christ, and we make our case before him.

Fear of every pastor: I do admit that I have fears that when I come you'll disappoint me and I'll disappoint you, and in frustration with each other everything will fall to pieces-quarrels, jealousy, flaring tempers, taking sides, angry words, vicious rumors, swelled heads, and general bedlam."

"Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don't drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it...we don't just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you. We pray hard that it will all come together in your lives."

"The authority the Master gave me is for putting people together, not taking them apart."

What would a letter from Paul to the church at Warehouse 839 look like? What cautions would there be? What would be called out to us?

"The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

EP: "The church at Corinth was a pastor's nightmare, but I really like the people he's addressing. Why do I like them so much? The new life in Christ was ablaze in them. They were up to their armpits in problems, but the problems didn't hold a candle to the mystery of Christ that was ablaze in them. They knew that their lives were being shaped for some grand and eternal purpose. In spite of hard words, Paul called them friends, and encouraged them to keep their spirits up. And he wished them the best. It demonstrates that even though we can have strong disagreements within the body of Christ, we can still be friends, still encourage one another, still hope for the best for each other." Amen.

Day 26: Luke 5; 2 Cotinthians 10-11

What's it mean to pull out a little from shore? To create some distance for better speaking and hearing? To get a better, more full sight line? To create space for a catch? If we do so, might we be surprised by the catch?

Ever felt the need to say, like Simon, "Master, leave. I'm a sinner and can't handle this holiness. Leave me to myself?" What's Jesus say? "There is nothing to fear."

These guys were fishermen. They get sent back to do exactly what they've done before-fish. God wants to be in command of our lives--our work lives, our family lives, our leisured lives. We miss the mark in numerous areas of life, and Jesus says, "Go back in." "Tried that; didn't work." Jesus says, "Do it with me in the boat." Same boat. Same commands. Same nets. But Jesus in the boat--and it makes all the difference.

"If you want to, you can cleanse me." "I want to. Be clean." I think Jesus yearns for us to make the invitation of the first line in this paragraph. Jesus wants to be invited into all of our life, and we have nothing to fear. Doesn't mean all will be honky dory. Just means we don't need to fear. "Your cleansed and obedient life, not your words, will bear witness to what I have done."

"The healing power of God was on Jesus." I had forgotten that the ripping the room off to get the paraplegic to Jesus was also in Luke. Thought it was only in Mark. Oops. Jesus forgives the friends' sins for the faith they show--they didn't ask for themselves. Jesus showed off a little bit--I'll do both if you're going to get upset-heal and forgive sins.

Levi, the tax collector, one who would have been potentially in the upper 1% of income earning households of his day, left everything to follow Jesus. And immediately threw a dinner party--he put out for Jesus, more than just walking away. And Jesus got to hang out with Levi's cronies--think of who that table might include today.

"Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I'm here inviting outsiders, not insiders-an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out."

Why are you hanging out at parties instead of fasting and praying? Are you living as if this is Kingdom Come?

2 Corinthians 10-11

The tools of our trade are for demolishing the massively corrupt culture of the world. God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Tools are for building a life of maturity and obedience.

"Every bit of my commitment is for the purpose of building you up, after all, not tearing you down."

"What we're hoping is that as your lives grow in faith, you'll play a part within our expanding work. And we'll all still be within the limits God sets as we proclaim the Message in countries beyond Corinth."

"If you want to claim credit, claim it for God." What you say about yourself means nothing in God's work. It's what God says about you that makes the difference.

Pseudo servants of God. Have to constantly check motives, especially when "working" in the church. I may not be the most polished of folks, but I know what I know, and I know whose I am...

Being a fool...for Christ. Comparitive stories of what's been suffered for the gospel. Paul is clearly on the defensive. "If I have to brag about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. God knows I'm not lying." Let me tell you how God has rescued me.

The life of faith was a passion for Paul. There's nothing dull, conventional, or routine about how he pursues Christ. For Paul it was risking his entire life in an act of love. For Paul, being a Christian meant plunging into confrontations and encounters that engaged his emotions and his thoughts in a great contest against evil and a great venture into holiness.

Paul fought with the church, side by side, against the enemies that came against it. He fought against the church when people defected from Christ. But he was always fighting for the church. In so many ways, I want to be like Paul.

Day 25: Luke 4; 2 Corinthians 7-9

Temptation story. Full of the Holy Spirit led by the Spirit into the wild. What's this do to our "form" prayer that says, "Lead us not into temptation"? We may have heard that God doesn't lead us into temptation. Really? So what happened here? Is it possible that God not only may lead us into temptation but may also give us what we need through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit to bear up under temptations? The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak...

In Luke's telling, when Jesus completes the testing, the devil retreats temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity. 1 Peter something-the devil prowls around looking for an opportunity...

Each temptation had to do with the exercise of Jesus' power-power to impose his will on creation, power to impose his will on the nations, power to become a talk-of-the-town celebrity. Jesus said no to each. Why? EP: "Power would have been used impersonally, abstracted from relationships, imposed from the outside, without any engagement in love."

"Jesus returned to Galilee powerful in the Spirit." And as he taught, he was always personal and relational. It's always personalized power.

In his home town of Nazareth, where this prophet isn't welcome, he reads from the scroll of Isaiah. I'm here to preach Good News to the poor, to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the burdened and battered free, to announce, "This is God's year to act!" This just came true, now, in this place. Ushers in the Kingdom of God...Could have made it come all at once, but that would be over-power, not relationship. He was banished from his hometown after this.

In Galilee, a demon says, "You've come to destroy us." Who is us? The God-denying, God-defying spirits of this world? Powers and principalities that keep people separated in their relationship with God? Jesus' words make things happen.

2 Corinthians 7-9

7:1. What a great invitation and hope for our following. "Make a clean break with everything that defiles or distracts us, both within (that's the moral inventory, for those in Life's Healing Choices) and without. Let's make our entire lives fit and holy temples for the worship of God."

Paul obviously had written a letter with some harsh words, judging from what he writes in Ch. 7. But it all worked out, as "you were jarred into turning things around. You let the distress bring you to God, not drive you from God-all gain, no loss." Growing pains.

The Macedonian offering. A communal illustration of sacrificial giving. "Incredibly happy though desperately poor...an outpouring of pure and generous gifts...they gave offerings of whatever they could-far more than they could afford-pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians...and it was spontaneous and their own idea."

Have you ever been in such a situation, on the giving or receiving end? If so, what happened?

"You do so well in so many things-you trust God, you're articulate, insightful, passionate, you love us-now do your best in this, too...bringing in the Macedonians' enthusiasm as a stimulus to your love, hoping to bring the best out of you."

Spirit of acquisition or spirit of generosity? My acquisition is centered largely on books, though occasionally my shoes pile up, more because I fail to get rid of those I've worn out when I buy more. And clothes. And toys/entertainment for Sarah. And food--why do I, at my age, have a bomb shelter mentality?!

EP: "The offering is based on the conviction that we would have gotten nothing from all our sweat and exertion if God hadn't first given us the ground to use, the muscles to work, a brain to think, and a community to live and be employed in. Everything comes to us as a gift from God. Sunshine and rain. Fruitfulness and fertility. Strength and health. They are all from God. Our offering is acknowledgement of that. It's a way of honoring God and giving thanks to God."

"The heart regulates the hands." A bit more about the relief offering for poor Christians, and then Paul is done. Doesn't need to belabor the point. Pastors' emergency fund. Thank you for your generosity.

"A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop." No doubt why Jim Griffith and other church consultants are insistent that planting lead teams demonstrate their generosity through the tithe. "God loves it when the giver delights in giving." Hm...brain and heart fodder.

Our money is an extension of ourselves. If the money we give isn't delightfully given, it's because we aren't delight-full givers. The only way we give delightfully is to give out of love. Any other motive leaves one joyless. Joyless giving does little for Christ's kingdom, and nothing for us (1 Cor 13:3-"If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere").

"God throws caution to the winds, giving to the needy in reckless abandon."

"Carrying out this social relief work involves far more than helping meet the bare needs of poor Christians. It also produces abundant and bountiful thanksgivings to God. This relief offering is a prod to live at your very best, showing your gratitude to God by being openly obedient to the plain meaning of the Message of Christ. You show gratitude through your generous offerings to your needy brothers and sisters, and really toward everyone."

Day 24: Luke 3; 2 Corinthians 4-6

John began to preach a baptism of life-change leading to forgiveness of sins. Isn't that what we need? "A baptism of repentance for the remission of sins"(NKJV). A change of direction, mentally and behaviorally, where we give public evidence that we're doing it. Repentance takes place within. Baptism is an outward expression that connects the personal with community. We've got to deal with our relationship with God, to turn back to God. We can't help ourselves.

John seemed to have a low mercy gift. Little patience for throngs of people coming. What would he have done at a Billy Graham crusade? Change your life, not your skin (thinking cell phones and their skins...).

Tax men, Soldiers, and more, came. John taught, "If you have two coats, give one away. Collect only what's required; don't charge exorbitant interest rates. No blackmail. Be content with what you've got. All wisdom and teaching from the prophets. Had not remembered that John got so specific with the folks as Luke tells the story. That's why they began to wonder if John was Messiah. Nope.

"The main character will ignite a kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out...make a clean sweep of your lives, placing everything in its proper place before God." John imprisoned, and then Jesus is baptized...different from Matt and Mark.

Jesus' baptism: "You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life."

Luke's genealogy goes back to Adam, to God. Includes only men.

2 Corinthians 4-6

"We keep everything we do and say in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to can see and judge for themselves in the presence of God."

"All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you."

"God bless and keep you. God smile on you and gift you. God look you full in the face and make you prosper."

Clay pots...unadorned and ordinary. "Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us." Have you taken any risks for God lately? Ever?

Resurrection bodies. Puts a little heaven in our hearts so we'll not settle for less. What do you think about resurrection? Heaven? Heaven, by definition according to Peterson, is "inaccessible to our five senses. It's a reality that lies beyond us. But it's also a reality that can be experienced in us." But we can taste it here.

Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing. Christ's love has the first and last word in everything we do.

One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in death so that everyone could be included in his life, a resurrection live, a far better life than people had lived on their own...now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start...God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them.

Now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped.

6:11-13--what a beautiful commissioning and challenge, an invitation to living openly and expansively.

EP: "We live in a world awash in the fantasies of freedom. But the world is sadly lacking the experience of freedom. Living in the land of the free hasn't made us free. We live fenced-in lives. Lives that aren't wide open and spacious. This is true even in the church. Assembling people in churches to listen to proclamations about freedom hasn't made us free. For there are people in those churches who are in bondage to self, to materialism, to addictions, to power, to their jobs, to anger, to unforgiveness. When I center my life on myself, my freedom diminishes and the life I live is constricted, anxious, fenced in. But when I center on God, I realize vast freedoms and spontaneities in an open and expansive existence."

Day 23: Luke 1-2; 2 Corinthians 1-3

From Peterson's intro to Luke: "Religion has a long history of reducing the huge mysteries of God to the respectability of club rules, of shrinking the vast human community to a 'membership.' But with God there are no outsiders. Luke is a most vigorous champion of the outsider. He's a Gentile himself. He shows how Jesus included those who were held outside by the religious of the day: women, common laborers, racially different, poor. He will not have religion as a club. All of us who have found ourselves looking in on life with no hope of gaining entrance (and who of us hasn't felt it?) now find the doors wide open, found and welcomed by God in Jesus." Amen!

Warehouse 839 Church exists to introduce or reintroduce God's amazing love to folks who've not found the church to be a welcoming place, or who have moved away from God for other reasons and desire to return.

Reliable teachings and history.

Childless Zachariah and Elizabeth. Angel. Prayer heard. Name your son John. He will turn people back to God. He'll tell of God's arrival, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics. He'll get people ready for God." Paul Swartz encouraged me by telling me that I reminded him of John. I live in that hope.

"So, this is how God acts to remedy my unfortunate condition." Same angel who visited Z goes to see Mary. "Good morning. You're beautiful with God's beauty--inside and out!" What a great good morning. Do you suppose God says that to us each day? Do we hear?

"I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve." That we might have the courage and confidence to say this, and believe it, so we might live it!

Almost sounds like Mary got pregnant on the way, or at the moment, as Elizabeth addresses the baby in Mary's womb.

"I'm bursting with God-news! I'm dancing with the song of my Savior God." Mary's song. Prophetic word. Mary knew her family story, the story of salvation.

EP: 3 great reversals in the way we experience the world when God conceives new life in us. 1. God establishes God's strength and disestablishes the proud; 2. God puts down the people at the top and lifts up people at the bottom; 3. God fills the hungry and sends the rich away empty.

Prayer begins when God addresses us. First God speaks; our response, our answer, is our prayer. Do we, like Mary, hear and receive, believe and submit, to the word that conceives Christ in us?

"Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide.

Love the story of Simeon and Anna.

The child grew strong in body and wise in spirit. And the grace of God was on him. Jesus stayed behind after Passover, unbeknown to his parents. They went back to Nazareth, and Jesus matured, growing up in body and spirit, blessed by both God and people.

2 Corinthians 1-3

"God comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, God brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. " I share this with folks because of my experience and shared experience of others, and I've assigned it to the nature of God in community. Never knew it was from scripture. How cool is that?!

"Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get us out of it, we were forced to trust God totally-not a bad idea since he's God who raises the dead!" Rescuing as many times as we need rescuing. It was God.

"Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus...God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us." Yes=Amen. God says yes to all of us-always yes.

"We're not in charge of how you live out the faith, looking over your shoulders, suspiciously critical. We're partners, working alongside you, joyfully expectant. I know that you stand by your own faith, not by ours."

Don't know what happened, but something did:

"Now is the time to forgive this man and help him back on his feet. If all you do is pour on guilt, you could very well drown him in it. My counsel now is to pour on the love. The focus of my letter wasn't on punishing the offender but on getting you to take responsibility for the health of the church. So if you forgive him, I forgive him."

Forgiveness. Often the verbal equivalent of a shoulder shrug. Forgiving shapes the person who forgives and the one who is forgiven.

"In the Messiah, in Christ, God leads us from place to place in one perpetual victory parade. Through us, he brings knowledge of Christ. Everywhere we go, people breathe in the exquisite fragrance." Do you smell like the love of God in Jesus Christ? Like life?

"Written with Spirit on spirit, Christ's life on our lives!"

"If the Government of Condemnation was impressive (Moses and the 10 commandments), how about this Government of Affirmation?" Interesting...

"God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And we are transifgured (Mt 17, Mark 9) much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him."

Change is possible. We don't have to stay where we are. But change isn't automatic, nor is it inherent in us. Change has a cause; it's rooted in relationship with Jesus Christ. Are you able to see how God has brought changes in your life? What's the story you can tell about God's living, active presence?

Day 22: Mark 15-16; 1 Corinthians 14-16

They tied Jesus up. Did they really have to? Can't imagine he'd have fought them, though obviously they didn't trust that.

"Nail him to a cross." "Bravo, King of the Jews!"

High priests and religion scholars were right there mixing it up with the rest of them.

"Listen, he's calling for Elijah." There's Elijah again.

"This has to be the Son of God."

Joseph of Arimatea: "One who live expectantly, on the lookout for the Kingdom of God..."

Women watching prepared to embalm.

"Who will roll back the stone for us?" Whose stone have you rolled away? Who has rolled away a stone in front of a tomb of your life?

"Don't be afraid."

Commanded them to tell others, but they went away silent. V. 8 was original end of gospel. V. 9-20 were added later.

"Resurrection turns the tables. No longer am I doing something for God; God is doing something for me. No longer am I drawn by my needs to God; God is drawn by his compassion to me, whether I am ready for God or not, whether I feel anything for God or not. That means we are not in charge; God is. That means we aren't coming to God; God is coming to us...There can't be a resurrection without a death. What area of your life is God perhaps trying to put to death that you are trying to keep alive? What if you let it die? What new life might come out of it? What new hope, new love, new joy?

" Dear Lord, I can't remember the last time I was beside myself, my head swimming, so stunned at something you had done that I was speechless. I long so much to live that way. To be surprised by you. To surrender to you. I long to live the way Paul lived, experiencing the power of your resurrection in my life. Show me what needs to die in me, Lord, so that you can live in me. Help me to sit here for a few minutes in silence, waiting for your Spirit to show me..." EP

Jesus' appearances to believers. Signs: throw out demons; speak in new tongues; snake handling; poison drinking; healing sick.

1 Corinthians 14-16

"Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it--because it does. Give yourself to the gifts God gives you. Most of all, try to proclaim God's truth (in everyday speech so others can understand, grow and be strong, experiencing God's presence with you)."

"Plain truth-speaking goes straight to the heart of believers and doesn't get in the way of unbelievers. " "Plain words will bring them up against the truth and probe their hearts."

"When you gather for worship, each one be prepared with something that will be useful for all--sing, teach, tell a story, lead a prayer, provide an insight." "When we worship the right way, God doesn't stir us up into confusion; God brings us into harmony."

Wives must not disrupt worship--they weren't taught faith stuff, and they were asking questions. This is about decorum.

"When you speak forth God's truth, speak your heart out. Don't tell people how they should or shouldn't pray. Be courteous and considerate in everything."

Because God was so gracious and generous, here I am. And I don't want God's grace to go to waste. "If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say there is no such thing as a resurrection?"

"Why do you think I keep risking my neck in dangerous work?"

"It's resurrect, resurrection, always resurrection, that undergirds what I do and say, the way I live. If there's no resurrection, we simply die."

Think straight. Awaken to the holiness of life. No more playing fast and loose with resurrection facts. Ignorance of God is a luxury you can't afford in times like these."

Planting a dead seed and raising a live plant as parallel image..."When we're raised, we're raised for good, alive forever!"

Physical life first. Then spiritual. "We're not all going to die, but we are all going to be changed."

"It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three-sin, guilt, death-are gone, the gift of our Master Jesus Christ. Thank God!"

What are we to do with the resurrection? Shelve it away as a dusty piece of doctrine? Or live it, depending on the power of God, who raised Jesus, to raise us, to raise our marriages from the dead, to raise our hopes, our faith, our dreams? Well...

Relief offering for poor Christians. Be as generous as you can.

"Keep your eyes open. Hold tight to your convictions. Give it all you've got. Be resolute. Love without stopping."

"Our Master Jesus has his arms wide open for you. And I love all of you in the Messiah, in Jesus."

Day 21: Mark 13 & 14; 1 Corinthians 11-13

Mark 13 is a mini-apocalypse, a mini "end times" proclamation. For me, the most important counsel is from Jesus, that we'll hear all kinds of threats, promises and proclamations, throughout the years. We simply ought to trust God. To care for us. To give us words to speak if we should ever find ourselves in a situation of religious persecution-the Holy Spirit will be faithful. Stay with it...to the end. We shouldn't be alarmed at wars and rumors of war. There is another reality that lies beyond history: a new heaven and a new earth. The goal of history is God. Society will be redeemed and re-created by God. If we believe in God's promises, we trust that there will be a time when, as Isaiah prophesied, man will "Turn their swords into plowshares, their spears into hoes. No more will nation fight nation; they won't play war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4). Peace on earth won't come through war or diplomacy, but through the Prince of Peace, whether in the course of human history or in our individual hearts.

No one knows the day or hour, and the signs won't be the signs you expect, nor the ones that false preachers and prophets tout. Only God knows when. Read the signs you can, but only God knows.

EP: "We're here to be trained in watchful waiting, no anxious worrying. When we're born, we're plunged into a sea of troubles--a world of noise and blasphemy and corruption. That's one side of it. When we become Christians, we're introduced into a world of salvation. With every sunrise, grace spills across the horizon in acts of healing and words of truth. That's the other side.

"Jesus opens our eyes to this world of grace and commands us to pay attention. That means we don't go into the world each day desperately trying to hold on to things or people, panicked at everything that might weaken our grasp on those things or those people. We open our lives in praise for the Christ who is with us, anticipating the time when we'll see him coming in the clouds in all his power and glory.

"In the meantime, Jesus says, 'Watch. Watch for what God is doing. Watch for what God will do.'"

Authorities looking for way to kill Jesus. Jesus at the home of Simon the Leper. Lavish anointing. "She did what she could when she could--she pre-anointed my body for burial. And you can be sure that wherever in the world the Message is preached, what she just did is going to be talked about and admiringly." The last shall be first... But this is what sent Judas over the edge.

"I have something hard but important to say to you." Someone will betray me. "Not me."

"Take, this is my body. This is my blood. God's new covenant. Poured out for many people."

"You're going to feel like your world is falling apart and that it's all my fault. But after I'm raised up, I'll go ahead of you, leading the way to Galilee." We sing that "Christ is alive and goes before us, to show and share what love can do. This is a day of new beginnings. Our God is making all things new." Well, maybe we don't sing it in Warehouse, but it's a great song and one of my internal anthems.

Peter, James and John went with him. "He plunged into a sinkhole of agony." "Take this cup from me...but not my will, yours."

Betrayed by a kiss. All the disciples cut and ran. High Priests conspiring with the Jewish Council. Had no evidence. Claiming to be the Messiah was the undoing of Jesus--it gave them cause. Peter and the rooster, and his own denial and deep lament.

1 Corinthians 11-13

Some of us have knowledge of these chapters before we open. The love chapter.The body chapter and spiritual gifts. The last supper chapter. Very well-known Paul stuff.

Marriage authority. God-Christ-husband-wife. But don't read too much into the differences between men and women. Neither can go it alone or claim priority. Stop doing the "who's first" routines.

Church fights. "Getting the picture that when you meet together it brings out your worst side, not your best." Divisiveness. Competitiveness. Critical spirits. You bring your divisions to worship, too (worship wars?!). Don't live by Acts 2 or 4--wealthy get their fill first, then the hired help come in and get leftovers. Sometimes you're even drunk!

Every time you receive the Lord's Supper, you reenact in your words and actions the death of the Master. Don't let familiarity breed contempt. Examine your motives. Test your heart. Come to this meal in holy awe. Early church: full feast and atmosphere of intense joy, jubilation and gladness. In Corinth, food and wine obscured the purpose. Began to treat it as their own supper instead of the Lord's. The purpose of examining ourselves isn't to root out our physical needs and our expressions of joy but to discover what role they play in our motivations. When you come, be reverent and courteous with one another. It's a spiritual meal-a love feast.

Ways God's spirit gets worked into our lives. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. All God's gifts that are handed out originate in God's Spirit. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is--everyone. Wise counsel. Clear understanding. Simple trust. Healing the sick. Miraculous acts. Proclamation. Distinguishing between spirits. Tongues. Interpretation of tongues. God decides who gets what. Body. Through the spirit we can all say goodbye to our partial and piecemeal lives; now we're in a large and integrated life. Each has a part. Labels are no longer useful. This makes you more significant, not less. And it also tempers your significance because you need others to survive. You are part of something much larger. "Every part is dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance." Christ's body: apostles, prophets, teachers, miracle workers, healers, helpers, organizers, tongue prayers.

EP: "The church, Paul argued, is the place where we find ourselves accepted for who we are, free to be what God has created us to be. We're not competitors; we're a community. All the distinctions we're used to making are dissolved here. Each of us is accepted in terms of our own unique contribution to the glory of God. There's nothing in the body that is trivial or unimportant."

Liturgy from my sorority ritual. One of my God-sightings and God holding onto me when I wasn't holding onto God. I had to memorize most of chapter 13, putting God's word deep down inside of me, even when I wasn't interested. That's how God is...planting seeds anyway...loving anyway...faithful anyway...waiting as long as it takes. Hallelujah!

Gotta love or you've got nothing. Nothing else matters. No outward expression nor inward expression, must have love. Love the way the Message puts this. What if we could live this in every relationship?!

Storge(affection)-philia(friendship)-eros(romantic)-agape(charity). First three are human loves. Agape is divine, this uniquely Christian love Paul speaks about when he describes how love acts. Love never dies. Divine love, Holy Spirit infused resurrection power love never dies. "We have three things to do to lead us to that day of consummation: Trust steadily in God. Hope unswervingly. Love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."

Help me love, Lord. Help me love.