Jesus Institutes the New Covenant

Living in Covenant

Giving One's All

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to a New Life in Christ

Mark 14:17-24 The Message

17-18 After sunset he came with the Twelve. As they were at the supper table eating, Jesus said, “I have something hard but important to say to you: One of you is going to hand me over to the conspirators, one who at this moment is eating with me.”
19 Stunned, they started asking, one after another, “It isn’t me, is it?”
20-21 He said, “It’s one of the Twelve, one who eats with me out of the same bowl. In one sense, it turns out that the Son of Man is entering into a way of treachery well-marked by the Scriptures—no surprises here. In another sense, the man who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man—better never to have been born than do this!”

“This Is My Body”

22 In the course of their meal, having taken and blessed the bread, he broke it and gave it to them. Then he said,
Take, this is my body.
23-24 Taking the chalice, he gave it to them, thanking God, and they all drank from it. He said,
This is my blood,
God’s new covenant,
Poured out for many people.

For Reflection

In this, the last supper, Jesus laid out the prime requirement for the disciples. Jesus acknowledges the fact that not everyone who confesses to the love of Christ and commits to The Way will do so fully and completely.  Jesus earthly time, his body, exemplified the will of God and the practice in service to God.  Jesus gave his life to God's cause and through His death, He showed the level to which we, too, should be committed to God's will for us.

The sacrament which we practice today should remind us that our spiritual life has a spiritual food that sustains it.  Some believe that the wine and bread are transformed into the blood and flesh of Jesus in our bodies.  Whether you adhere to that or consider the act to be symbolic, the transformative power of the Holy Spirit, the Christ within us will be fed and active, guiding, correcting and assisting you to become God's cohort in the formation of God's Kingdom in the here and now.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more willing and able to follow the Way of Jesus the Christ.

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Israel Never Abandoned

Living in Covenant

Giving One's All

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to a New Life in Christ

Romans 11:25-36 The Message

A Complete Israel

25-29 I want to lay all this out on the table as clearly as I can, friends. This is complicated. It would be easy to misinterpret what’s going on and arrogantly assume that you’re royalty and they’re just rabble, out on their ears for good. But that’s not it at all. This hardness on the part of insider Israel toward God is temporary. Its effect is to open things up to all the outsiders so that we end up with a full house. Before it’s all over, there will be a complete Israel. As it is written,
A champion will stride down from the mountain of Zion;
    he’ll clean house in Jacob.
And this is my commitment to my people:
    removal of their sins.
From your point of view, as you hear and embrace the good news of the Message, it looks like the Jews are God’s enemies. But looked at from the long-range perspective of God’s overall purpose, they remain God’s oldest friends. God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded.

For Reflection

If God can continue to guide and protect Israel in spite of the times Israel has rejected God, surely God will also never reject us.  Remember that God loves all of his creation deeply, even those who reject him.  

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to love God's enemies as God loves God's enemies.  Pray so that you will be able to see with God's eyes.

Life in Jesus Christ

Living in Covenant

Giving One's All

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to a New Life in Christ

Colossians 2:6-15 The Message

From the Shadows to the Substance

6-7 My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: 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. School’s out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
8-10 Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.
11-15 Entering into this fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised or keeping a long list of laws. No, you’re already in—insiders—not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. If it’s an initiation ritual you’re after, you’ve already been through it by submitting to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life; coming up out of it was a resurrection, God raising you from the dead as he did Christ. When you were stuck in your old sin-dead life, you were incapable of responding to God. God brought you alive—right along with Christ! Think about it! All sins are forgiven, the slate wiped clean, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ’s cross. He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets.

For Reflection

Only in giving all of your self to God can you receive all of God's self. Giving oneself over to God is not an abdication of your human responsibility to be kind to and forgive others or to seek and practice justice. On the contrary, God will not act in your stead but rather guide and inform your action in ways that allow you to see as God sees and love as God loves.


To let go of self-control and rely exclusively upon God-control is scary. Trust in God, and you will overcome your fear of flying with God.  In place of fear, you will find clarity, purpose, and fulfillment that will allow you to rest, to find peace.

Pray

Pray for the courage that can only come from reliance and trust in God.

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Light for the Gentiles

Living in Covenant

Giving One's All

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to a New Life in Christ

Acts 13:44-49 The Message

44-45 When the next Sabbath came around, practically the whole city showed up to hear the Word of God. Some of the Jews, seeing the crowds, went wild with jealousy and tore into Paul, contradicting everything he was saying, making an ugly scene.
46-47 But Paul and Barnabas didn’t back down. Standing their ground they said, “It was required that God’s Word be spoken first of all to you, the Jews. But seeing that you want no part of it—you’ve made it quite clear that you have no taste or inclination for eternal life—the door is open to all the outsiders. And we’re on our way through it, following orders, doing what God commanded when he said,
I’ve set you up
    as light to all nations.
You’ll proclaim salvation
    to the four winds and seven seas!”
48-49 When the non-Jewish outsiders heard this, they could hardly believe their good fortune. All who were marked out for real life put their trust in God—they honored God’s Word by receiving that life. And this Message of salvation spread like wildfire all through the region.

For Reflection

God gave each of us, Jew or Gentile, a point in our hearts (souls) that yearns to be satisfied.  It is the desire to be at peace, to live our lives in satisfying ways.

Some respond by ego-driven motives trying to fill that empty spot with worldly things which never seem to satiate their soul. Others react to God-driven purposes and find the reality which lies beyond the temporal world and into the eternal.  Such discovery is divinely satisfying.  Some Jews understood and accepted the new reality.  The Gentiles rejoiced that they too could find satisfaction in the justice and forgiveness that only trusting in God can bring.

Pray

Pray so that you can fulfill God's intentions for finding rest in a troubling world.

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The Heritage Keepers

Living in Covenant

Giving One's All

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to a New Life in Christ

Hebrews 9:11-22 The Message

Pointing to the Realities of Heaven

11-15 But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven’s “tent”—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God.
16-17 Like a will that takes effect when someone dies, the new covenant was put into action at Jesus’ death. His death marked the transition from the old plan to the new one, canceling the old obligations and accompanying sins, and summoning the heirs to receive the eternal inheritance that was promised them. He brought together God and his people in this new way.
18-22 Even the first plan required a death to set it in motion. After Moses had read out all the terms of the plan of the law—God’s “will”—he took the blood of sacrificed animals and, in a solemn ritual, sprinkled the document and the people who were its beneficiaries. And then he attested its validity with the words, “This is the blood of the covenant commanded by God.” He did the same thing with the place of worship and its furniture. Moses said to the people, “This is the blood of the covenant God has established with you.” Practically everything in a will hinges on a death. That’s why blood, the evidence of death, is used so much in our tradition, especially regarding forgiveness of sins.

For Reflection

As Jesus has shown us, God is no longer housed in a temple.  God is now within reach of all people. God is accessible everywhere. No longer are rituals determinants of our faith.  We all have been freed from the old religions. We are free to follow the Christ, who resides in our souls.
The entry key for the new covenant is death.  The death of our ego-driven lives and resurrection into a God-driven existence.

Pray

Pray so that you will fulfill the will of God and become the person you were meant to be.  Pray so that you can remain free from the pressures of your old corporeal life.  Pray so that you will see God's Creation through the mirror of Jesus Christ.

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Clean Feet and Hearts

Living in Covenant

A Fulfilled Covenant

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Jesus Institutes the New Covenant

John 13:2-7 The Message (MSG)

Washing His Disciples’ Feet

13 1-2 Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal.
3-6 Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, “Master, you wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I’m doing, but it will be clear enough to you later.”

For Reflection

When it came to the twelve, Jesus loved deeply.  Washing their feet was a sign of the kind of love He expected of them toward each other and all people.  Jesus showed the power of humility. Jesus taught the Disciples, the potential of living a righteous life and promised an increasing level of understanding as they grew in Grace.

Pray

Pray so that you, too, will grow into the Grace Jesus had shown the Disciples.

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The Last Supper

Living in Covenant

A Fulfilled Covenant

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Jesus Institutes the New Covenant

Luke 22:14-23 The Message

14-16 When it was time, he sat down, all the apostles with him, and said, “You’ve no idea how much I have looked forward to eating this Passover meal with you before I enter my time of suffering. It’s the last one I’ll eat until we all eat it together in the kingdom of God.”
17-18 Taking the cup, he blessed it, then said, “Take this and pass it among you. As for me, I’ll not drink wine again until the kingdom of God arrives.”
19 Taking bread, he blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Eat it in my memory.”
20 He did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant written in my blood, blood poured out for you.
21-22 “Do you realize that the hand of the one who is betraying me is at this moment on this table? It’s true that the Son of Man is going down a path already marked out—no surprises there. But for the one who turns him in, turns traitor to the Son of Man, this is doomsday.”
23 They immediately became suspicious of each other and began quizzing one another, wondering who might be about to do this.

For Reflection

Until humankind is wholly free from the bondage of sin and spiritual death, Jesus will not share the Passover with us.  Until that time, Christ will, however, abide in us and guide us in the way of Jesus. Jesus has not abandoned us.  But instead, He has shown us through his life and death, suffering for God overcomes human death. Death is not the end of life but the beginning of a new existence in the presence of God.  Surely death has lost its sting and fear has been defeated.

Pray

Pray so that the spark in your soul is ignited by Christ, and you will see the grace anew in the life we were given.

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The New Covenant

Living in Covenant

A Fulfilled Covenant

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Jesus Institutes the New Covenant

Jeremiah 31:31-34 The Message

31-32 “That’s right. The time is coming when I will make a brand-new covenant with Israel and Judah. It won’t be a repeat of the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant even though I did my part as their Master.” God’s Decree.
33-34 “This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts!—and be their God. And they will be my people. They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about God. They’ll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I’ll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I’ll forget they ever sinned!” God’s Decree.

For Reflection
Until this time, God treated Israel as a single entity, correcting, and rewarding to drive them toward reconciliation and righteousness.  Had Israel matured enough to warrant a less authoritarian approach?  Or had God needed to try a more personal approach?


By sending Jesus to live among us, God shows his face to us.  God shows us exactly what God expects from each of us.  And God shows us that living the lives of joy and justice God has intended us to live is not "pie in the sky" wishful thinking. Buy giving your life to God such righteous living is possible and will transform the world in which we live.

Pray

Pray so that you will be willing and able to capture the joy of righteous living.

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Preparation for Passover

Living in Covenant

A Fulfilled Covenant

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Jesus Institutes the New Covenant

Mark 14:12-16 The Message

12 On the first of the Days of Unleavened Bread, the day they prepare the Passover sacrifice, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations so you can eat the Passover meal?”
13-15 He directed two of his disciples, “Go into the city. A man carrying a water jug will meet you. Follow him. Ask the owner of whichever house he enters, ‘The Teacher wants to know, Where is my guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ He will show you a spacious second-story room, swept and ready. Prepare for us there.”
16 The disciples left, came to the city, found everything just as he had told them, and prepared the Passover meal.

For Reflection

Thus begins a story that is stunningly real.  Jesus, knowing his fate, begins to close his Earthly ministry.  He is to fulfill his Father's will and see his commission to its human end. Is it planning on his part or has God intervened to provide a place for the drama to play out? Were there other "disciples" unseen and embedded in the culture, who commanded by God paved the way for Jesus? We may never know. But, whatever the case may be, even at the end, Jesus blends his power with the skills of humans.  Jesus does not rule alone. Jesus has friends.

Jesus shows us that He and His Father partner with the Creation. Jesus has shown that we too have a friend in high places who not only understands our human condition but has lived it.  

Pray

Praise God for the gift of God's son, Jesus.  Pray so that you may also carry the burden of humanity as Jesus has.  Pray so that you develop an increasingly intimate relationship with the living Christ.

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The Original Passover

Living in Covenant

A Fulfilled Covenant

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Jesus Institutes the New Covenant

Deuteronomy 16:1-8 The Message

16 1-4 Observe the month of Abib by celebrating the Passover to God, your God. It was in the month of Abib that God, your God, delivered you by night from Egypt. Offer the Passover-Sacrifice to God, your God, at the place God chooses to be worshiped by establishing his name there. Don’t eat yeast bread with it; for seven days eat it with unraised bread, hard-times bread, because you left Egypt in a hurry—that bread will keep the memory fresh of how you left Egypt for as long as you live. There is to be no sign of yeast anywhere for seven days. And don’t let any of the meat that you sacrifice in the evening be left over until morning.
5-7 Don’t sacrifice the Passover in any of the towns that God, your God, gives you other than the one God, your God, designates for worship; there and there only you will offer the Passover-Sacrifice at evening as the sun goes down, marking the time that you left Egypt. Boil and eat it at the place designated by God, your God. Then, at daybreak, turn around and go home.
8 Eat unraised bread for six days. Set aside the seventh day as a holiday; don’t do any work.

For Reflection

As a hedge against failing to worship God and perhaps to fall into idolatry, Moses initiated three commemorative festivals.  To be celebrated at the place of national worship, the Passover feast was filled with symbols to encourage the memory of God saving Israel from captivity.

Think about the way we as Christians celebrate the saving grace of the Life of Jesus to help us avoid descending into idolatrous practice.

Pray

Pray, so you may remember the God whom you worship is full of Grace and leads you to righteous living.

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Love Your Enemies.

Discipleship and Mission

Spread the Gospel

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to a New Life in Christ

Romans 12:16-21 The Message

14-16 Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.
17-19 Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

For Reflection

Humility and love of one's enemies are perhaps the most difficult spiritual skills to put into practice.  Yet we are told that these acts are essential to living an authentic Christian life.  Jesus tells us to love our enemies.  It is not possible to show your love for God by hating those who seem to be your enemies or for that matter God's enemies.  Even if  they are God's enemies, God still loves them and invites them to sit at God's table.  One cannot be united with God unless one loves one's enemies.  That goes for those whom you may demonize as Church haters, atheists, or evil people. 

Pray

Pray so that you will be able to love your enemies.  Pray so that you can humble yourself and see the good in the bad.

Life Styles of Christian Believers

Discipleship and Mission

Spread the Gospel

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to a New Life in Christ

Luke 6:37-38 The Message

37-38 “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don’t condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you’ll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.”

For Reflection

Is it really up to us to decide who is "good?"  Hate in any form yields hate in response. The will of God is that we build a community of love.  To what extent is the criticism of others a loving action?

Remember, God lives in the souls of all people, even those who are unaware of God's presence. The will of God is found in those things which unite us in love, not in divisiveness. Preserving the dignity of others and encouraging their freedom to choose is an expression of the will of God.

Pray

Pray so that you will find and encourage the spark of God that resides in the soul of each of us.

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Seek and Pursue Peace

Discipleship and Mission

Spread the Gospel

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to a New Life in Christ

Psalm 34:1-14 The Message

A David Psalm

34 I bless God every chance I get;
my lungs expand with his praise.
2 I live and breathe God;
if things aren’t going well, hear this and be happy:
3 Join me in spreading the news;
together let’s get the word out.
4 God met me more than halfway,
he freed me from my anxious fears.
5 Look at him; give him your warmest smile.
Never hide your feelings from him.
6 When I was desperate, I called out,
and God got me out of a tight spot.
7 God’s angel sets up a circle
of protection around us while we pray.
8 Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—
how good God is.
Blessed are you who run to him.
9 Worship God if you want the best;
worship opens doors to all his goodness.
10 Young lions on the prowl get hungry,
but God-seekers are full of God.
11 Come, children, listen closely;
I’ll give you a lesson in God worship.
12 Who out there has a lust for life?
Can’t wait each day to come upon beauty?
13 Guard your tongue from profanity,
and no more lying through your teeth.
14 Turn your back on sin; do something good.
Embrace peace—don’t let it get away!

For Reflection

This Psalm is uttered just after David had escaped death by feigning lunacy.  The irony of God's residence in our souls is that God works through events that seem disastrous. God not only permits suffering, God sends us on a path that does not eliminate obstacles but requires that we learn to overcome them.  Yes it is a shock and disappointment when we encounter suffering, 

In hearing Christ speak to us from the center of our souls, we engage our divine creativity to re-frame our pain and to see the utility of suffering to move ourselves  and others toward redemption and a joy filled life.  Love and suffering--without both how would we ever be motivated to mature into Grace?

Pray

Pray so that you can embrace suffering.  Pray so you can see beyond the pain into the will of a loving God who  leads you into a life experience that is greater than yourself.  Pray so that you can find rest and peace in the pain of transformative Grace.

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Genuine Love for Each Other

Discipleship and Mission

Spread the Gospel

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to a New Life in Christ

Romans 12:9-16 The Message

9-10 Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
11-13 Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
14-16 Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

For Reflection

What is motivated by God's love as is exhibited by the life of Jesus is the will of God.

Many have a prime image of God as a punitive entity who chooses who goes to heaven.  This god of moral perfection keeps some Christians from admitting the apparent contradiction of a God of Love. The danger of such a god-view is that one tends to reflect the "Holy Gotcha" in one's action. In doing so they fail to recognize the "good" in the supposed "bad" and the "bad" in the supposed "perfect. Christians, then, may indeed become rotten with perfection.

Pray

Pray so that you will welcome God's approaching Grace and allow it to pass thr0ugh you as compassion and forgiveness toward others.  Pray so that you can trust God's Grace to lead others to trust the voice of God that speaks lovingly through you.

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Trust and Honor God

Discipleship and Mission

Spread the Gospel

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to the Life in Christ

Proverbs 3:1-12 The Message

Don’t Assume You Know It All

3 1-2 Good friend, don’t forget all I’ve taught you;
    take to heart my commands.
They’ll help you live a long, long time,
    a long life lived full and well.
3-4 Don’t lose your grip on Love and Loyalty.
    Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart.
Earn a reputation for living well
    in God’s eyes and the eyes of the people.
5-12 Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
    don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
    he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Don’t assume that you know it all.
    Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
    your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
    give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
    your wine vats will brim over.
But don’t, dear friend, resent God’s discipline;
    don’t sulk under his loving correction.
It’s the child he loves that God corrects;
    a father’s delight is behind all this.


For Reflection
Carve the initials of love and loyalty to God in your heart and trust God to do for you what you can never do for yourself.   As soon as you take yourself seriously you become a prisoner of your ego. Blindness to God's will dominates your life and you end up blaming others for your folly. Let the Christ occupy your soul.

Pray

Pray so that you will avoid being deceived by your vanity.

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Sustained and Led by the Spirit

Discipleship and Mission

Spread the Gospel

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to the Life in the Spirit

Romans 8:9-11; 15-17 The Message

9-11 But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won’t know what we’re talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God’s terms. It stands to reason, doesn’t it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s!
15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!

For Reflection

How much more plain can Paul say it? God resides within you!  God will do for you what God has done for Jesus! When we give our lives to God, we can become:

As mysterious as Jesus.
As loving as Jesus.
As comforting as Jesus.
As insightful as Jesus.
As spiritually healing as Jesus.
As humble as Jesus.
As kind as Jesus.
As wise as Jesus.
As righteous as Jesus.

And at death we will be raised into the presence and being of God,
As was Jesus.

And our legacy of righteousness will live eternally,
As will Jesus' righteousness endure to the end of time.

Divine Transformation

Pray

Pray and be transformed into the likeness of Jesus.

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Eager Longing

Discipleship and Mission

Spread the Gospel

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to the Life in the Spirit

Romans 8:18-25 The Message

18-21 That’s why I don’t think there’s any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. The created world itself can hardly wait for what’s coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
22-25 All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

For Reflection

God has created all things. All plants, animals (including us) and elements of the Earth are the same stuff.  All of the Creation is moving forward.  Humans it seems, are slowing the progress.  We mature more slowly through the pangs of evolution perhaps because, made in the image of God, we enjoy great freedom to choose how to respond to our yearning for deliverance from the bonds of our human condition.

Choose the path that God wills.  Follow the example of Jesus the Christ.  Answer the desires of the Holy Spirit that resides within you.

 Pray

Pray and be filled by the desires of the Holy Spirit.

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Seeing Others through Christ

Discipleship and Mission

Spread the Gospel

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to the Life in the Spirit

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 The Message

16-20 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.
21 How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

For Reflection

Seeing with Christ in our souls, gives us X-ray vision that permits us to look beyond  outward appearances and into God's spark of life that resides in all of us.  This point in our souls is the ultimate divine common ground that unites us.
When you see with Christ's eyes the whole Creation becomes visible. "You vs. me"  disappears and in its place is humility. This is the first step toward righteousness and reconciliation.

Pray

Pray so that you may walk humbly with Christ and find rest in God.

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Spirit of Christ in Our Hearts

Discipleship and Mission

Spread the Gospel

Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to the Life in the Spirit

Galatians 4:1-7 The Message

4 1-3 Let me show you the implications of this. As long as the heir is a minor, he has no advantage over the slave. Though legally he owns the entire inheritance, he is subject to tutors and administrators until whatever date the father has set for emancipation. That is the way it is with us: When we were minors, we were just like slaves ordered around by simple instructions (the tutors and administrators of this world), with no say in the conduct of our own lives.
4-7 But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!” Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.

For Reflection

The spirit of the son, the Christ, has entered this world and is active. God has placed the spark of true living in our souls and to satisfy the desire of that spark all we have to do is ask and believe that Christ the Holy Spirit, will guide us, to develop the will and skill to live righteously. We will die to the life of a slave to our human condition and be resurrected into a life full of love, joy, compassion, justice, and peace.  


Believe it!

Act on It!

Pray

Pray so that you open that point in your soul that invites Christ to drive your entire being into righteousness and grace.

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Believers Have Eternal Life

Discipleship and Mission

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Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Called to the Life in the Spirit

John 5:19-24 The Message

What the Father Does, the Son Does

19-20 So Jesus explained himself at length. “I’m telling you this straight. The Son can’t independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son and includes him in everything he is doing.
20-23 “But you haven’t seen the half of it yet, for in the same way that the Father raises the dead and creates life, so does the Son. The Son gives life to anyone he chooses. Neither he nor the Father shuts anyone out. The Father handed all authority to judge over to the Son so that the Son will be honored equally with the Father. Anyone who dishonors the Son, dishonors the Father, for it was the Father’s decision to put the Son in the place of honor.
24 “It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.

For Reflection

Because he sees through God's eyes the Father and the Son are inseparable. What the Father is capable of accomplishing so is the Son.  

Conversely, what the Son sees the Father also sees.  What the Son accomplishes, the Father also accomplishes.  Honoring the Father honors the Son.

Imitation is the highest honor.  We are called to imitate the life of Jesus. In doing so, you will unlock the key to living the life God has intended you to live, full of hope and joy.

Pray

Pray so that you will develop the will and skill to enhance your desire to be like Jesus.

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Jesus Brings True Justice

Discipleship and Mission

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Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Romans 3:9-20 The Message

We’re All in the Same Sinking Boat

9-20 So where does that put us? Do we Jews get a better break than the others? Not really. Basically, all of us, whether insiders or outsiders, start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it:
There’s nobody living right, not even one,
    nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God.
They’ve all taken the wrong turn;
    they’ve all wandered down blind alleys.
No one’s living right;
    I can’t find a single one.
Their throats are gaping graves,
    their tongues slick as mudslides.
Every word they speak is tinged with poison.
    They open their mouths and pollute the air.
They race for the honor of sinner-of-the-year,
    litter the land with heartbreak and ruin,
Don’t know the first thing about living with others.
    They never give God the time of day.
This makes it clear, doesn’t it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.

For Reflection

In the Kingdom of God no one has preference over another; not Christian over Jew, not Christian over Christian, or for that matter, believer over unbeliever. All of God's Creation is advancing toward the full realization of God's vision. All of God's people are moving toward reconciliation, some at a far slower pace than others. We all have to resist the desire to be favored. Remember the Disciples asked who would have rank above the others. Jesus' remarks indicated that they missed the point.

Pray

Pray so that you will see in all others as the Christ that dwells within you enables you to see and having seen to understand. We are all in the same boat, traveling in the same direction.

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God is Faithful and Fair

Discipleship and Mission

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Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

Romans 3:1-6 The Message

3 1-2 So what difference does it make who’s a Jew and who isn’t, who has been trained in God’s ways and who hasn’t? As it turns out, it makes a lot of difference—but not the difference so many have assumed.
2-6 First, there’s the matter of being put in charge of writing down and caring for God’s revelation, these Holy Scriptures. So, what if, in the course of doing that, some of those Jews abandoned their post? God didn’t abandon them. Do you think their faithlessness cancels out his faithfulness? Not on your life! Depend on it: God keeps his word even when the whole world is lying through its teeth. Scripture says the same:
Your words stand fast and true;
Rejection doesn’t faze you.
But if our wrongdoing only underlines and confirms God’s rightdoing, shouldn’t we be commended for helping out? Since our bad words don’t even make a dent in his good words, isn’t it wrong of God to back us to the wall and hold us to our word? These questions come up. The answer to such questions is no, a most emphatic No! How else would things ever get straightened out if God didn’t do the straightening?

For Reflection

If God did not abandon the Jews when they were unfaithful to the scriptures, then why would you think God would abandon us in our sin or abandon others in their unbelief. God declared that all things in God's Creation were good, including humans.  We all have that holy  point in our souls that when triggered by suffering and despair will invite God to enter with healing Grace.
Suffering leads us in a path toward sacred wholeness.  It is a path littered with obstacles through which we progress into Grace.

Pray

Pray so that you will become a reflection of the loving God you worship through the Son whom you strive to imitate.


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The Purpose of the Law

Discipleship and Mission

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Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5) 

 Romans 3:1-8 The Message

3 1-2 So what difference does it make who’s a Jew and who isn’t, who has been trained in God’s ways and who hasn’t? As it turns out, it makes a lot of difference—but not the difference so many have assumed.
2-6 First, there’s the matter of being put in charge of writing down and caring for God’s revelation, these Holy Scriptures. So, what if, in the course of doing that, some of those Jews abandoned their post? God didn’t abandon them. Do you think their faithlessness cancels out his faithfulness? Not on your life! Depend on it: God keeps his word even when the whole world is lying through its teeth. Scripture says the same:
Your words stand fast and true;
Rejection doesn’t faze you.
But if our wrongdoing only underlines and confirms God’s right-doing, shouldn’t we be commended for helping out? Since our bad words don’t even make a dent in his good words, isn’t it wrong of God to back us to the wall and hold us to our word? These questions come up. The answer to such questions is no, a most emphatic No! How else would things ever get straightened out if God didn’t do the straightening?
7-8 It’s simply perverse to say, “If my lies serve to show off God’s truth all the more gloriously, why blame me? I’m doing God a favor.” Some people are actually trying to put such words in our mouths, claiming that we go around saying, “The more evil we do, the more good God does, so let’s just do it!” That’s pure slander, as I’m sure you’ll agree.

For Reflection

So, let's leave the Hebrew setting and apply these passages to modern times.  We are Christians in many different forms and styles. Many of us have different opinions about how to worship God and to follow Christ.  We also have ideas, as did the early church, about those who do not believe as we and follow different spiritual paths.

Paul says that God does not reject Jewish non-Christian believers. So why should we today speak in condemnation of nonbelievers? Let those kinds of judgments up to God.  It may be presumptuous of us to assume we possess the infinite wisdom of God.

Pray

Pray so that you will be more able to play the role of a loving, compassionate God-collaborator.  Pray that your actions will reflect the humility and mercy of Christ.

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