He is Risen!

In these days following Easter I'm reading The Scribe by Francine Rivers, about Silas and others in the early church. During hard times they clung to their knowledge and memory of seeing Jesus Christ risen. Yet Jesus says "... blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29) Our faith in His resurrection gives us hope and strength regardless of current circumstances.

Good Friday

Between Good Friday and Easter I am always reminded of Robert Benson's thoughts in his book, Between the Dreaming and the Coming True. He says that celebrations of Easter have much more meaning when one has come close to death. I think this is true, especially in the spiritual sense. Once we realize our death, separation from God, because we "were dead in transgressions and sins" (Ephesians 2:1), we find we have much to celebrate in the resurrection life He gives us. (John 11:25-26)

Focus

I'm finding that in Bible study, as in so many things, a bit of focus is necessary for learning to take place. So, I've decided to set Amos aside for now and focus on Luke. I'll be able to go more indepth with the study, rather than skimming the surface. Ultimately, I think that's what God wants, for us to interact with His Word on a deeper level.

Holy Week?

"Holy Week" seems to get more an more unholy each year, as we become more pressed for time, more focused on the immediacy of life around us, and less willing to take time apart not only to read and study God's Word, but to truly reflect on it. I find myself far more likely to do the "reading for the day" than to take time to really interact with it and reflect on it.

Holy Week

It is now the week before Easter, and liturgical churches will celebrate "Holy Week." When I taught in a Christian school, we also observed this week by reading, learning, and interacting with the events leading up to the crucifixion and Resurrection. However, as a "writer" and attender of a church that does not very closely follow the church year, I find this week will be quiet until we get to the Good Friday service, which I will miss this year. I'm reminded of Scrooge in Christmas Carol, keep Easter / Good Friday in your way, and let me keep it in mine. I hope that I will indeed keep the season, with reading, reflecting, and "partaking" of God's Word.

Shepherds

Today Matt picked up where he left off talking about Jesus as the Good Shepherd. He noted that Mary and Martha were disappointed in how their "Good Shepherd" chose to handle the death of their brother Lazarus. I remember reading in the fictional account of Amos how shepherds discipline their sheep--sometimes by harming them to keep them from straying--with a view of the "big picture." It looks like that happened with Lazarus--Jesus could see the ultimate glory of God in the situation. That builds our faith, to know He is in control and sees, knows, and cares far more than we could imagine.

Study in John

Our pastor has been going through the book of John and I'm enjoying it very much. Today I found that Tom Fuller, pastor of Calvary Chapel Newberg, has also been studying the book of John. I'm looking forward to reading his notes alongside of the messages I hear each week at our church. At the same time, I'm continuing my reading of Luke, focusing on what Jesus was like:

For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers... (Romans 8:29)

A note on navigating this Blog

Some of you have signed on as a contributor, which means I have sent you an invitation to join, you have responded, and been added as an "author," someone who can write your own posts rather than just commenting to my posts. To make a post, use the back arrow on your Internet browser to return to your "dashboard" and you should see your signin screen, which has the name of the blog and below, on the left, an icon with the word posts underlined. Click on that link and you should be able to post. If this doesn't work, let me know and I'll edit from my end and put the navigation bar back up there.

Shepherds

Yesterday Matt talked about John 10 and Jesus as the Good Shepherd. When I read the fictional account of Amos the author included a lot of background information on the life of a shepherd. As I read it, I could see the parallels to Jesus as our Shepherd. Then what we heard yesterday added to it and filled it in some more. One thing that stands out is that we often think of a shepherd following the flock, but it says that He goes before us. Shepherds go before their sheep to make sure the way is safe and to lead them where He wants them to go. That makes much more sense. It also fits in with other verses that remind us that where ever He leads us to go, He has already been there first.

What happened to Amos?

I haven't forgotten Amos. I'm typing his words in as I get time, so that I can print out an expanded copy on which to write study notes. All in good time, when I get "caught up" (if there is such a thing) on the blog book.
I wondered if Amos savored the weekend as much as we all do. :-)

Prayer vs. Study

However, as I tried to decipher the prayer books last night, I determined I truly am logical-sequential, and I would prefer to do my Bible reading in a logical fashion. In the prayer book(s) I would have to turn to Day xx in this part, and the corresponding day in the next part, and for the readings I might read a Psalm and/or a selection from the gospels. All well and good, but it leaves out a fair portion of God's Word. This season I would most likely focus on Psalms and the Gospels anyway, so that's ok. But I'm doing well to figure out (maybe) how many Sundays or Wednesdays we have before Palm Sunday, let alone which day it is of Lent. So I gave up, and went back to my reading of Luke.

The question I'm asking myself as I read through Luke is: what does this passage say about becoming like Jesus? This is a foundational question for a study I hope to work /write through. Next question, is the concept of "becoming like Jesus" even in the Bible? I think it is, although not in so many words. Any input out there on verses that speak to this?

Lent

Below, a poem I wrote one year for this season.

Lent

Glance for a moment
set it aside
bits of truth
you dare to hide
beneath a calloused heart

Look inside your calloused heart

Consider your life
the mercy and sacrifice
what will you give up
to face the truth
you tear apart?

tc

Time gets away

Today time got away from me and I didn't get to read or study this morning. Breakfast, walk, a few phone calls, prepare for students, teach, and the day was off to a running start. I may yet get to it this afternoon, as things have slowed down. What do you do on those days when time gets away without reading God's Word?
As I walked back and forth doing things this morning, I could see the book I intended to use to guide my reading sitting on the coffee table. Yesterday I got out the Book of Common Prayer and another, similar, book written by an acquaintance a few years ago. My thinking was these books would guide reading through this season just prior to Easter.
It all seems to go together--the recognition of sin by the prophets (see Isaiah 6:5-8 for one prophet's specific comments), the discussion in our Tuesday Bible study group on 1 Corinthians, and the season of Lent.

posting

Apparently, the way to add people as "authors," which means you can create your own posts, in addition to commenting on posts I make, is for me to type in addresses individually. I read through some blogger help sites, and didn't find any other solutions, at least in this platform. So as you log on to the blog and begin to post, I'll add your name to the authors list. Blogger will generate an "invitation" email even though you've already posted on the blog. Accept the invitation if you want to write your own posts. How on earth would I explain all this to teachers and students in the classroom? I agree with bonbon, I cannot writing a book on blogging, but I am doing so anyway!

blogging

I see now that my very next task will be figuring out how to make it so all of you fine people who participate with me in this project will be able to post your own thoughts, start new theads, besides just those I start. Then we can truly be a community. :-)

Amos

Monday I finished reading The Prophet, by Francine Rivers, a Biblical novel about the life of Amos. What struck me the most in this ficitonal account was how he prophesied against Israel's neighbors first, then Judah, then Israel. They didn't see that they were as guilty as the other nations until he spelled it out for them. In the story, he also saw his own sin as he spoke judgment against others.

This week in Bible study we discussed 1 Corinthians 5 and 6, and discipline in the church. The opening line in the lesson said that purity in the church depended also on lives of individual believers. I'm reminded of Jesus' command in Matthew 7:1-5 to first look at the plank in our eyes before we judge the speck in our brothers'.