1 Corinthians 12

The people are the Body of Christ all with different attributes and all necessary for the functioning of the church. Whether it's Corinth or Quincy the congregation is reponsible for the task of living in Christ. For me having a place such as Faith to come and be part of that Body is such a blessing. Reading the Bible, worshipping, and simply being a part of this community of Christians strengthens my faith and I can thank God for that.

1 Corithians 11

I'm not going to go near the head covering thing...

There was a time where before communion I would center myself.  After communion I would pray or sing the communion anthem.  Then kids happened and I sometimes miss the closeness to God that comes wth the feast.  Yet, luckily and as Kelly noted in chapter 9, Corinth makes me feel a little better.  At least the service of Holy Communion has not become a party where some indulge and others are left off the table.

Communion is our time to be physically connected to God.  Where we can see, touch and taste the goodness of God and remember His Son.  As Paul writes in verse 26, it is not just a personal self reflection and connection but an outward act of witness: "whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."  For us shy Lutherans, it might be our greatest act of evangelism!

Comment 1 Corinthians 9

They are suppose to come together to worship Jesus but instead are caught up in endless distraction, this church has lost its way. Is this because they lack a true understanding of what
Christ's life, death, and resurrection means to them as Christians? Paul's writing expresses concern for the actions of this congregation because they are motivated by their own beliefs
and not that of their Father who created them.

1 Corinthians 9

Is there any problem that this church in Corinth is NOT having? Bickering, debating, sexual immorality, all sorts of inter-marriage quetions, taking each other to court, and how much (or whether) to pay the pastor....and we've hit chapter 9. I know that congregations can be difficult - and life together is never easy. But, WOW, this is turning out to be one very dysfunctional group.

And yet, God uses them. I like that the church in Corinth is in the Bible. Because reading about the church in Acts can make me feel like our church is so far away from where we should be. They do everything perfectly, love each other perfectly, give their material possessions perfectly....But the church in Corinth is pretty messed up. They fight with each other, argue about how to best serve God, struggle to honestly understand what God is asking of them.

I've never been in a church where things have gotten as bad as they seem to be in Corinth. But when I find myself living in the midst of struggling times in a congregation's life....I like to know that God is active in the midst of it all. God uses it, helps it along, makes it grow. And centuries later, it still stands. As we are a bit unsettled right now....I need this book.

1 Corinthians 5

Paul lambasts those of the church in Corinth because they are still holding to some beliefs that have no place since the establishment of Christ's church. He passionately makes it clear that
living as a Christian and believing in Jesus is what their focus must be. Paul fears that the immorality that is going on in the church will continue to take away from Jesus's message and he is trying albeit quite sternly to wake them up to his concerns.

I Corinthians 4 Comment

Thank you for your kind words. We do seem to have a larger number signed up who may find it hard to join in, but if you do it once or twice it gets easier. I hope the blog can grow and that we can have interesting dialogs on the words we find in the Bible; it will help us grow in our faith. I know the blog is helping me to really read and understand what the Bible is telling me. (see Bonhoeffer's letter I posted after Revelation 9)

Maybe we can find a way to get more participation and interest.

Back to work.....
Bill Macfeeley

1Corinthians 4

More than the content of this chapter, I'm struck by its tone. What type of reputation must Paul have had to be able to write a letter like this - to people he had not seen in a few years - and sound so sanctimonious?

He chastises them all for their bickering - v. 14 "to admonish you as my beloved children" - and still seems to be respected. In fact, the letter was cherished enough by the community that received it that it has survived for 2000 years. I know I would not respond well AT ALL to letter in this tone. The 8-year old inside me would come out and I'd bicker with my neighbor precisely because this know-it-all letter had told me not to.

I'm interested to see how theology is flushed out in the coming chapters. This letter was written 20 years earlier than the 1st of the gospels....what stories and teachings were discussed this early on?

- Did anyone else notice that Bill's post on Friday was post #1,000?

1st and 2nd Corinthians it is!

Starting Friday :)

1 Corinthians Chapter 1

3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.

Two opening statements from the Apostle Paul to the new church in Corinth, the first in greeting the second in thanksgiving. Here we find a timeless letter where a shephard is leading his flock helping them discover their way to God. He instructs them to be united in thought and mind, to agree with one another and to not let anything divide them in their mission to serve God.

Where do we go from here? Pray to God, praise God and reflect on the words written by Paul in faithfulness to his church. Today we can find our strength in heeding Pauls teachings, trusting that God is stronger and wiser than we can ever hope to be and that he loves us. In this book I hope to find a map to God, spelled out by Christ's true Apostle, Paul.

30 It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

Revelation 22

v20 "He who has said all these things declares: Yes, I am coming soon!" This book finishes with
Jesus's declaration of His imminent return and for all of us to heed His message. Christ will reveal Himself in all His glory as the Father has foretold and all will stand before the King. Alleluia!

Not Revelation...but

The 7th-9th grade Sunday School class had discussed the last Harry Potter book when it came out. As I'm off to see the movie on Friday, found this link that's a pretty impressive discussion of the themes as they relate to Christianity.

http://catholicmoraltheology.com/harry-potter-and-a-love-stronger-than-death/

Revelation 21

The new city coming down from the sky, bedazzled like an 8 year old's Barbie doll.  A perfect city guarded by 12 angels who will keep out all things evil.  Where is the fun in that?

It is the earlier words in verses 3 and 4 that we cherish whenever something just goes horribly wrong in life.  A natural disaster, a human disaster or an unexpected tragedy.  In the new world, God will be with us and among us and we will not know pain or sorrow.  These words give comfort because sometimes a pain is too deep to deal with (presently/immediately) in this world.  Knowing that there is healing in the future allows us to be present.

What do we blog starting Friday?

Revelation 19 (and 17, 18)

There is great joy in heaven over the fall of the powerful nation of Babylon.

In the car this morning, I caught the first 10 minutes of "Talk of the Nation" on NPR - which focused its first hour on a discussion of the shift in the US military to rely increasingly on drones, or UAVs. The United States is currently using drones to drop bombs in 6 countries (Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia). And though this makes life safer and easier for us, I have spent the rest of the day thinking about the morality of warfare by unmanned robotics. From our safe computer terminals in South Dakota, we are killing people in these countries.

We are safer - but without the risks of war, we are unlikely to seek peace. How would Augustine's Just War Theory be applied to this? When the two sides are so vastly unequal, can it be called "war"?

I do not mean to villify America - but to raise the concern. 19:10 states: At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”

We are to worship God, not country. And while modern America may not be the same as Babylon - there are parallels. We must be on guard - to act justly and love mercy.

Revelation 16 The Great Tribulation

God has given the world a choice, choose Christ and die or be marked for the Beast and live. In this vision many choose Christ, die, and are seen in Heaven before the throne on the crystal sea. Others choose the easier route, worship a false god, are marked and continue to live. God then visits on them the seven bowls of wrath, designed to kill as many of those marked for the Beast as possible clearing the way for Christ's return and the "New Millennium".

How many times in our life here are we faced with decisions and we almost always take the easy path, thinking we are being smart and saving time.

When the choice is between answering God's call or turning away and hoping someone else will take care of the "problem", what will you do?

Revelation 15

Victory is ultimately our Father's. The struggle we as humans have with keeping Christ as the focus is key to triumphing over all evils. No one knows the hour except the Father, we are to live each day striving to better understand and live the Word. The time we as humans have is but a blink. How will I use this precious gift today?

Revelation 14

Here we are back to 144,000.  Pure people who seem to be without sin and they sing a song that only they can learn.  What would an unlearnable song sound like?  REM's "Its the end of the world as we know it" is both appropriate and hard to REMember, right?  Right.

Well it certainly is the end of the world if you find yourself tossed in a giant wine press.  The surealism of this chapter makes me think that Salvador Dali had his hand in this vision.  What can one make of these ripe grapes?  God doesn't gleefully stomp us to juice, just as a parent does not get joy from punishing a kid.  You don't see angels leaping out of their chair to bring justice, they are commanded.

What I take to heart here is that God calls us to get off our vine before we sour.  God's time is infinite and relative, our time is now.

Revelation 12

Figures...one of the places where my theology differs most from "traditional Lutheran theology" is the topic of today's chapter. Brace yourselves, and I'm fine if you decide to call me a heretic.

The struggles I have with this chapter (and with "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" - traditional version) is that it sets the world/cosmos/reality up as a battle between Good v. Evil. It's God v. the Devil, Black v. White, Yes v. No....and we are all living between these two poles - God and the Devil.

I'm not comfortable with this dichotomy. I don't see the world in polar opposites. To me, there is God and there is "All that is not God." I fight for, serve, and strive to emulate God. My focus is on God. And God alone.

I do not focus on fighting "the Devil." To me, it's too simple to say that evil is the polar opposite of God. God is the light, and we can stray from that light in a myriad of ways. Walking away from the light does not mean walking "towards" something/someone else.

Our reality has so much grey...Even as I read about battles in history, I have learned that the issues are rarely clear-cut. Wars are more often about power and control and wealth. They are almost never about good v. bad.

We do not live in a world on a line - oscillating between the extremes of God and Devil. We live in orbit around the Sphere of God. And we can walk quite far into the darkness away from that sphere.

So, in short, not my favorite chapter in the Bible. And I'm rather disturbed at how much of our culture's idea of the Devil comes out of this chapter in Revelation. We seem to discard a great deal of Revelation as troublesome and murky...yet these images of serpent and Heavenly battle have made their way into the common consciousness.

Letter from Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1936

I know we are now blogging the book of Revelation but in my reading this week I found this letter from Dietrich Bonhoeffer to his brother in law Rudiger Schleicher, written in 1936. In it I have found a powerful message and clear instructions on how to "Read" the Bible and, I pray, be patient and receptive when God reveals Himself to me through the Word.

I have attached the letter here to share with others - enjoy!

Peace

Bill MacFeeley

Letter from Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Rudiger Schleicher 1936

First of all I will confess quite simply – I believe that the Bible alone is the answer to all our questions, and that we need only to ask repeatedly and a little humbly, in order to receive this answer. One cannot simply read the Bible, like other books. One must be prepared really to enquire of it. Only thus will it reveal itself. Only if we expect from it the ultimate answer, shall we receive it. That is because in the Bible God speaks to us. And one cannot simply think about God in one’s own strength, one has to enquire of Him. Only if we seek Him, will He answer us.

Of course it is also possible to read the Bible like any other book, that is to say from the point of view of textual criticism, etc.; there is nothing to be said against that. Only that that is not the method which will reveal to us the heart of the Bible, but only the surface, just as we do not grasp the words of someone we love by taking them to bits, but by simply receiving them, so that for days they go on lingering in our minds, simply because they are the words of a person we love; and just as these words reveal more and more of the person who said them as we go on, like Mary, “pondering them in our heart,” so it will be with the words of the Bible. Only if we will venture to enter into the words of the Bible, as though in them this God were speaking to us who loves us and does not leave us along with our questions, only so shall we learn to rejoice in the Bible…..

If it is I who determine where God is to be found, then I shall always find God who corresponds to me in some way, who is obliging, who is connected with my nature. But if God determines where he is to be found, then it will be in a place which is not immediately pleasing to my nature and which is not at all congenial to me. This place is the Cross of Christ. And whoever would find him must go to the foot of the Cross, as the Sermon on the Mount commands. This is not according to our nature at all; it is entirely contrary to it. But this is the message of the Bible, not only in the New but also in the Old Testament.

And I would like to tell you now quite personally:

Since I have learnt to read the Bible in this way – and this has not been for so very long – it becomes every day more wonderful to me. I read it in the morning and the evening, often during the day as well, and every day I consider a text, which I have chosen for the whole week, and try to sink deeply into it, so as really to hear what it is saying. I know that without this I could not live properly any longer.


Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1936

Revelation 9

V 12 The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.

The fifth and sixth angels are sounding their trumpets.

Have you ever had a bad day, possibly at work where everything seems to go wrong and the locus can be found covering your desk and won't go away.

John is describing a vision that is that day times 1000. Clearly the fallen star when the fifth angel sounds the trumpet is Satan and the abyss is Hell.

Our hope is that we one of those marked by God as his own.

Pray constantly, praise God constantly and love eternally.