Uniform Lesson for September 15, 2019 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Ephesians 5:21-6:4 God is faithful in training Abraham, sparing Lot and providing shelter for the stranger. God is faithful in strengthening the weak, lifting up the lowly and providing prophets to partner with kings. But God is also faithful in more mundane and daily ways, such as providing God’s people bread to eat. Such providential provision is a revelation of God’s glory, a test and a gift. Exodus 16:1-3 — A revelation of God’s glory No doubt God would prefer a people who are bowled over by the wonder of daily provision. Every congregation has a few saints who are grateful simply to be up and out of bed, breathing and alive, and blessed with enough food to get through the day and enough shelter to get through the night. Then there are the rest of us! We look back on past days, when we had much less freedom and no sense of God’s presence, yet because of the availability of bread and “fleshpots,” we’d … [Read more...]

Uniform Lesson for September 8, 2019 Scripture passage and lesson focus: 1 Samuel 1:1-2:10 We find ourselves at a hinge chapter in the biblical story, between the days of the judges when “all the people did what was right in their own eyes” (Judges 21:25) and the days of the kings, when a series of prophets tried to keep the king’s power in check. Prior to anointing a king, God’s people need a discerning prophet, so God faithfully goes to work — entering a messy story of rivalry, reversal and potential revolution. 1 Samuel 1:1-8 — Rivalry When congregations look for pastors and educators, they often seek perfect pastors with perfect families. Thankfully God is wiser and more compassionate than that! Perhaps in order to show God’s mercy, perhaps in order to demonstrate God’s mysterious sovereignty, perhaps because the only families God has to work with are deeply dysfunctional ones, the God revealed in Scripture has a predilection for entering into stories grounded in … [Read more...]

Uniform Lesson for September 1, 2019 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Genesis 18:16-19:29 This first unit flies under the banner of “God is faithful.” In a somewhat bizarre way, we lead off with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Perhaps you might propose an alternative theme for the lead-off lesson: “God may be faithful, but human beings… not!” However, in this story, God is faithful: to Abraham, to justice and especially to the strangers in our midst. Genesis 18:16-21 — God’s faithfulness to Abraham This story starts with an unexpected monologue from the mind of God. The Lord is contemplating keeping the impending destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah hidden from Abraham. This is problematic because Abraham’s nephew, Lot, is a resident there. But it also seems to run counter to God’s plan to bless all the nations through Abraham, a plan that will require some schooling in the way of the Lord (the doing of “righteousness and justice”). It’s almost as if God has decided to bring … [Read more...]

Uniform Lesson for August 25, 2019 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Ephesians 5:21-6:4 We end our summer of “living in covenant” with specific words on one of the most fruitful and fraught covenants of all: marriage. While this is not a covenant required for disciples of Jesus, it is one where many followers most clearly experience both the blessings and burdens of covenantal life. Surely this is a covenant that requires not only heartfelt feelings, but daily actions if it is to endure, broaden and welcome others into its orbit — whether children or slaves (see below!) or neighbors/strangers. Ephesians 5:21-28 — Problems It is clear that the writer wants to stick to the positive in his explication of the covenant of marriage. However, all one has to do is begin class with an oral reading of such phrases as “wives, be subject to your husbands” or “for the husband is head of the wife” or “in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word” and … [Read more...]

UNIFORM LESSON FOR July 28, 2019 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Matthew 7:1-6, 15-23 We have now skipped a whole chapter of Jesus’ teachings on the heartfelt covenant, including instructions about practices (almsgiving, prayer and fasting), warnings about treasures and masters and a command not to worry. Again, this covenant is not so much about emotions as motivations; it’s not as interested in words as in actions. Matthew 7:1-5 — Discipleship/discipline From the beginning, Christian discipleship has been difficult. Disciples mess up. Disciples need a community to support and encourage them, and a community that is willing to get them back on the way when they wander off the path. Church discipline, according to the constitution of the PC(USA), “is the church’s exercise of authority given by Christ, both in the direction of guidance, control, and nurture of its members and in the direction of constructive criticism of offenders” (D-1.0101). And so, whatever “judge not, … [Read more...]

UNIFORM LESSON FOR July 21, 2019 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Matthew 5:38-48 If we haven’t already opted out of Jesus’ heartfelt covenant over the past couple of lessons, this week’s lesson may well prove our breaking point. It’s one thing to allow someone to strike one cheek, but two?! It’s one thing to love your neighbor, but your enemies as well?! It’s one thing to compare our perfections to other human beings’, but how dare anyone compare her perfections to God’s?! Matthew 5:38-42 — Cheeks and coats and kilometers Believe it or not, the lex talionis (law for retaliation) was given as a way to restrain our vengeful instincts (Exodus 21:22-25). If a neighbor injured your eye in a weekend brawl, you could not chop off his head: one eye for one eye. If another neighbor knocked out your tooth in an argument over property lines, you could not set this neighbor on fire: one tooth for one tooth. In a culture (much like ours?) where blood feuds could escalate to the point … [Read more...]