UNIFORM LESSON FOR JANUARY 3, 2016 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Genesis 29:1-30 Most Christians readily identify Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as Old Testament patriarchs. Some may also recognize Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah as the matriarchs. They have often been selectively idealized and even romanticized in our Sunday school stories and songs. Today’s passage helps us see a more realistic picture of these ancient figures as flesh and blood human beings – warts and all. To understand this passage we need to be aware that it is a carefully crafted account of an episode in the life of the patriarch Jacob. It originated as a masterfully told piece of folklore replete with humor, clever wordplay and trickery. We should remember that God’s covenant to Abraham was passed on to his son Isaac, whom God had spared from a sacrificial death at the hands of his fiercely obedient father Abraham (Genesis 22). Isaac and Rebekah had two sons, the twins Esau and Jacob. The … [Read more...]
A generous gift (Dec. 27, 2015)
UNIFORM LESSON FOR DECEMBER 27, 2015 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Matthew 23:2-12; Mark 12:38-44 Giving gifts is an important part of the holiday season for many people. Finding just the right Christmas gifts and gathering family and friends to exchange gifts and enjoy a festive dinner keep many of us busy until the night before Christmas. In the midst of our busyness it is easy to forget the connection between our gift giving and God’s greatest gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Singing “Joy to the World” reminds us that our true happiness comes from what God has given to us in Mary’s child born in Bethlehem. He is the most generous gift. Mark 12:41-44 — Jesus praises a generous widow Religious organizations, like political, educational and cultural institutions, depend on the generosity of their donors. They often use sophisticated means to motivate wealthy people to give them gifts — the larger the better. Major gifts may result in buildings … [Read more...]
Come on! (Horizons 5)
HORIZONS BIBLE STUDY 2015-2016 COME TO THE WATERS Lesson 5 — Matthew 14:22-26 In my younger years, several adults and I took our church youth to a ropes course at a Presbyterian camp. A ropes course’s purpose is to build up a team so they will depend on each other. There are a variety of challenges that the group must face together. At one station, for instance, a person had to make it up a 10-foot pole with the help of the whole team. At another station, we steadied each other to make it across large rocks in a stream. If you fell into the water, you were eaten by alligators, so your team-mates had to save you. (The alligators were imaginary.) My least favorite activity was the “trust fall.” The participants formed two lines and stood shoulder to shoulder with the people in their row. Then they linked arms with the person opposite them, each grabbing the elbow of the other. If you pictured us from above, we looked like a human ladder held four feet off the ground. One … [Read more...]
2nd Sunday in Advent – December 6, 2015
Luke 3:1-6 There were 56 total. Some were ceramic, others made of wood. Most were three-dimensional, but a few of the most striking were oil paintings with soft, pastel colors. I gravitated to the ones made from recycled materials, the life sized one welded together from old car parts, the trio of cut and shaped Coca-Cola cans. The Holy Family represented 56 ways with more or less onlookers came in every color and virtually every shape. Artists from Switzerland, Portugal, Ecuador, Kenya, Palestine, Japan, Burma, Dominican Republic, Springfield, Vermont, and more all had offered up a crèche to be admired for the season leading up to Christmas. The day I visited Mepkin Abbey in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, the volunteer driving the golf cart to and from the parking lot said they would have around 750 visitors just that day. 2015 marks the 13th year of the Mepkin Abbey crèche festival and people flock to see the baby Jesus and his entourage. This was the first time I had … [Read more...]
1st Sunday in Advent – November 29, 2015
Jeremiah 33:14-16; Luke 21:25-36 “The days are surely coming,” says Jeremiah. The days of promise and fulfillment are surely coming. The days of justice and righteousness are surely coming. The days of salvation and safety are surely coming. These are words we need to hear this Advent. When the news is grim and there is no shortage of injustice or unrighteousness or damnation or danger, we are called to hold up God’s promised future. We are to hold it up and live into it. During distress among the nations, Christians are called to stand up and raise our heads in anticipation of redemption. Lifting up examples of Christians working for justice and mercy while war and violence rages is critical. We need to know there are alternatives to the predominate narrative of fear and retaliation. We need to bear witness to the coming Kingdom in ways that make it possible for the world to see signs of its coming, too. There are leaves coming forth from the fig trees, but we have to look to … [Read more...]
Acceptable offerings
UNIFORM LESSON FOR DECEMBER 13, 2015 Scripture passage and lesson focus: Leviticus 22:17-25, 31-33 Very few Christians, and probably even fewer Presbyterian Christians, devote much time to reflecting on the book of Leviticus. A cursory glance indicates that Leviticus contains lots of rules about the religious ceremonies and the daily life of ancient Israelites. A closer look, however, shows that Leviticus is about God’s nature as a holy God and God’s people as a holy people. What does it mean to worship a holy God and to be a holy people? Anthropologists and historians of religion have observed that a basic feature of ancient worship was sacrifice. The sacrificial offerings could be almost anything valuable or useful: a portion of the crops, food or drink, small animals or livestock, or whatever the religious leaders required. Many people believed that presenting a sacrificial offering to the gods could be a way to gain a god’s help and blessing. The Latin phrase do ut des (I … [Read more...]
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