Week 2 Bible Readings for Confirmation

Week 2 (10-25)

Su Psalm 5:11-12

M Luke 10:29-37

T Luke 11:1-4

W Luke 13:18-21

Th Luke 15:3-7

F Luke 16:10

Sa Luke 18:15-17

 

(…well, for Confirmation students and anyone else who wants to read along)

God's Story and Ours

I signed up for a daily quote to be sent to my email from Runner's World. They are meant to inspire and motivate. Sometimes they do. Sometimes, they don't. Today's quote, though, made me think. It read:

Nonrunners cannot see how they can afford the time to run every day. But runners cannot imagine getting through a single day without it. --Kevin Nelson, The Runner's Book of Daily Inspiration

Ok... granted, I don't run every single day (and I would include bike/swim in this list as well). And yes, the sloth within me REALLY looks forward to those rest days during the week, but I do understand this. And many people who don't run, often voice the opening part. "I just can't find the time..." Well, you're not going to find it. You make it. You rearrange your priorities so that you do it. You make time.

But today I thought along a parallel path. Replace the concept of running with "biblical reading." Daily biblical reading, time set aside in devotion and prayer, is something that few of us do. Mainly because it takes time. And there are always demands on our time. Work, family, life in general. How do we find the moment where we can squeeze reading the bible in? Well, the answer is simple. We don't. We can't. We make it.

And I would like to make bold and audacious claims about by making a few minutes to read the bible and pray, everything going on in life will seem better and all the blocks of life will click into place. But I cannot. Sometimes things will go smoother. Sometimes they will not. Life intervenes. But by making time to read the story of God and God's people, I think we find one thing. That we too are in the midst of that story. That in all of those crazy distractions and hectic pace, we find that Jesus is there in our midst. Making time to read this great story of what God is up to, reminds us again and again that God is up to something even with us,
even if we don't know exactly what it is at the time.

I am posting a weekly lectionary here for the Confirmation class (It comes out of Augsburg Fortress' Lutheran Study Bible. It's the Sampler Lectionary, just a few verses a day). Read along. Enter into this grand story and see where yours is interwoven with it.

Confirmation Daily Bible Reading

Week 1 (starting 10-11)

Su Psalm 24:8-10

 

M Luke 2:1-7

 

T Luke 2:41-52

 

W Luke 3:21-22

 

Th Luke 5:12-16

 

F Luke 6:20-23

 

Sa Luke 9:18-22

 

 

 

Good News, Bad News

Ok, not THE good news, but a much lesser good news... with some bad news.

Good News: We will be worshiping back in St. Paul on Sunday Oct. 18, 10:00 a.m. Sunday School will resume at 9 a.m.

Now, the bad news... the carpet will not be installed. The flaw that was found was not just on the carpet we had, but in the entire lot of carpet in the warehouse. The entire batch needs to be remade. We are waiting patiently.

So we will be gathering for worship in the sanctuary but using chairs. And our main entrance will be unusable, since pews are stacked in the narthex. Please use the upstairs doors of the education wing.

See you at St. Paul on Sunday morning!

Shifting Vision

From Helen Harms, the WV-WMD Synod’s Director for Evangelical Mission.  A shift in our vision for what the church is…

Old model: Attractional church (marketing church so people will come to us)

New model: Incarnational church (God putting on flesh through us so that we can be Jesus, meeting people where they are)

Old model: Temple in Jerusalem, people have to go there

Ancient/future model: Jesus is cornerstone of new Temple, his people are living stones, the Temple is mobile, and not a building

Old model: church growth

New model: kingdom growth- thy will be done, thy kingdom come, on earth, as in heaven

Old model: you need a building to be a “real” church

Ancient model: Jesus and the early church never owned buildings. In 100AD there were 25,000 Christians. By 310 AD there were 20 million

Future model: you don’t need a building to be “real” church. Consider China at the beginning of the “cultural revolution.” Christianity had been essentially outlawed. There were 2 million Christians. China today has more than 60 million Christians. Not only that-- many congregations have to share a Bible, a page at a time!

Old question: How can we get people to come to church?

New question: How can we be Jesus to the people in our neighborhoods, blessing them with his love?

Continuing worship at the chapel

Sunday, October 11, 2009 we continue to worship at Christ the King Chapel while our sanctuary awaits its new carpet.

Worship is as usual at 10 a.m. Come early to get a good parking spot and partake in some coffee and donuts!

Let the children come to me...

Having heard Jesus' words to his disciples about letting the children come to him, I came across the following video. I talked in my children's sermon with the kids about their example for us when it comes to trust. Well, I realize now that it is not just about their ability to believe and trust, but also their ability to be prophetic. Powerful speech by a girl in front of a UN meeting in Brazil.



"...for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs."