Bible Reflections for November/December 2005
Sunday, November 20
Read: Matthew 25:31-46
Consider: This familiar story of the "sheep and the goats" is really a dramatic indication of where God resides: not only in the Temple's holy of holies, as most believed, but also, Jesus indicates, in the faces of the poor and disabled, the imprisoned and the sick, the lonely and the stranger. In other words, wherever there is suffering, deprivation, loneliness, or oppression, we can be certain Christ is present. Jesus, as he frequently does, is stretching their understanding of God and what God desires for his people. Works of justice and mercy are what draw us close to God and open us to experience God's kingdom here on earth. Then our worship rings with integrity, rather than the emptiness of those who praise God in the sanctuary but fail to see God in the "least of these" who are God's precious children in need.
Reflect:
* Does this story seem to indicate that we are saved by our good works rather than by God's grace alone? How might you affirm both the necessity of God's grace for our salvation and the necessity of a faith that works to alleviate the world's suffering in order to know that salvation?
* What are the unmet human needs closest to you? In what ways might you bear the hope of God's message to those who are lonely, outcast, or in need of physical necessities?
* Have you ever been in the position of "one of the least of these" -- maybe feeling outcast or lonely -- and been ministered to by one of God's "sheep" Share this experience with another, or meditate upon it within your heart. How can you "return" such a gift of grace to another?
* In what ways does parable express a judgment upon us, who are burdened with the knowledge that there are millions of poor, homeless, starving people in the world, and that we are part of the reason they continue to live in poverty? What sort of repentance is called for? What can an individual or a church community do to effect changes that will enable justice and mercy amid the world's wounds?
Text for:
Sunday, November 27
Read: Isaiah 64:1-9
Consider: Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the four weeks of preparation leading up to Christmas. This passage from Isaiah reflects the mood of the Hebrew people waiting for a Deliverer...waiting for God to "come down" and make his presence known. It reflects a tired faith, out of touch with God, and always looking back to the past when it seemed God was more real, more involved with his people. The writer concludes it is because God's people have sinned that God has hidden his face. The passage concludes with a prayer to God to overlook past sin and re-mold the clay into a new, faithful people.
Reflect:
* In what season do you find your faith today: energized? tired? confused? excited? questing? irrelevant? sustaining? renewed?
* When have you wished that God would come down and set things straight? Or show himself as a God of compassion?
* How does our sin and our brokenness and self-centeredness keep us separated from God?
* Does God sometimes hide his face or do our petty preoccupations prevent us from seeing the God who is always available?
* Use the image of the potter and the clay to pray a prayer asking to be molded by God? What do you think God wants to make of you?
* Read: Isaiah 40:1-11
Text for:
Sunday, December 4, 2005
Read: Isaiah 40:1-11
Consider: The setting is Babylon, where they exiled Jews have been living
since being taken from their homeland of Israel. They saw their deportation as God's punishment for their idolatry and disobedience. Most difficult of all was being exiled from their Holy City of Zion, Jerusalem, the very center of the Hebrew faith. But now after many years in captivity a prophetic voice is heard announcing that Israel's "penalty is paid," that it is time for the people to prepare a way in the wilderness for the Lord, who will be coming soon to liberate his people and take them back to their true home. The God who is to come will come both in awesome power (verse 10) and in the gentleness of a shepherd (verses1,2, and 11). The Lord is stronger than any power to enslave and God's word is the one enduring reality amid the changes and sufferings of life (verse 8)
Reflect:
* Do you think God punishes people for their wrongdoing?
* Have you ever felt "punished" by God?
* The notion of "preparing the way for the Lord" is a powerful one. What are some ways you or your church might prepare God's way in this season as Christmas approaches?
* When has the word of God been your staying power in a difficult situation or transition of life?
* Why is it important to hold on to both the image of God as a mighty King and the image of God as a tender caregiver?
* Someone once said that God's intent seems to be "to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable." Do you agree?
Text for:
Sunday, December 11
Read: John 1:6-8, 19-28
Consider: John the Baptizer is at the center of this passage, a figure
renowned as a prophet and popular among the people, even though his message was a hard one: "Repent!" John is called a "witness," not the light that is about to break upon the world but one who would point to and testify to this light...one who opens the way for something greater to come. So popular was John that some thought him to be the Messiah, so John clarifies his mission in the words we read last week from Isaiah 40, the voice of preparation. One far greater than John is on the way, he says, whose sandals John feels unworthy to untie, so great the gap between messenger and Messiah. This coming one is the true authority, says John, while his (John's) is only the authority to baptize and thus prepare the people.
Reflect:
* What does it mean to be a "witness" in our customary usage of the word?
* What do you think the Bible means by referring to someone as a "witness"
* Why do you think John, whose message was not an easy word of comfort but a harsh challenge to people to change their ways and "turn around," was nonetheless such a popular figure? Have we sometimes watered down religion to make it more palatable when in fact, people want to be challenged and called to accountability?
* Can you think of ways you have been or might be involved in a "ministry of preparation" °© paving the way for something even greater, building for the future and not just the present time?
Text for:
Sunday, December 18
Read: Luke 1:26-38
Consider: The story in this passage is sometimes called "The Annunciation" °©it is announced to Mary that she has been chosen, favored by God for a most extraordinary role: the mother of the Messiah. Naturally her first reaction is fear at this awesome messenger of God who suddenly appears before her to tell her of God's plan and her role within it: a son to be born of her is also the Son of the Most High who will assume the throne of David. But Mary wonders how she as a virgin can possibly conceive a child. Here Gabriel declares that for God, nothing will be impossible, that the work of God's Holy Spirit is able to accomplish the Lord's plan in spite of what seem to be impossible human roadblocks. Mary yields to the wonder of the moment and knows she will be a central player in God's salvation drama.
Reflect:
* Do you believe in angels? Why or why not?
* How does the angel in this story compare to those angels of our popular culture?
* What are some of the kinds of "messengers" God continues to use to declare his purpose and desire for us?
* Ponder verse 37. Do you believe that nothing is impossible with God? To what extent is God dependent, or not dependent, upon human actions?
* Do you think Mary is a good model for women today? Why or why not? What pictures do you carry in your mind of Mary?
* Read and ponder Mary's "Magnificat" a few verses ahead (verses 46-55). What do these verses tell you about Mary?
Text for:
Sunday, December 25
Read: Luke 2:1-20
Consider: Try to find the words to some of the familiar Christmas carols. Read them slowly and meditatively, pondering the meaning of the birth of Jesus for you in this year of 2005 and the year 2006 ahead, with all of its promise and peril
Reflect:
* Does God still choose the humble and powerless more than the strong and well-established to carry out his work?
* What are some ways you believe that God has fulfilled his promise to you?
* What makes you feel yourself to be blessed? Or do you?
* If the Christmas story is about God being present in unlikely places, through unlikely people, and in unlikely circumstances, where might we experience God's presence today?
* What can you do this Christmas to better focus upon God's supreme gift of Jesus Christ rather than the kind of gift-giving that becomes so burdensome and is so commercialized?
* God's gift of salvation does not come without pain -- the pain of childbirth. In what sense are blessings born out of pain? Have you experienced suffering in your life that turned out to be the labor pains of new birth and blessing?
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