Words for the Week … July 26

Psalm 114   OT II Kings 2:1-15   Gospel Mark 6:45-52   NT Eph 4:1-16

Continuing the Conversation … from July 19

“But seek first the Kingdom of God…” - Matthew 6:3

The Sermon on the Mount teaches us about the “Kingdom Heart”. Essentially Jesus is teaching his listeners how to live in this world not according to its own rules but according to the story of the Jesus and his Kingdom. Often our vision of the Kingdom of God gets blurry and we get confused about what it is. Keep these two things in mind:

1. The Kingdom is that “space” where what God wants to happen, happens. The range of his will.
2. The Kingdom looks like Jesus.

Matthew 7:7-12 talks about asking, knocking and seeking. It also tells the reader that God wants to give good things to his children. The Father heart of God wants to give and he responds to the spirit of the request. One question for us to ask ourselves, does the Kingdom govern our asking?

Here is one more thing to ponder this week. If you were to live in a conscious awareness of God’s Kingdom for one entire day, what would it look like? In other words, what would one full day in the Kingdom look like for you?

Merton on the Kingdom … from Sat

We are exiles in the far end of solitude, living as listeners,
With hearts attending to the skies we cannot understand:
Waiting upon the first far drums of Christ the Conqueror,
Planted like sentinels upon the world’s frontier. - Thomas Merton

Words for the Week … July 19

Psalm 22

Old Testament Isaiah 57:14-21

Gospel Mark 6:30-44

New Testament Ephesians 2:11-22

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. - Psalm 19:14

… two of the best

Way to go Brad and Michel! Congratulations on the 30 year mark. Your lives and example are a blessing to us all. Here’s to the next 30 years. Salud!

Continuing the Conversation … 7/12 and CBR Tonight!

Tonight - 7PM - 1st UMC

(Don’t forget the Roadshow tonight!) We’ve been making our way through the Sermon on the Mount. Yes, it has been a long journey (one we started last fall) but an important one. Important, because the Sermon contains within it much of what Jesus wants us to know about life in his Kingdom. If we are saved by Jesus’ death, given life by his resurrection, then it is not hard to see that we are shown how to live by his life. As the smartest man who ever lived Jesus has a thing or two to tell us about how to live life to the fullest. Much of it is found in the Sermon on the Mount.

There is an African proverb that goes something like this: “When you see you neighbors beard on fire start pouring water on your own.”

Also from Africa, we hear the Jewish philosopher Philo say: “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.”

And we hear from Jesus words that communicate something eerily similar:

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” - Luke 6:37-38, NIV