Project 5782 | Day 12

Beware, O Sleeper! [a Lamentation/Intercession]
~ Sabbath Day ~

Scripture Portion

Commentary: Usually for Sabbath, the Scripture portion is more robust than other days. Not today. Today, I have a simple message that is burning with me that I want to share. Today, is short, but oh how I wish it were sweet. However, before we dive into the verse, I want to be clear on something. We need to be care with Scripture! Furthermore, we must remember that Scripture is not open to private interpretation (2 Peter 1.20). Therefore, we must tread carefully when claiming Scripture as “our own” or that everything applies today as though there were not an original audience the Scriptures were written for. On the other hand, however, Scripture is alive and it does mean something for us today (Hebrews 4.12). With all of this in mind, there is a verse that I think does speak directly to our society in America today and many other societies as well. This verse was not written or proclaimed to us directly, but oh is it a witness to the true position of where we are!

Malachi 2.17

¹⁷ “You have wearied the Lord with your words, and you say, ‘How have we wearied Him?’ In your saying, ‘All evildoers are good in the eyes of the Lord, and them He desires,’ or, ‘Where is the God of justice?’”

Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary. N.p.: W. W. Norton & Company: New York, 2019 – Volume 2: Prophets, pg. 1,390

Sacrifice of Our Lips/Praise

Fruit of Our Lips

Liturgical Portion

The summary of the law

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ says:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great
commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your
neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all
the Law and the Prophets. [Matthew 22:37-40t]

The collect for purity

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known,
and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our
hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may
perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer, Anglican Liturgy Press: Huntington Beach, 2019, pg. 106

Prayer

Heavenly Father, you sent your Son among us to proclaim
the kingdom of God in cities, towns, villages, and lonely places.
Behold and visit, we pray, the community of ________.
Renew the bonds of charity that uphold our civic life.
Send us honest and able leaders. Deliver us from poverty, prejudice,
and oppression, that peace may prevail with righteousness, and
justice with mercy. And at the last, bring us to your Holy City,
the new Jerusalem, where we shall know perfect unity and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

from Book of Common Prayer, Anglican Liturgy Press: Huntington Beach, 2019, pgs. 658-659

Homily Series | Installment 2 | “Home”

Holy Scriptures for 26 May 2019

• Acts 16.9-15
• Psalm 67
• Revelation 21.10, 22-22.5
• John 14.23-29

 

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In the Gospel reading this week, we see in John 14.23 – “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.'”

This is indeed the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is, always and at all times, for all people. No matter where you live, your culture, age, gender, etc., Jesus can come and set you free and bring you into his family. He will clean you up and invite you to his table! We see the truth that it’s for all people in the Psalm reading. 67.2-4,

“That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, And govern the nations on earth.” 

Believers, we need to pay attention to the promptings of the Spirit as he leads us. Like we see in the Acts reading, there are times when the Spirit of Christ will tell us no. However, he will tell us where to go from that point. We need to be open to his promptings and also understand that it may not be what we thought. Paul had a vision of a man calling for his help, but when they arrived, who did he help? Lydia.

 

 

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If you do not follow Christ at this point, I encourage you to give it some thought. Will you be like Lydia? Will you have a heart to hear and see God which God will bless? Or will you push the truth away? Jesus loves you! He loves you so much that he literally died to bring you forgiveness and peace and resurrected to give you life in all abundance.

God has always had his eyes upon the whole world. He has always wanted to redeem every and all peoples. How will you respond to his call today? Feeling lost? You can be at home with him!

At the end of time as we are confined to it now, we see him bringing this already true reality in our world! We will dwell together with him. He will be our God and we will be his people.

As Jesus said, he will come with his Father and make their home in us. This is one of the “already and not yet” truths of Christianity. For example, this is absolutely true in my life, right now, but does it feel like it? Not always! How do I know it’s true? Because I can trust the one who says it! In addition, I do see evidence of it as time passes. However, this will be fully consummated and fully known at the end of – beginning of – time.

In Jesus Christ, we are … home!

Blessings.

© Joshua Curtis, 2019

Homily Series | Installment 1 | “Descending Glory”

These posts will probably be a little more in depth, but for this one, short and sweet (at least from my comments). Hope you enjoy. 

 

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Holy Scriptures for 19 May 2019

• Acts 11.1-18
• Psalm 148
• Revelation 21.1-6
• John 13.31-35

 

I have linked the entire passages for each of these on their respective texts. For the purpose of this, I will just show the aspects of the texts that I want to draw your attention to.

As an American Christian, I can say that most mainstream Christianity here is focused on being “saved” in order to go to heaven. Indeed, there is some Scriptural precedence for this and I am not saying it’s absolutely wrong. However, I do believe our focus should be elsewhere.

From the readings this week, this is what stands out to me in terms of what our focus should be, bringing his Kingdom down to earth!

• Acts 11.5-9, 15-17 – ‘“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’”’ & “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”
• Psalm 148 – notice how it is written. It starts high and then goes low. It moves from the heavens to the earth. It goes from broad to be narrow in focus. The entire flow of this Psalm is “a coming down.”
• Revelation 2.2-4 – “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’”
• John 13.33 – “ Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’” – notice that Jesus was not concerned with bringing us with him, but in sending his Spirit down to us!

 

As Christians, we often are going through difficult times and it seems that darkness is pressing in upon us – all around! Often, we say to ourselves, something along the lines of, “I just wish I was with Jesus so he could fix all this!” My sentiments exactly too! What’s the word that sums this up though? Maranatha! Literally, “Come, Lord Jesus.” Not, “Take me, Lord Jesus.” His focus is not about taking us out, but about empowering us to represent him well here and allow “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven!”

Jesus’ focus is bringing Heaven down to earth! He will redeem all of it! There are several other Scriptures that speak to this very thing. May his glory come; like Mt. Sinai, may his glory come!

Another really good book on this topic is Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright.

Again, let our focus not be on escaping, but on conquering! Our time will come, but in the meantime, let us remain faithful and true!

Father, may your kingdom come upon us! For your name’s sake and for your glory. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Blessings.

 

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© Joshua Curtis, 2019