Daily Liturgy and Scripture

It is a great dream to think of Church divisions being a thing of the past. There are so many different ways of worship, it can be difficult to accept the practice of someone whose belief is different from your own. Paul had a similar struggle in his day (several, in fact) and one of those were between Jews and non-Jews. Were Jews special? Were non-Jews part of a new plan from which Jews were now...

Paul is talking to a group of Christians who have done well, but we all need to be reminded that what we do isn’t what counts, it’ s what Christ has already done. The Ephesian Christians on their best day still needed to rely on Jesus to save them, and the same is true of us today.

As we remember Jesus’ earthly father today, we should be thankful for the institution of adoption. God’s plan was to have the Son be part of an earthly family, not some supernatural institution that would be unfamiliar to us. The Son came to be God with us, and he really was fully with us. Just as Joseph adopted the Son of God as his own, so does God the Father adopt us through our faith in his So...

Paul opens the letter to the Ephesians with a strong foundation in Christ: not only that he has redeemed us, but that the plan belongs entirely to God. This takes some of the pressure off us, doesn’t it? We certainly can’t save ourselves, but it goes even further: not only does God want our salvation, God is working it out because God is God.

Paul’s letter to Philemon about his slave Philemon is unique. While it is definitely written to the church (he does mention other people and a house church), he is primarily talking to one person about a slave who has become a Christian, and whom Paul wants to be free to continue as a believer instead of a slave. This is a pretty hefty appeal, not only to release Onesimus from penalties, but to tr...

(sorry I'm late!) Paul has a familiar theme as he closes this letter: bringing the church together. Not only reminding masters in power that they must be fair, but also extending special greetings to specific people and praising the work of several. Can you imagine being present in a small house church, hearing your name read from the letter of Paul? It must have been a great encouragement to thes...

There is a pattern laid out in this section that Paul takes straight from Jesus: submission and love. It’s illustrated in wives, husbands, children, and slaves, but it’s intended also for the body of Christ, just as Jesus demonstrated it with God the Father: we do not seek power over one another, but we submit to one another in love, and we accept one another in love. Jesus was not the slave of th...

Paul wants the fledgeling Colossian church to know that what they do matters, their bodies matter. They weren’t spirits, disembodied from a life on earth. They were a body of Christ, made of bodily people, and so they must embody what his life looks like in their own. The same is true of us.

Paul knows that the Church isn't the only place trying to convince people of a particular world view, there are certainly others. Knowing that, he wants to equip his young believers with the tools to keep their mind focused on Christ and not follow every fad that comes down the road. 

As Paul continues addressing this young church from his prison cell, he continues to bind them to the thing which holds them fast, even in his absence: Jesus. Faith in Christ is the foundation for all things that follow, so Paul reminds them that Christ is in them, and this is the hope of glory. He’s getting to some details for Christian living, but the foundation of this house is pretty critical.

Paul is writing this letter to the church in Colossae, a new church plant when compared to the Philippian church we just finished. He's giving them something pretty valuable in this opening section: a look at Jesus and why he came. What we believe about Jesus remains critical today, which is why we have creeds recited in many churches. Paul is helping them to understand that Jesus was truly from G...

Paul gives a pretty full formula to avoid worry in this passage, mostly from his own life. Being content with what you have, keeping your mind on good things, and finding the peace of God. There is another factor as well: sharing in one another’s troubles. It is one thing to be able to train our own minds not to worry, but it is another to be among people who support and love us, helping us throug...

It is quite a thing to say, “follow my example.” Few would want to put themselves to that kind of scrutiny. Even in doing so, Paul seems to be shedding the things that would make him a hero to follow, including his high status as a Pharisee and an expert in the law. Yet here he is, devoid of accolades, putting himself out front. Of course, he is not there alone. If we are following Jesus, there is...

Paul is certainly living in uncertain times. He is in prison, and his talk of “being poured out like a drink offering” means that he may have also thought he would die there. But God has not left this faithful church without a Shepherd. Paul wants to send both Timothy and Epaphroditus; one is his star pupil, and the other is a Philippian Christian who came to Paul on behalf of them. God brings his...

Life in Christ is about far more than waiting for our time to live forever with him in Heaven, there are things going on here and now. One of those is imitating him, and that means learning submission. Jesus wasn’t a heartless ruler who wanted everyone to bow to him. He modeled for us something very different: by emptying himself, he set an example that was unlike any other before him. By lowering...

We spend a lot of time questioning the motives of ministers, but it seems that Paul didn’t struggle with the same issue. He he says that indeed, some do have the wrong motives. Even in the case of these preachers, Christ is still preached, and that is the most important thing. In a time where people leave a church because they don’t like the music or because they disagree with someone, keeping Chr...

In the letter from Paul to the church in Philippi, Paul starts by greeting them warmly. These were people he knew. It is likely that this letter was written by Paul while he was in prison, so he probably missed his friends all the more. There is definitely a sense of working not only with the church in that prosperous city, but also of working with God, who would complete the work.

Paul finishes his letter by bring together a whole host of names. This wasn’t just to show that he had a lot of friends. The Roman church was not one he had started, but he had friends there. Also, this section of names does a great deal to reinforce Paul’s “none of us are all-stars” idea that pops up in several of his letters. Everyone needs help, and the Church is designed for us to love and ser...

Paul is closing in on the end of the letter, and he is once again bringing together Jew and Gentile. We’ve covered a lot of ground, from the reminder that the Jews are not excluded to the warning that Gentiles are not better believers. Now he puts them into community with one another, showing that both spiritual and material blessings can be shared back and forth. Of course, neither side is only e...

Today starts a season that leads to Easter, and we begin with repentance. Many churches will be observing this with ashes, a reminder of our own mortality. As we approach this season, remembering the sacrifice Jesus made for us, it is a loving response to make a sacrifice of our own. Whether this is part of your faith tradition or not, it is a good practice to keep in mind peace we have with God,...

Just as in the last chapter Paul talked about how Christians are not purely spiritual creatures who need not worry about what's going on around them, in this chapter he reminds them that being followers of Christ does not free them from being law-abiding citizens. Of course, several of the commandments are also no-brainers on both sides (no Christian would kill someone and think it was okay by Jes...

Since Paul opened the letter to the Romans with some pretty weighty spiritual and historical stuff (the Law, salvation, and a healthy dose of theology) now he brings it to street level: the gospel is also bodily, and we are the body of Christ. These things he has been teaching are not to float in space, like ideas that never touch the ground. How we treat one another really matters, and that is wh...

Paul certainly does not wish to make the Gentiles think that God has prestiged them above the Gentiles, as that would be breaking his own covenant. As Paul said before, “not all Israel is Israel.” Not all who are children of Abraham are followers of Christ, and both are needed. Still, Israel is the original promise. It has not gone away, but those outside Israel are included in that enduring promi...

Paul returns to complete a thought from earlier in his letter, about the enfolding of both Jew and Gentile in the new law of Christ. This time, he has put it after a section about salvation belonging to God (yesterday’s reading from Romans 9), so it is worth repeating. Salvation indeed is God’s, but all can accept. He also extends another challenge, to share Christ. How can anyone accept that whic...

Since Paul has talked about our redemption in Christ, he turns now to a problem that must surely have kept him up at night: what about the Jewish people? Didn't they reject Jesus? While they certainly did, Paul does bring a bit of peace into the middle of his discussion. Of course, God is capable of redeeming anyone. And not the entire Jewish world is flatly rejected because of the work of the Jew...