Reflexion, A Spiritual Community

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Luke 2:10 Intro: So here we are again, with the angels...

The Liturgical Calendar is a sequence of seasons, that organizes the year around the life of Jesus. Liturgical seasons Invite us to take our place in the great drama of the Gospel  To take the time to experience God’s love and redemption through Spiritual rhythms and traditions  shared across generations and cultures and faith communities. Practicing the liturgical calendar allows a lot of room fo...

I think you most likely know that I love the Scriptures The more I read them, the more I get from them, - and the deeper I go, the richer my experience • however, the journey is not always pleasant, and ◦ some parts of the Bible are not as easy to digest as others ◦ Hosea is not one of my favorite books • still, there are verses in it that are among my favorites ◦ other than those few, working my...

Years ago, I was engaged in a conversation with two friends In making a point, one of them quoted a famous evangelist, “People change–but not that much” - okay–so I reacted immediately, but kept my mouth shut • this same person stood in front of large crowds, ◦ promising them that Jesus would transform their lives ◦ that in Christ, they would become a new creation • that is the essence of the evan...

Since it has been a couple of weeks, let me remind you . . . The book of Hosea is a love story – but not like a romance novel - it was never meant to entertain • God’s message came to Israel in a graphic illustration, ◦ played out in the life of his prophet • first, God told Hosea to marry a prostitute ◦ the point was to give Israel a living re-enactment of ◦ their history with God – deserting him...

Kelsey Kappauf speaking at Reflexion

 If what I read doesn’t match your Bible, there are two reasons First, I’m reading from Robert Alter’s translation of the Old Testament – so obviously that is different from other standard translations • but another reason is that Alter worked from the Hebrew Bible, ◦ and in that version, chapter 1 has only nine verses ◦ in our English Bibles there are eleven verses in chapter 1 • so those two ver...

Before we began Galatians, I asked for recommendations as to where in scripture to go next A trusted friend suggested we venture through the minor prophets - “minor” because they are relatively short compared to Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel • I hesitated for awhile, then procrastinated, finally hoping to dodge The Dozen prophets at the end of the Hebrew Scriptures • even though the longest of the...

The Galatians were coming to the end of Paul’s letter, And suddenly the handwriting was different – instead of the well-formed characters of a professional scribe, • the printed letters were large and scribbled ◦ this shift was certain to grab their attention ◦ like changing the “font” of a sentence in a document to all upper case or bold print • but why did Paul insist on writing this last bit wi...

Years ago, and in another life, I had a feisty personal assistant Although she is genuinely compassionate, she had a favorite line: “Get over yourself” - I think that held her together through a hard and complicated season of her life • she said it to herself, to he friends, to people who called the church office for help, ◦ and more than once she said it to me–her boss • but she never said it whe...

Paul has chased a serious concern through his entire letter So it is not surprising that near the end, he would present an the ultimate challenge of the Christian life - in verse 16 Paul begins last segment of his central message • what follows in chapter 6 is his concluding remarks and directions - what we have in verses 16-25 is this chunk of scripture that tracks one theme • Paul makes this cle...

 I assume most of us are familiar with The Message Bible One of the more popular versions, and easiest to understand – Eugene Peterson did not set out to write a new translation • beginning in early 1980’s the U.S. economy went into a slump and mortgage interest rates were rapidly climbing ◦ people in his church were feeling the pinch, and reacting in the same way as people in town Peterson, “Para...

If you ever decide to read the Bible all the way through, At some point, you will find yourself struggling to understand it – even if you’ve been a believer for a long time and read it before (or read a kiddie version) • a passage will confuse you, trouble, or just seem wrong ◦ I’m fortunate to have many helpful resources • however, when even those study aids leave me with questions ◦ then I resor...

For the last month or two, I’ve noticed a trend – people are using a “Jesus image” in a variety of video posts • like a famous celebrity, he’s immediately recognizable ◦ there’s the trademark long hair and beard, the robe, and sandals ◦ his image is used to promote an ideal, or to criticize, ridicule, or make fun of something • three observations immediately come to mind: ◦ first, the image is use...

In the first half of this chapter, Paul scolded the Galatians You know how sometimes, as a parent, - when you're very worried about your child–maybe they did not arrive home on time • when they finally show up, your worry turns to anger ◦ if ever our lectures were rougher than they needed to be, ◦ it was because we had agonized over their safety • I think that's a little piece of what is...

Do I need to mention that Paul does not try to hide his frustration with the Galatians? To our ears, his language-- "foolish" and "Who has bewitched you?" sounds offensive - later on he will say, if they’ve truly taken this wrong path, “ You are severed from Christ . . . you have fallen away from grace” (Gal. 5:4) • he doesn’t mince words, because he’s terrified for their sake...

Paul has shared with the Galatians a brief autobiography He completed it with a story about his run-in with Peter - when Peter first came to the Gentile church in Antioch, • he allowed the wall between Jews and Gentiles to collapse ◦ but when rigid and dogmatic believers arrived from Judea, ◦ he broke away from close contact with Gentile believers • how sad, when a person withdraws from generous g...

If you remember from last week, Paul is telling his story Now, at the end of his autobiography he mentions Peter (Cephas) – this is the only record of them ever having a personal encounter • as Paul approaches the primary purpose of his letter • he uses this story to illustrate his central point – the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem recognized the difference between his ministry and Peter’s “th...

Last week we ventured into Paul’s letter to the Galatians Right away we learned that he was not pleased with these Christians - he accused them of deserting Jesus for “another gospel” • but he hasn’t defined that other gospel specifically • that's what he does in the next section of the letter that we will cover today - beginning in verse 11, Paul writes a brief autobiography • he does this b...

I’m going to make this simple, and show you what I see in the introduction to this letter First, there’s something different about the way it begins - in Paul's usual typical greetings he identifies himself, his title, and whoever else is with him • then, he greets and blesses his readers with, “grace and peace” • but in this letter, before he mentions his companions, he takes a detour ◦ he t...

For a few weeks we’ve been bouncing around in Scriptures Next week we’ll settle into something more consistent, - and I’ve chosen to hike through Paul’s letter to the Galatians • but not today– • my talk this morning will be another random meditation - what I will say about this letter, • Paul was not at all pleased with the churches in the region of Galatia ◦ he had introduced them to a life in G...

Pastor Allen was a preacher in Small Town, U.S.A. Relaxing at home one evening he settled into his recliner, pushed his reading glasses up to the bridge of his nose, and reached over to his side-table for something to take his mind off of work. He could have picked up one of the magazines lying there, or a novel with a bookmark where he left off, or if all else failed the TV remote. He accidently...

In May we completed our trek through the Sermon On the Mount Since then, I have not felt a strong direction toward bringing another series - Nancy Lopez, whom I love and trust, • suggested that we go through the Minor Prophets ◦ I’m still mulling that over • meanwhile, I’ve been sharing on Sundays my own random musing from the past week - today I’ve chosen an odd place to drop into the Scriptures...

The way Luke introduces John the Baptist has a familiar ring: “The word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness” (Lk. 3:2) For example: “The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri” or “The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel” - Luke is obviously forging a link between John and previous prophets • Jesus will soon say, John was a prophet “and more...

1 Corinthians 8:1-6   It’s not one of my favorites, but this time something happened - it was like I saw a glint of light sparkle from one of the verses • so I started digging at it ◦ I took my investigation as far as I could, ◦ but when that wasn’t enough, I consulted a biblical scholar • in a few minutes I’ll share with you what I discovered, - but first, we’ll take a brief look at this passage