Reflexion, A Spiritual Community

Even in infancy, people discerned that Jesus was extraordinary Simeon, a righteous and devout man, was led by God’s Spirit into temple - there he encountered Mary and Joseph and their baby • taking Jesus into his arms, he prophesied over him - then the elderly widow, Anna–who was herself a prophet, • she also encountered the holy family in the temple And coming up at that very hour she began to gi...

Morning Talk: Jim Calhoun Luke 2:8-19, King James Version This is how I first heard the Christmas story. King James original from Linus van Pelt (from the Peanuts comic strip). I can’t say it makes me sad. It was a fine way to be introduced to Christmas. Later, when I was 11 or 12, I found our family Bible, my grandmother’s Bible and read it for myself. King James again. I loved this story but I d...

The Christmas story is compressed into a few pages in New Testament For instance, no sooner do the birth announcements arrive than the babies are born - first John and then Jesus • in Luke chapter 2 Jesus is born, and by end of the chapter he’s already twelve years old ◦ though the magi are often pictured alongside the shepherds at the stable, ◦ when they actually arrived in Bethlehem, Jesus was a...

A few months ago, my grandson Calum began telling me what he wanted for Christmas Do you remember when it took forever for Christmas to get here? - now it’s like, “Is it that time again already?” • I used to be amused by people who left Christmas lights up all year • now I get it – they’re not lazy, they’re just old - we’re about to complete another lap around the sun • we pull out the old boxes,...

Chapter is not what we’ve come to expect from Jeremiah It is a short piece of autobiography, a personal episode in the life of the prophet Background King Zedekiah was the end of the line for the kings of Israel and Judah And he was in the last full year of his reign Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah, was under siege the army of Babylon was at their gates Meanwhile, Jeremiah was behind bars &qu...

Two weeks ago, I pointed out a shift in Jeremiah’s prophecies Until now, his message was a reminder to Israel of all their failures - they had turned from their God and were rushing downhill • so Jeremiah delivered a message of condemnation, rejection, of doom and gloom • but now a light breaks through the dark passages ◦ there is hope for Israel after all - but if God made it possible for his peo...

Update on NOVI

 A god who never surprises us nor could ever surprise us, a god we could know perfectly well, whose every move we could predict, who has no secrets, so there’s no mystery, no confusion, no missing pieces, is not the God of the Scriptures For my thoughts are not your thoughts,  neither are your ways my ways,  declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth  so are my ways higher tha...

One thing we cannot say about prophecies of Jeremiah We cannot say God was silent –he did not sit back and watch passively,  - as his people destroyed their religion, their nation and themselves  • Jeremiah says God rose early to send all his prophets (Jer. 25:4)  ◦ in the Old Testament, to rise early signifies eagerness, a compelling energy  • God eagerly sent his word to his people  ◦ they would...

 One of the challenges I’ve wrestled with in Jeremiah, Is that it is so distant and unpleasant that it seems irrelevant or offensive - distant, because we are out of sync with that period of time and culture • we don’t share their norms, values, or kinship structures ◦ their geopolitical context was nothing like ours today ◦ their hardships are not our hardships • their language is foreign, their...

We’re going to make two trips to the Pottery Shack this morning The messages God had for his people required illustration - there’s an interesting angle to using pottery to reveal a truth • archaeologists depend on clay pots for vital information regarding ancient cultures ◦ even broken pieces of clay vessels have stories to tell • excavations dig up more clay artifacts than any other object ◦ cla...

My senior year in high school, my best friend surprised me He said, “I don’t think I can justify bringing a child into this world” - that was something I was still looking forward to enjoying, • getting married and some day having children ◦ I knew about war and poverty and race riots and assassinations and environmental pollution • but my outlook was not so bleak as to rule out children - what Go...

The purpose of Yom Kippur was to resolve a problem Israel was the community of God’s people living in a world of impurities – some impurities resulted from contact with natural sources (not sinful) • others resulted from violations of God’s religious and social laws • these impurities affected the entire community, even God’s sanctuary and its furnishings – every year, atonement was made for the p...

To fully appreciate what’s here, we need perspective If we take an aerial view and rise high enough, – we’ll discover in Jeremiah themes and sayings from Deuteronomy • both use the metaphors of a circumcised heart and an iron furnace • both lay great emphasis on God’s covenant with Israel The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the LORD make this covenant, but w...

 There were two times in the gospels when Jesus identified precisely what had to be done in the moment - once, when he told a wealthy man, “you lack one thing” (the man had to liquidate all his assets and follow Jesus) - another time he explained to Martha, “one thing is necessary” • then he defended the one thing Mary had chosen to do - it can be a big relief to narrow down what’s most important...

The first time I visited Shiloh in Israel, I loved it Finally I felt something extraordinary in Israel--like an energy vibrating up through the soil - that was on the path, before we had even reached the site • one strong appeal that Shiloh that appealed to me was that there was nothing there but bare hillsides • but for that same reason, Shiloh was a message of doom for Jerusalem - I knew about S...

 In 1989 Bob Dylan released the song “Everything Is Broken”   - it’s a bluesy song that I love listening to when I feel down but not out • when something that is important to you falls apart, ◦ or a lot of unpleasant things line up in your day, this song fits your mood ◦ lots of people, in different situations can connect with these lyrics • it sometimes seems everything, everywhere is going wrong...

Every year, my dad directed a summer camp in Williams, Arizona So that was our typical family vacation - one year, when all the campers were assembled in the chapel, • Dad began, “There was a murder in the forest last night ◦ he paused to let that sink in • then holding up a carving knife, he said, “This was the weapon” ◦ and “Here is the victim” – and he showed us a twig from an apple tree - he e...

I always been enchanted with the way this chapter opens If you look at the text, God’s speech is arranged in a poetic format - Hebrew poems do not look or sound like English poems • Hebrew poetry has a different structure and rules ◦ in chapter 1, Jeremiah had expressed his thoughts in prose (the ordinary written form of essays, etc.) ◦ but God’s messages were laid out in poems (God's speech...

There are several words in the Bible we don’t understand They pose a problem for us, because they’re common words, - and we assume we know what they mean • that is why we get confused when we come to them ◦ for instance: "name," "fear" ("Am I supposed to be afraid of God?"), "holy," and "sons of" • biblical Hebrew has a small vocabulary ◦ so it has...

The book of Proverbs is a collection of pithy sayings If you read it several times, those clever lines stick in your mind - for instance, here is one that comes to mind regarding this last week: Iron sharpens iron,  so a person sharpens the face of a friend (Pr. 27:17) • you might remember, last year, Guy Gray spoke here ◦ we met up again this past week -- Gut has been my friend for fifty years ◦...

About twenty years ago, Barb attended a seminar at work A psychologist lectured on Compassion Fatigue Syndrome - it is a common condition among healthcare professionals • their encounters with the suffering of others takes a toll ◦ if they are not treated yet continue to work, they can become numb ◦ they stop feeling empathy for their patients’ pain and grief • the speaker provided the audience wi...

Last week, God’s question to Elijah was, “What are you doing here?” We’ll start with that question: “What are you doing here ?” - isn’t one reason that your here is because you came to hear what I have to say? • Okay, I feel uncomfortable when I think that or say that ◦ not only because it’s like I have to give an oral report every week (and feel like I'll be graded on it), ◦ but because I ca...

We’re going to spend time this morning with a unique person Elijah was one of the most gifted prophets in scripture - in fact, he became the representative of all the prophets, • right up to and including John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Lk. 1:17) • Elijah will teach us a lesson on hearing the voice of God