God Is Love: A Study of the Letters of John

Starting on January 7th, the Tuesday Morning Bible Study will begin to read and discuss 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John.  All are welcome to join at 9:15am at Winter Park Presbyterian Church!

“God is love” declares the author of 1st John.  That is quite a claim, and yet it is a claim wholly reflected in the life of Jesus.  It is a claim wholly reflected in the event of the incarnation – that God so loved the world that Christ, Emmanuel, became flesh and dwelt among us.  It is a claim reflected in every broken person healed, every hungry person fed, every outcast person invited back in, every person loved in ways real and profound by Jesus.

“God is love” is a challenged echoed as Jesus says in the gospel of John, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35, NRSV).   That new commandment is repeated throughout the letter.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.  (1 John 4:16b, NRSV)

“God is love” calls us into new relationship with each other.  We, who are created and sought by a God who is love, cannot (or at least should not!) respond by hating our sisters and brothers, whoever and wherever they are.

Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. (1 John 4:20-21, NRSV).

God is love.   Our relationship with our sisters and brothers and our relationship with God are fully and completely intertwined.  We cannot nurture one without nurturing the other.  That is both good news and a real challenge!  How shall we live, then?

In the next weeks, we will read, listen, and pray as we hear the words of the letters of John to the church.  All are welcome!

Grace and Peace!

Emile

Charcoal, Fish, and Sheep

It's about grace.

Rather, it's a story about running from grace, being nourished by grace, and being sent out to share that grace.

John 21 is a story about grace:  given, unearned, unexpected, transforming, amazing grace.

Read John 21 here:  http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=255257057

The disciples have skipped town.  They have run away from a world that had just gotten too confusing.  In their desperation, they have attempted to go back in time.  They have attempted to wind the clock back to before Jesus came and called them.

It doesn't work.  Jesus won't let them off the hook.  Jesus won't give up on them.

The disciples used to fish.  With the tumult of their last few weeks: the glory of entering Jerusalem, the bitter disappointment of the crowds, the heart-breaking last supper, the anger of the mob, the horror of the crucifixion, and the strange and astounding news of the resurrection, with everything that has happened, who can blame the disciples for wanting to get away from it all?

So, they go fishin'.  They do the nearest thing they can to hiding under a warm blanket.  Life has gotten too complicated for them, and they run off.

The thing is, they are supposed to be doing something else.  They are supposed to be sharing the Good News, the grace of the risen Christ.  Jesus has already called them to "fish for people" (Mark 1:16-20).  They have run away from their calling.

That's when Jesus shows up.

Jesus comes.  He is not angry.  He does not reprimand the disciples for ignoring their calling.  He simply cooks them breakfast.  

Peter, James, and the others have been out all night.  They have not caught a thing.  They are tired and hungry.  They have tried to go back to fishing, but they have failed.  In a very real way, they are lost.

Jesus meets them where they are.  They are tired.  He has a place for them to rest.  They are hungry.  He has food to feed them.

As the disciples drag their boats and their tired bodies back to shore, Jesus meets them with what Paul Galbreath refers to as the "Barbecue on the Beach."*

They all eat.  Jesus meets them in love.

But that's not all.

As Jesus tells Peter - and by extension - all Jesus' disciples, we are nourished that we might go forth and nourish others.  We are fed so that we might feed.

Simon, son of John, do you love me?  Feed my sheep...

Love. Eat. Feed.

  

Welcome to Charcoal, Fish, and Grace!

Welcome to Charcoal, Fish and Grace!

On this blog, I hope to share occasional thoughts about God's grace - and more occasional thoughts about grilling and food!

A (Really Quick) Christmas Pageant - Christmas Eve Family Service

On Christmas Eve at Winter Park Presbyterian Church, we gathered at 4:00pm for a new and bit experimental worship service.  We hoped that some people - of all ages - might be able to come at 4:00pm who couldn't normally come to our 7:00pm worship service.

Though we sang very traditional hymns and shared the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke, we also included elements intended to reach out to young children.  We used glowsticks instead of candles.  We had plenty of crayons, and we had "A Really Quick Christmas Pageant."  The script for that pageant is below, and it starred everyone in worship.  With each bold word, we all made a sound effect or a motion.  For example, the donkey (everyone's hands above head as ears) said "hee-haw."  

An Angel appeared to Mary

“AH!” Said Mary

“A baby,” said the angel.

“God’s servant,”  said Mary.

“To Bethlehem,”  said Caesar Augustus.

She rode a donkey  (“Hee-haw”)

“We’re here!  We’re tired!”  said Mary and Joseph.

“There’s no room in the inn!”  said the innkeeper.

A cow said, “Moo,”

A donkey said, “Hee-haw,” 

A sheep said “Baa,” in the manger.

The baby Jesus said, “Waah,” in the manger.

An angel appeared to shepherds

Watching their sheep.

“AH!” said the shepherds.

“A baby” said the angels.

“Where?” said the shepherds.

“The manger,” said the angels.

A cow said, “Moo,”

A donkey said, “Hee-haw,” 

A sheep said “Baa,” in the manger.

The angels sang,  “Glo—o—o—o—ria, in excelsis Deo!”

The shepherds went to the manger.

A cow said, “Moo,”

A donkey said, “Hee-haw,” 

A sheep said “Baa,” in the manger.

The baby Jesus said, “Waah,” in the manger.

The shepherds sang, “Glo—o—o—o—ria, in excelsis Deo!”

No Longer Jew or Greek, Slave or Free, Male or Female - A Study of Galatians - Tuesdays at 9:15am

Dear Friends,

The Tuesday Morning Bible Study of Winter Park Presbyterian Church is beginning a study of the Letter to the Galatians.  Paul's letter is a moving witness to God's grace.  Within it he confronts the tendency or religious groups to set boundaries, define who is in and who is out, and limit the scope of God's work.  God, of course, cannot be limited by us!  Paul declares that in Christ, God has set us free, free to truly be heirs of God.

The letter is interesting because it offers an additional witness to some of the early conversations, controversies, and even conflicts of the young church.  Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus and the "Council of Jerusalem" as described from a 1st person perspective.  It is fascinating to compare the accounts to those given by Luke in the Acts of the Apostles.  Paul's words stand out as a witness to the power of God's grace.

At points in the letter, Paul does get quite grumpy.  He is truly frustrated that other teachers have come into the Galatian churches to impose their reading of the law onto the believers there.  It makes for an interesting read!

Of the entire letter, though, it is 3:28 which truly grabs my attention, the declaration that "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" is perhaps one of the most earth shaking of the scriptures.  It might also be candidate for the most frequently ignored in the scriptures.  To a church that has frequently asserted racial, ethnic, economic, and gender boundaries either explicitly or implicitly, this is a bold statement, but it is also a wonderful vision of the body of Christ.  Though humans have found many, many ways to divide themselves, God's grace calls us towards unity and love.

As we go through our study, we will also encounter other famous words of Paul.  We will read "It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me." (2:20 NRSV)   We will read of the fruits of the spirit (5:22-23).  We will be commanded to bear one another's burdens (6:2).  Galatians is rich soil for the nurture of our faith!

Come Tuesdays at 9:15am to the Andrew Howell classroom.  All are welcome!!!

Grace and Peace,

Emile

(This Study Concluded on December 17th, 2013.  The next study on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John begins on January 7th.  All are welcome!)