Being Open

The passage we looked at was from Luke 11:29-32.  It talked about how that generation demanded a sign and the only sign it would get would be the sign of Jonah.

We decided to focus in on Jonah and take it back to the old testament and get a fresh look at the story.  While we didn't spend a huge amount of time dissecting the whole book of Jonah nor the passage in Luke, we did harp on one central theme: being open.

The story of Jonah begins with this:

"The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me."  But Jonah ran away from the LORD.."  -Jonah 1:1-3

God made it clear to Jonah exactly what he wanted him to do.  But Jonah ran away from God.  He was not open to what God had for him.  And if you continue reading the story Jonah was not open to the Ninevites either.  After the city of Nineveh repents and turns towards God, thus saving themselves from God's wrath, Jonah is angry at God's compassion for the Ninevites.  Jonah was not open to others (non-Jews) from receiving love, forgiveness, and compassion from God.

(Note: The Ninevites were Assyrians.  They were the same people that mixed with the Jews and created what we now know as the Samaritans.  We're all familiar with the hatred between Jews and Samaritans.  The last blog post, Reciprocity, kind of spells it out a bit.  Just trying to make connection between the two.)

Anyways, what we chose to focus on was his unwillingness to be open to God and to others.  We read a passage from a book that discussed the importance of being open to God working in our lives.

At the end we were challenged to:

• Open up your mind and your heart.
• Put aside your strong expectations.
• Lay down the arms of your inner violence.
• Give up your set ideas.
• Turn away from your winter worries.
• Let go of your oppressive fears.
• Be willing to be insecure for a while.
• Allow surprise to take over your heart.

The challenge now is how do we take this message of being open and keep it at the forefront of our minds.  How can we be challenged daily to be open?  One way for sure is for each of us to "go there", ask the hard questions, and to not settle for surface level friendships/conversations.

Reciprocity

This is a recap, and definitely a little more, of what we talked about at Bible Study on 3/17/10.  The passage was Luke 10:25-37:

The main point of this story growing up has always been about how to be like the Good Samaritan.  With our task being to try to live a more compassionate life and extending mercy to those in need.  There are obviously more things you can draw out from this passage, but for the most part this is the main message that is communicated.

I think the fact that the focal point of the story is an interaction between a Jew and a Samaritan can’t be overlooked.  We know from Sunday school and from sermons that there was hostility between the two but it’s not something that truly resonates with us.  Here are a few real life examples that I wrote down that help me (and hopefully you too) put it into perspective:

• Native Americans (oppressed) and early European colonialists (oppressors)
• Jews (oppressed) and Nazis (oppressors)
• African slaves (oppressed) and White slave owners (oppressors)
• Undocumented immigrants (oppressed) and “Americans" (oppressors)

You could take any of those instances and plug them into the story and it gives the same effect.  For example, if Jesus was living in Nazi Germany and was talking to an audience of Nazis and explained that it was a Jew who was the neighbor to the wounded Nazi on the side of the road imagine the uproar.  It most definitely would not be a footnote.  Or if Jesus lived during the time when there was slavery in America.  Imagine Jesus telling this story to a bunch of White slave owning southerners and it was an African slave (who to them was 3/5 of a person at best) who was the neighbor to the wounded white slave owner imagine the uproar. Again, it would definitely not be a footnote.

Luke doesn't necessarily capture the scene that I'm almost certain ensued but that shouldn't take away from the fact that it is central to the story.

Last night I suggested that the story of the Good Samaritan is all about Reconciliation.  Not just racial reconciliation as it might come off, but Reconciliation.  Reconciliation is not just about race.  Though race is a huge part of it, the Reconciliation that God calls us to be about includes every system in the human world (socioeconomic, family, gender, etc.).

The Gospel simply doesn't reconcile us to God but it also reconciles us to others.  That's why this story is to key.  Two people, polar opposites, and the neighbor (the oppressed one) helps the wounded man (oppressor) and they are reconciled to one another.

I really hope that doesn't come off as harsh.  We are no where near that point.  I just happened to use extreme examples (Jews and Nazis for example) to drive my point home.

Maybe you know the feeling of getting home from a mission trip, service project, or something like that and we have this overwhelming feeling like we've been the ones changed.  Showing that in more cases then we want to admit, we need these kind of relationships that are living giving both ways (reciprocal relationships).

Examining our own lives, where are situations where we can let others love, encourage, and teach us?  Especially from people we would least likely expect to receive love, encouragement, and learn from.  Like Kyle said, we're almost taught to have this Christian mindset where we need to be going out and sharing our faith and living out the Gospel to be a light to others.  But what if being in that mindset causes us to not see our need for others.  Maybe we need someone who fits that 'Good Samaritan' mold in our lives and are incomplete and lacking when we don't allow those kind of reciprocal relationships to form.

Let us pray that God would give us the eyes to see and the heart to receive love and encouragement from co-workers, non-believers, those on the margins of society, and those who we would least likely expect.  And pray that God would reveal to us our need to cross all barriers for the Gospel.

Lord, Teach Us How To Pray

Luke 11:1-13

There are so many times that I go to the Lord in prayer and for some reason I am just unable to find the right words. Almost always, my prayers start off with something similar to “Lord, please help me with this situation, God please help me to do this or that.” Examining my prayer life has led me to ask the question, what does the inward focus of my prayer life say about who I am? There are plenty examples in the gospels of how Jesus prayed, is my prayer life reflective of that of Jesus?

In Luke 11, the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray. This request comes after they not only watched Jesus pray before his encounter with Satan where he was continually tempted, but also where Jesus had just recently withdrew himself to pray. Imagine the awesomeness of having a front row seat and being able to watch Jesus pray! It is obvious this experience had a profound affect on his disciples’. There is now wonder their response was to ask Jesus not to teach them how to teach, nor how to preach, but to pray.

Prayer, at its most elementary definition, is simply having a conversation with God. Prayer is simple enough for a child but challenging enough for even the mightiest of men.

Like the disciples, I invite us to also ask the same request of Jesus: Lord, teach us to pray. Ecclesiastes 5:2 says, God is in heaven, and you are on earth; therefore let your words be few. It is my opinion that Jesus does not expect a long narrative or tiresome effort when we come to him in prayer. I believe He wants us to have a conversation with Him.

As you ask Jesus to teach you to pray, please share your prayer with this Fellowship of Believers. May it be a blessing to us all!

In Him,

JS

Role Reversal

Luke 10:25-37

Before we dive deep into a familiar passage, I want us to try to think hard about how we read this passage.  To help guide our thinking, think about which character we typically associate ourselves with and what are the implications of us portraying ourselves as that character?

Without giving too much away (maybe the post title will give it away a bit),  I want to challenge us all (as I have been challenged recently) to rethink this passage.  Instead of going into it with the notion that we've figured it all out, we know our role, and we know what 'being a neighbor' is all about.. I want to challenge us to all to have an open mind and to allow God to speak some new truths to us.

If those first two questions don't make sense let me know.  I just wanted to get something on here to get us thinking.

Hebrews 10:24-25

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching. -Hebrews 10:24-25