September 11, 2011

Scriptures for September 11th : Exodus 14:19-31; Exodus 15:1-11, 20-21; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35; Theme: How we treat one another as a church; UMH 560 – Help us Accept Each Other

Exodus: This text is about the departure in the Red Sea. This is an important text no matter what our faith. Because if God can do this for the Isrealites, then God can do it for us. God does it for us ever day. God sets us free from our burdens, God prepares a way in the midst of no way. This is the moment where the great I am proves to be more than the God of the ancestors. This is the God who is in charge of the wind, the sea, the heavens and everything in between. This is the God who will use all of that and more to give us freedom and salvation. This is a week for remembering that God is a God of the Christians, Jews and Muslims. If that is so, then as people of faith, we have to love and live with all kinds. In the name of Gods love.

Romans: We are still reading text that tell us how we should treat one another in the church. And Paul says that we should treat everyone with mutual respect. The church is not a group of like minded people, the church is a group of faith minded people. We don’t always think alike. We don’t always agree on the same things. And Paul is saying that is okay. We need to be careful in how we judge people to be wrong. Only God was that power. We have to leave everything up to God. Our task is to figure out how to put differences aside and live as one body of Christ. Carrying on the mission in spite of ourselves.

Questions: How does God continue to lead us out of bondage today? Who are the leaders that God sends to lead us out of bondage? How do we become a people of faith that honors all of those in the God family? How do you treat others who seem to live their faith differently than you? Where do you draw the line on who follows God in the right way? Who or what is the judge of the right way to be faithful?