March 13, 2016

Breaking Open the Scripture Scriptures for March 13th: Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4-14; John 12:1-8; Theme: Keep going forward; Song: What Wondrous Love is this UMH 292 Isaiah: During the season of lent, we have talked about what it means to be reconciled with God. We have talked about coming to God’s table to get fed, we have talked about putting old things aside and making everything new. Now it is time to talk about putting it all together. We don’t have to wait until we go to heaven in order to celebrate with God. The messiah came to this world to make it possible for us to celebrate in our lives. We don’t have to wait until everything is perfect to live our lives in Christ, we can start right here and now. In the midst of our pain, our suffering, our sin, our yearning we can start to have hope. Hope is the doorway for the spirit to come in and to make a difference. God is telling us to just keep going forward and to not look back. When we are renewed, we do not need to be nostalgic. Life is not about going back, it is about creating a new future and stepping into it. John: March is the month of celebrating women. It is a time of acknowledging that God uses women, just as much as he uses men. Women were disciples of Jesus also. This is the story of the woman who mourned over Jesus and gave him some expensive perfume to anoint his feet. She showed her deep devotion to her savior. Of course the men felt that all that she was doing was a waste of time. But Jesus saw it as preparing him for the next steps in his journey. There are always people who do not understand devotion and who will think that it is a waste of time. There are always people who do not think it is necessary to sit at the feet of Jesus. There is too much mission work in the world to be done. But we have to do both, first we have to sit with Jesus in order to have the resources to go out in mission. What do you have in your alabaster jar? And how do you give it to Jesus? Questions: What old habits do you need to put aside for Christ? What are the new things that you are willing to replace it with? What new things is Christ doing for you? What about the world? How do you spend your treasure on Christ?