June 23, 2019

Breaking Open the Scripture Scriptures for June 23rd: 1 Kings 19:1-15; Psalm 42; Galations 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39 1 Kings: I think that is one of the most important messages of the bible. When God “speaks” to Elijah through the silence. Elijah is afraid for his life and he runs. But he also asks for God to save him, so he is desparately seeking God. But he is looking for God in all of the wrong places – he is looking for God in the loud noises of life, in the exciting times, in the obvious. It is not until he is able to calm down inside that he finally realizes that God has been speaking all along. He just has not been listening. God does not save him or remove him from the threat, he tells him to go back into it and face it and deal with it. But this time Elijah knows that he does not have to run, because God is with him. Galatians: Paul talks about what life is like in the flesh and in the spirit. He says that life is different once we give our life to Christ because God helps us with our faith. Paul also stresses that gentiles who have Christ in their life are spiritually on the same level as people who have been Jewish all of their life. We become a part of God’s family when we put our faith in Christ. Even though we have different experiences, we become children of Abraham. What kind of world would it be if we treated all people as equal, even though they were different. Would that effect how we live our life? who we talk to? Who we sit next to? That is the world that Christ set out to create. Questions: What events cause you to talk to God? How do you pray? Do you pray when there is a lot going on? Or do you need a quiet space to a talk with God? Do you trust what God has to say to you? What does it mean to be equal and fair? How do you actively address the inequality of the world?