May 17, 2020

Breaking Open the Scripture Scriptures for May 24th: Acts 1:1-11, Psalm 47, Ephesians 1:15-23, Luke 24:44-53; Theme: Ascension Day Acts: Endings are traumatic for us to navigate – whether it is the end of a school year, a career, a life. That must be why we have so many rituals for endings. Endings, without a chance to say good bye are even harder. That is why 2020 is so difficult for so many people. There are so many things that have ended, that we have not been able to have a ritual for. Today is the day that the disciples struggled with having to say goodbye to Jesus. Jesus spent six week preparing them for this day, and it was still hard. Jesus ascends into the clouds to be with God. As they watch him leave this earth, they realize that everything has changed. One of the hardest endings for us, is the end of the way things used to be. Once this pandemic is over we will enter into a world that has changed. Many of us will want to go back to the way things used to be. We can be grateful that Jesus gave us hope, trust and obedience to hold onto as he was taken away. As long as we have those three things, we have what we need to face a new world in the days to come. Luke: Next week is Pentecost Sunday – we can relate to that. But we have a little trouble with the meaning of this Sunday – Ascension Sunday – the day Jesus left earth to be with God while floating in a cloud. Many of us have the notion that heaven is a place far away in the skies. Heaven is a place that we are one with God. Heaven is more of a place in our hearts, not up above the sky. It is the day that we learned to accept that Jesus is not with us, but in us. It took this moment for the disciples to understand all that Jesus was trying to teach them. It took this moment to stop waiting for Jesus to change the world and to claim our own power to change the world ourselves. Ascension is not so much an event as it is realization. As Jesus spoke to them for the last time, he reminded them that they were enough, that they knew enough. It was a moment for the disciple to review all that they had learned, and to do the dreaded task for being able to say good bye. Scripture says that Jesus blessed them. And then they were able to move on and face life with power. Questions: How do you handle endings? What comfort do you need to get through a difficult time? How do we keep the legacy of Jesus alive today? What are you doing to prepare for the power and encouragement of the Holy Spirit?

May 10, 2020

Breaking Open the Scripture Scriptures for May 10th” : Acts 7:55-60, Psalms 31:1-5,15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10, John 14:1-14, Theme: Mother’s Day 1 Peter: As believers we are called to these five things: Hope, holiness, to be frugal, to love one another and to continue to grow in knowledge of God. Peter is giving us a sense of identity. He knows that sometimes knowing who you are can help you to get through difficult situations. Peter is giving us an identity that goes back to being children of God. No matter what our culture of family history, we are royalty in faith because of God. In Peter’s time Christians were going through persecution just because of their faith. Seeing that happen can have an affect on your identity. You can start to think that you deserve that. Peter says that as children of God we do not have to let circumstances or other people define us. We are children of God and deserve the best in all of life. It is our faith that determines our identity. John: Once again John is giving assurance of what it means to be a believer. Jesus tells us to trust in him. Thomas and Phillip say that they want to trust Jesus, but there are so many other voices out in the world, how do you know who to listen to. They seem it does not matter who you listen to, all people say the same thing. We all know that is not true, we know that there are some people in the world who do not have out best interest at heart. So Jesus responds by saying that he is the way the truth and the life. There are no other voices to listen to, we can trust Jesus. If we trust Jesus, then we are able to hear his voice very clearly. If we hear Jesus, then we can know that we have heard the voice of God. Questions: What exactly does it mean to be a child of God? How does having a Christian identity make a difference in your life? Who in your life gave you your identity? How do you know God is speaking to you instead of someone else? Do your follow Jesus as the way or is there someone else more important?