Oct 31st

[Kazimiera Fraley]

It is Tuesday morning an I was wondering what thoughts others had for this week.
I am working with the "All Saints" texts
Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18 Psalm 149 Ephesians 1:11-23 Luke 6:20-31

But there is also the texts for the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost
Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4 or Isaiah 1:10-18 Psalm 119:137-144
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 Luke 19:1-10


I am looking at Luke 6:20-31 - Luke's Beatitudes and Woes ending with "Do to others as you would have them do to you."

I am thinking about looking at the life of a "Saint" and see this passage as descriptive of the life of a saint and then challenge us to live the life of a saint.

The Blessed vs Woes are interesting - Blessed are those who are suffering under an unjust system and Woe to those or perpetuate it - from my margin notes
Saints love those who hate them, pray for those who are actively working against them, bless those who would wish harm on them, hands over more than is demanded of them, and gives to all those who have less than them.

How to do all that w/o out advocating for being doormates, or having the those who are living in abuse to hear they are suppose to just take it.

[Jim Abrams]

On October 31st I'll be going with the text for Reformation Sunday. In addition to working with the following Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 46, Romans 3:19-28 and John 8:19-28. I am also brushing up on my Church History. I think the structure of the sermon will be derived from four key points of the reformation.
1. Grace alone
2. Faith alone
3. Scripture alone
4. The priesthood of believers

At this point in my ministry/education I have similar feelings about church history as I do about the library. See I go to the library in search for information about a specific topic. Most of the time I leave the library with lots of information about other things and nothing about why I went there in the first place.

In my study about the reformation's emphasis on sola scriptura I came across an unsettling paragraph that stated M. Luther purposefully neglected to include several New Testament books because he felt they supported a righteousness by works. Can that really be true?

[Mike Schutz]

I am preaching from Luke 19, continuing my series on forgiveness.

The thesis of this Sunday's message is that the grace of God is communicated as we give grace to one another.

Jesus' grace toward Zacchaeus was a radical, counter-cultural, counter-intuitive grace. Zacchaeus was exactly the kind of scapegoat Jesus could have used as an example of the evil system, if his goal was to ingratiate himself to those in power, OR to those who were not in power and who were cheated by the system. However, Jesus' goal is aligned with kingdom priorities, and he looked at Zacchaeus not as a scapegoat, nor as a symbol. Jesus saw beyond the labels and saw him as a person of worth needing grace and forgiveness. If there is room for Zacchaeus, there is room for everyone.

[Jeffrey Sykes]

What about Francis for someone who loved their enemies without being a doormat? Of course Francis, like many of the saints, was a bit crazy, but I think the church could use a bit more crazy.

--JS

[Gina Stevenson]

What about Francis for someone who loved their enemies without being a doormat? Of course Francis, like many of the saints, was a bit crazy, but I think the church could use a bit more crazy.

--JS

Hey, Ryan! Praying for your "crazy" brother Jeffrey, or are you not used to there being three buttons on any one post [first time I saw/noticed it was here on this post!], and tho't you were just "thanking" him? ;)

[Jim Chabot]

On October 31st I'll be going with the text for Reformation Sunday. In addition to working with the following Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 46, Romans 3:19-28 and John 8:19-28. I am also brushing up on my Church History. I think the structure of the sermon will be derived from four key points of the reformation.
1. Grace alone
2. Faith alone
3. Scripture alone
4. The priesthood of believers

At this point in my ministry/education I have similar feelings about church history as I do about the library. See I go to the library in search for information about a specific topic. Most of the time I leave the library with lots of information about other things and nothing about why I went there in the first place.

In my study about the reformation's emphasis on sola scriptura I came across an unsettling paragraph that stated M. Luther purposefully neglected to include several New Testament books because he felt they supported a righteousness by works. Can that really be true?

Luther chafed at the book of James because he felt that it contradicted Paul's teaching "Sola Fide" He dismissed it as "a right strawy epistle". I don't think that he outright rejected it as non-canonical, he did want Paul's letters to appear first however.

[Shea Zellweger]

"a right strawy epistle".

don't you mean strawry?

[Jim Chabot]

don't you mean strawry?

Well no, I didn't, but I can see now that there are alternate spellings.

You do know what Andrew Jackson had to say about spelling?