August 15, 2014. The Bible readings Some comments on todays readings, which are 1 Samuel 5-6; Romans 5: Jeremiah 43; Psalms 19. Read and be blessed. Today is the Feast Day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the patron saint of the Acadians, and is their national day. We bless the Acadians and their celebrations today, and thank God that we share this area with them. In 1 Samuel 4 is the account of the ark of the covenant of the Lord being captured by the Philistines. However its capture was not a blessing for the Philistines, as initially they put it in the temple of Dagon next to its statue, and during the next two nights, Dagon fell over, with the second fall demolishing the idol. Then an outbreak of tumors occurred, which the leaders recognized as from God, so the ark was moved to Gath, and then Ekron, with similar results, accompanied by “heavy confusion.”(5:9,11) It is interesting that when the Philistines decided to send the ark back to Israel,(chapter 6) they knew to send guilt offering with it, and they also were aware of God’s treatment of the Egyptians. (v6) It is amazing that in view of the history of the ark, some of the Israelites took advantage of its presence to look into it, for which, they were struck death. Their curiosity was stronger than their awe. As we as a congregation and community of believers seek God’s Presence, we must always treat His Presence with honour and respect. I frequently pick up Leonard Sweet’s Out of the Question: Into the Mystery and read a few pages. Sweet, a brilliant Christian thinker and writer is a favourite authour of mine and I find him very stimulating as well as informative. Today I came across a few lines on Bible stories: “I now realize that my best theological education in Sunday School was what I used to think was my worst: The chalkboard, the flannelgraph, the skits and bathrobe dramas. For it was here that I learned God’s stories. The Christian life is the sum of relationships with stored up God stories, not the accumulation of verses or the dutiful checking off of biblical ordinances,. For the Christian, dogma is story, not proposition. This is important, because a story is ongoing, affecting your life constantly, shaping and guiding and enlightening you. The GodLife is a story yet unfinished, a story God has framed but that we are invited to have a hand in colouring. In order for us to keep Jesus’s words in our hearts, as he directed, we much not only know his words - we must not only know his words – we must also be able to tell his stories. We sing songs to help us tell the story and use biblical references to help us remember the story. Memory is not just a function of the brain, it’s a function of the whole body. Remembering involves all our senses, including our physical senses and our social senses.” (p78) Include this quote to encourage you to read the stories and remember them, even if there is no apparent theology or significant verses to memorize. This is the big contrast between 1 Samuel 5 and Romans 5, which has so many statements that are profound and should be studied. My only comment on it is that above the first verse, I have written “Twin Blessings of the gospel”. I leave you to figure that out. But also wrote under that - “peace is joy resting, joy is peace dancing.” Now that is profound and I didn’t note where I got it from. I am quite sure that it was not original with me. Also note the 3 places where the word ‘exult” is used.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 01:28:40 +0000
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