The People Closest to Us in the Community of Faith 052513

English: Faith Presbyterian Community (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This blog comes to you from the people at Peace Mennonite Church of

Columbia, MO

www.peacemennonitechurch.net

Today’s Scriptures Click the following links to read today’s scriptures or scroll to the
very bottom of this blog post for those scriptures also. Lectionary Scriptures for the day selected by http://www.commontexts.org/

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20104:24-34,%2035b%20&version=MSG

Isaiah 44:1-4 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2044:1-4&version=MSG

Galatians 6:7-10 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%206:7-10&version=MSG

The People Closest to Us in the Community of Faith 052513

Galatians 6:10 speaks to us today of ‘let us work for the benefit of all,
starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.’

Sometimes a community of faith becomes self-serving, and a good excuse for a
potluck dinner and needs to reach out to enclose more of humanity, especially those in need.

But the other side to this is the idea from Galatians—that first we should reach out to those closest to us in the community of faith, as
if we need to keep strong this community first, and keep it safe.

Pray for peace,

Pastor Bill

Prayer

List: Peace Mennonite Church keeps a prayer list for those in need. If you need prayer, or
want to e-mail our pastor, e-mail billd @ peacemennonitechurch.net

(Take out the extra spaces to use this e-mail—the spaces confuse spam generators).

Pray with us!

We are praying as a church, and attempting to follow the centuries’
old tradition of praying with other Christians three times a day. We
are following the prayer liturgy at www.commonprayer.net

Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Peace Mennonite Church of

Columbia, MO Permission is granted for one-time non-commercial use

with proper attribution.

Subscribe to our blog!

Delivery daily by e-mail.

Click the button on the right.

Psalm 104:24-35

The Message (MSG)

24-30 What a wildly wonderful
world, God!
You made it all, with Wisdom
at your side,
made earth overflow with
your wonderful creations.
Oh, look—the deep, wide
sea,
brimming with fish past
counting,
sardines and sharks and
salmon.
Ships plow those waters,
and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them.
All the creatures look expectantly to you
to give them their meals on time.
You come, and they gather around;
you open your hand and they eat from it.
If you turned your back,
they’d die in a minute—
Take back your Spirit and they die,
revert to original mud;
Send out your Spirit and they spring to
life—
the whole countryside in bloom and
blossom.

31-32 The glory of God—let it
last forever!    Let God enjoy his
creation!
He takes one look at earth and triggers an
earthquake,
points a finger at the mountains, and volcanoes erupt.

33-35 Oh, let me sing to God all my
life long,
sing hymns to my God as long as
I live!
Oh, let my song please him;
I’m so pleased to be singing to God.
But clear the ground of sinners—
no more godless men and women!

O my soul, bless God!

Isaiah 44:1-5

The Message (MSG)

Proud to Be Called Israel

44 1-5 “But for now, dear servant Jacob,
listen—    yes, you, Israel, my personal
choice.
God who made you has something to say to you;
the God who formed you in the womb wants to help you.
Don’t be afraid, dear servant Jacob,
Jeshurun, the one I chose.
For I will pour water on the thirsty ground
and send streams coursing through the parched earth.
I will pour my Spirit into your descendants
and my blessing on your children.
They shall sprout like grass on the

prairie,   like willows alongside
creeks. This one will say, ‘I am God’s,’
and another will go by the name Jacob;
That one will write on his hand
‘God’s property’—    and be proud to
be called Israel.”

Galatians 6:7-10

The Message (MSG)

7-8 Don’t be misled: No one
makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The
person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring
God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his
life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting
God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real
life, eternal life.

9-10 So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will
harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now,
therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit
of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of
faith.

Related articles

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• 25 May 2005: Prayer of thanksgiving to the Lord (ratzingerganswein.wordpress.com)
• Prayers offered for Woolwich victim (standard.co.uk)
• How Do You Pray When Overwhelmed? (callforfireseminar.wordpress.com)
• To Poeticize or Propositionalize: Where is the Truth? (mockingloves.wordpress.com)
• Legalism. Worldliness. Holiness. (shelterfromthestorms.wordpress.com)
• Prayers offered for Woolwich victim (belfasttelegraph.co.uk)
• Does Oklahoma Natural Disaster Prove There Is No God? Ask Job (aworldchaos.wordpress.com)
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Enough for a Day? 052313

Icon of the Pentecost (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

This
blog comes to you from the people at Peace Mennonite Church of
Columbia, MO

 

www.peacemennonitechurch.net

 

 

Today’s
Scriptures Click
the following links to read today’s scriptures or scroll to the
very bottom of this blog post for those scriptures also. Lectionary
Scriptures for the day selected by http://www.commontexts.org/

 

Psalm
104:24-34, 35b
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20104:24-34,%2035b&version=MSG

 

Isaiah
32:11-17
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2032:11-17%20&version=MSG

 

Galatians
5:16-25
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%205:16-25&version=MSG

 

 

 

Enough
for a Day? 052313

 

 

If
you have been faithfully reading these Bible verses each, this may
have occurred to you already. It may have come to you that although
the Bible verses are ‘sufficient unto the day’, when you read the
Bible day to dau it sometimes seems overwhelming.

 

 

In
a way, I take daily refuge in the Psalms, because they are poetry and
carry a deep daily beauty. I need the daily Psalm many days just to
be able to read and consider the gospel verses and the Old Testament
verses.

 

 

But
the gospel is the gospel, we might say. The gospel is, after all, the
good news, and that’s cause for the most jubilant of celebrations.
Still, it fills me with a sense of dread.

 

 

I
have to carefully consider what I’m feeling here, and even more
careful about whether this dread might cause me to ignore the gospel
message. I don’t know how to do that by the way. How do you once
listen to Jesus and then quit listening to Jesus?

 

 

The
feeling of dread I’m feeling at reading the gospel is the shock of
seeing it speak so perfectly to the world as it now is. It seems
we’ve lost the Holy Spirit somewhere, and we’re living exactly the
opposite of what the gospels gently ask of us. I can’t look at the
greed, the violence, the hatred that guides the world, and when we
see goodness and charity they are the margin of modern life. Even
worse, the disappearance of spirituality from common life leaves us
in a darkness, a darkness more dark than the dark ages of humanity,
if we begin to see it. It’s ironic, but a life built upon money and
wealth becomes bankrupt and empty.

 

 

Pray
for peace,

 

Pastor
Bill

 

 

 

Prayer List:
Peace Mennonite Church keeps a prayer list for those in need. If you
need prayer, or want to e-mail our pastor, e-mail billd
@ peacemennonitechurch.net
(Take out the extra spaces to use this e-mail—the spaces confuse
spam generators).

 

Pray
with us!

 

We
are praying as a church, and attempting to follow the centuries’
old tradition of praying with other Christians three times a day. We
are following the prayer liturgy at www.commonprayer.net

 

Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Peace Mennonite Church of
Columbia, MO Permission is granted for one-time non-commercial use
with proper attribution.

 

 

Subscribe
to our blog!
Delivery
daily by e-mail.
Click
the button on the right.

 

Psalm 104:24-35

 

The Message (MSG)

 

24-30 What a wildly wonderful
world, God!
You made it all, with Wisdom
at your side,
made earth overflow with
your wonderful creations.
Oh, look—the deep, wide
sea,
brimming with fish past
counting,
sardines and sharks and
salmon.
Ships plow those waters,
and
Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them.
All the creatures look
expectantly to you
to give them their
meals on time.
You come, and they gather around;
you
open your hand and they eat from it.
If you turned your
back,
they’d die in a minute—
Take
back your Spirit and they die,
revert to
original mud;
Send out your Spirit and they spring to
life—
the whole countryside in bloom and
blossom.

 

31-32 The glory of God—let it
last forever!
Let God enjoy his
creation!
He takes one look at earth and triggers an
earthquake,
points a finger at the
mountains, and volcanoes erupt.

 

33-35 Oh, let me sing to God all my
life long,
sing hymns to my God as long as
I live!
Oh, let my song please him;
I’m
so pleased to be singing to God.
But clear the ground of
sinners—
no more godless men and women!

 

O my soul, bless God!

 

Isaiah 32:11-20

 

The Message (MSG)

 

9-14 Take your stand, indolent
women!
Listen to me!
Indulgent,
indolent women,
listen closely to what I
have to say.
In just a little over a year from now,
you’ll
be shaken out of your lazy lives.
The grape harvest will
fail,
and there’ll be no fruit on the
trees.
Oh tremble, you indolent women.
Get
serious, you pampered dolls!
Strip down and discard your silk
fineries.
Put on funeral clothes.
Shed
honest tears for the lost harvest,
the
failed vintage.
Weep for my people’s gardens and farms
that
grow nothing but thistles and thornbushes.
Cry tears, real tears,
for the happy homes no longer happy,
the
merry city no longer merry.
The royal palace is deserted,
the
bustling city quiet as a morgue,
The emptied parks and
playgrounds
taken over by wild
animals,
delighted with their new home.

 

15-20 Yes, weep and grieve until
the Spirit is poured
down on us from
above
And the badlands desert grows crops
and
the fertile fields become forests.
Justice will move into the
badlands desert.
Right will build a home
in the fertile field.
And where there’s Right, there’ll be
Peace
and the progeny of Right: quiet
lives and endless trust.
My people will live in a peaceful
neighborhood—
in safe houses, in quiet
gardens.
The forest of your pride will be clear-cut,
the
city showing off your power leveled.
But you will enjoy a blessed
life,
planting well-watered fields and
gardens,
with your farm animals grazing
freely.

 

Galatians 5:16-26

 

The Message (MSG)

 

16-18 My counsel is this: Live
freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t
feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful
self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the
free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life
are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at
times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why
don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic
compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

 

19-21 It is obvious what kind of
life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time:
repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental
and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness;
trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat
competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal
temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided
lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of
depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and
uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.

 

This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you
use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.

 

22-23 But what happens when we
live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way
that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others,
exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick
with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction
that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves
involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life,
able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

 

23-24 Legalism is helpless in
bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong
to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and
mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is
killed off for good—crucified.

 

25-26 Since this is the kind of
life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we
do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our
hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.
That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of
us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things
to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

 

Related articles

• Pentecost (learningwithlittlesaints.wordpress.com)
• Pentecost to Passion Prayer Plan (evangelize4life.org)
• Baptized into the Faith of the Church (vox-nova.com)
• Happy Pentecost! (gaudetetheology.wordpress.com)
• What are You Celebrating this Sunday? (tamimyer.wordpress.com)
• Elijah Was A Man Like Us (evangelize4life.org)
• A prayer for Pentecost (wonderingpreacher.wordpress.com)
• …that through this belief you may have life in his name (friarmusings.wordpress.com)
• Power of Pentecost (poetdoug.wordpress.com)

Jesus, the Prophet 052213

The front side of folios 13 and 14 of a Greek papyrus manuscript of the Gospel of Luke containing verses 11:50–12:12 and 13:6-24, P. Chester Beatty I (Gregory-Aland no. P 45 ). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

This blog comes to you from the people at Peace Mennonite Church of Columbia, MO

 

 

 

 

 

www.peacemennonitechurch.net

 

 

 

Today’s

Scriptures Click

the following links to read today’s scriptures or scroll to the

very bottom of this blog post for those scriptures also. Lectionary

Scriptures for the day selected by http://www.commontexts.org/

 

 

 

Psalm

29

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2029&version=MSG

 

 

 

Ezekiel

3:12-21

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%203:12-21&version=MSG

 

 

 

Luke

9:18-27

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%209:18-27&version=MSG

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus, the Prophet 052213

 

 

In Luke 9, when Jesus asks whom the people say he is, he is told they

think he is “John the Baptizer. Others say Elijah. Still others say that one of the

prophets from long ago has come back.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

The story reveals that Jesus, the people, or both believed him to be a

prophet. The question then arises as to what a prophet is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rather than think a prophet is one who predicts truthfully, could a prophet

be one who speaks truthfully about the PRESENT? It’s a scary proposition, but when Jesus talks about, criticizes and names the

Pharisees, the Sadducees, and everyone else in power during his

preaching, couldn’t he also be talking about our own time and place,

and really, all of humanity before and since his lifetime here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And may I never be so prideful, that Jesus doesn’t know me also, and tell

the truth about me. But it doesn’t matter—there is both

psychological and spiritual forgiveness in moving forward with Jesus,

and never moving back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pray for peace,

 

 

 

Pastor Bill

 

 

 

Prayer List:

Peace Mennonite Church keeps a prayer list for those in need. If you

need prayer, or want to e-mail our pastor, e-mail billd

@ peacemennonitechurch.net

(Take out the extra spaces to use this e-mail—the spaces confuse

spam generators).

 

 

 

Pray with us!

 

 

 

We are praying as a church, and attempting to follow the centuries’

old tradition of praying with other Christians three times a day. We

are following the prayer liturgy at www.commonprayer.net

 

 

 

Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Peace Mennonite Church of

Columbia, MO Permission is granted for one-time non-commercial use

with proper attribution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subscribe to our blog!

Delivery daily by e-mail.

Click the button on the right.

 

 

 

Psalm 29

 

 

 

The Message (MSG)

 

 

 

A David Psalm

 

 

 

29 1-2 Bravo, God, bravo!
Gods

and all angels shout, “Encore!”
In awe before the

glory,
in awe before God’s visible

power.
Stand at attention!
Dress your

best to honor him!

 

 

 

3 God thunders across the

waters,
Brilliant, his voice and his face, streaming

brightness—
God, across the flood waters.

 

 

 

4 God’s thunder tympanic,
God’s

thunder symphonic.

 

 

 

5 God’s thunder smashes

cedars,
God topples the northern cedars.

 

 

 

6 The mountain ranges skip like

spring colts,
The high ridges jump like wild kid goats.

 

 

 

7-8 God’s thunder spits fire.
God

thunders, the wilderness quakes;
He makes the desert of Kadesh

shake.

 

 

 

9 God’s thunder sets the oak

trees dancing
A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips

their branches.
We fall to our knees—we call out, “Glory!”

 

 

 

10 Above the floodwaters is God’s

throne
from which his power

flows,
from which he rules the world.

 

 

 

11 God makes his people strong.
God

gives his people peace.

 

 

 

Ezekiel 3:12-21

 

 

 

The Message (MSG)

 

 

 

12-13 Then the Spirit picked me up.

Behind me I heard a great commotion—“Blessed be the Glory of God

in his Sanctuary!”—the wings of the living creatures beating

against each other, the whirling wheels, the rumble of a great

earthquake.

 

 

 

14-15 The Spirit lifted me and took

me away. I went bitterly and angrily. I didn’t want to go. But God

had me in his grip. I arrived among the exiles who lived near the

Kebar River at Tel Aviv. I came to where they were living and sat

there for seven days, appalled.

 

 

 

16 At the end of the seven days, I

received this Message from God:

 

 

 

17-19 “Son of man, I’ve made

you a watchman for the family of Israel. Whenever you hear me say

something, warn them for me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You are going

to die,’ and you don’t sound the alarm warning them that it’s a

matter of life or death, they will die and it will be your fault.

I’ll hold you responsible. But if you warn the wicked and they keep

right on sinning anyway, they’ll most certainly die for their sin,

but you won’t die. You’ll have saved your life.

 

 

 

20-21 “And

if the righteous turn back from living righteously and take up with

evil when I step in and put them in a hard place, they’ll die. If

you haven’t warned them, they’ll die because of their sins, and

none of the right things they’ve done will count for anything—and

I’ll hold you responsible. But if you warn these righteous people

not to sin and they listen to you, they’ll live because they took

the warning—and again, you’ll have saved your life.”

 

 

 

Luke 9:18-27

 

 

 

The Message (MSG)

 

 

 

Don’t Run from

Suffering

 

 

 

18 One time when Jesus was off praying by himself, his

disciples nearby, he asked them, “What are the crowds saying about

me, about who I am?”

 

 

 

19 They said, “John the

Baptizer. Others say Elijah. Still others say that one of the

prophets from long ago has come back.”

 

 

 

20-21 He then asked, “And

you—what are you saying about me? Who am I?”

 

 

 

Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.” Jesus then warned them

to keep it quiet. They were to tell no one what Peter had said.

 

 

 

22 He went on, “It is necessary

that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and

found guilty by the religious leaders, high priests, and religion

scholars, be killed, and on the third day be raised up alive.”

 

 

 

23-27 Then he told them what they

could expect for themselves: “Anyone who intends to come with me

has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat—I am. Don’t

run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how.

Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my

way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to

get everything you want and lose you, the real you? If any of you is

embarrassed with me and the way I’m leading you, know that the Son

of Man will be far more embarrassed with you when he arrives in all

his splendor in company with the Father and the holy angels. This

isn’t, you realize, pie in the sky by and by. Some who have taken

their stand right here are going to see it happen, see with their own

eyes the kingdom of God.”

 

 

 

 

Related articles

 

• He Has Ascended! 050913 (mennonitepreacher.wordpress.com)

 

It’s Easy to be Spiritual in the Spring 051713

A picture about the spring. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

A Wild Cherry in flower. Français : Un Merisier en fleurs. Ελληνικά: Ανθισμένη αγριοκερασιά. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

It’s Easy to be Spiritual in the Spring 051713

 

Garden with some tulips and narcissus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

 

 

This blog comes to you from the people at Peace Mennonite Church of

Columbia, MO

 

 

 

www.peacemennonitechurch.net

 

 

 

Today’s Scriptures Click the following links to read today’s scriptures or scroll to the very bottom of this blog post for those scriptures also. Lectionary Scriptures for the day selected by http://www.commontexts.org/

 

 

 

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%20104:24-34,%2035b&version=MSG

 

 

 

Isaiah 44:1-4 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2044:1-4&version=MSG

 

 

 

Galatians 6:7-10 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians%206:7-10&version=MSG

 

 

 

 

 

It’s Easy to be Spiritual in the Spring 051713

 

 

 

 

 

 

Psalm 104 begins to lead us into a spiritual springtime. Verses 30-32 say:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Send out your Spirit and they spring to life—
the whole countryside in bloom and blossom.

 

 

 

31-32 Theglory of God—let it last forever!
Let God enjoy his creation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isaiah 44 continues:

ForI will pour water on the thirsty ground
and send streams coursing through the parched earth.

 

 

 

Just yesterday, I bicycled on a bike trail that paralleled the Missouri River, full and

very fast for such a big river. On one side of me was the river, but
on the other side was farms, woodlands, prairie grasses and
wildflowers.

 

 

 

It’s easy to be spiritual with all this to live within, to be a part of….it’s easier to be
filled with God when the earth and skies are filled with God.

 

 

 

And Galatians completes the day’s Bible readings:

 

 

 

But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the
growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

 

 

 

Pray for peace in the garden God has provided, and pray for the environment, which suffers
deeply.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pastor Bill

 

 

 

Prayer List:

Peace Mennonite Church keeps a prayer list for those in need. If you
need prayer, or want to e-mail our pastor, e-mail billd @ peacemennonitechurch.net

(Take out the extra spaces to use this e-mail—the spaces confuse spam generators).

 

 

 

Pray with us!

 

 

 

We are praying as a church, and attempting to follow the centuries’ old tradition of praying with other Christians three times a day. We
are following the prayer liturgy at www.commonprayer.net

Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Peace Mennonite Church of

Columbia, MO Permission is granted for one-time non-commercial use
with proper attribution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Subscribe to our blog!
Delivery daily by e-mail.

Click the button on the right.

 

 

 

Psalm 104:24-35

 

 

 

The Message (MSG)

 

 

 

24-30 What a wildly wonderful world, God!
You made it all, with Wisdom at your side,
made earth overflow with your wonderful creations.
Oh, look—the deep, wide sea,
brimming with fish past counting,
sardines and sharks and salmon.
Ships plow those waters,
and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them.
All the creatures look expectantly to you
to give them their meals on time.
You come, and they gather around;
you open your hand and they eat from it.
If you turned your back,
they’d die in a minute—
Take back your Spirit and they die,
revert to original mud;
Send out your Spirit and they spring to
life—
the whole countryside in bloom and blossom.

 

 

 

31-32 The glory of God—let it last forever!
Let God enjoy his creation!
He takes one look at earth and triggers an
earthquake, points a finger at the
mountains, and volcanoes erupt.

 

 

 

33-35 Oh, let me sing to God all my
life long,
sing hymns to my God as long as
I live! Oh, let my song please him;
I’m so pleased to be singing to God.
But clear the ground of sinners—
no more godless men and women!

 

 

 

O my soul, bless God!

 

 

 

Isaiah 44:1-5

 

 

 

The Message (MSG)

 

 

 

Proud to Be Called Israel

 

 

 

44 1-5 “But for now, dear servant Jacob,
listen—    yes, you, Israel, my personal
choice.
God who made you has something to say to you;
the God who formed you in the womb wants to help you.
Don’t be afraid, dear servant Jacob,
Jeshurun, the one I chose.
For I will pour water on the thirsty ground
and send streams coursing through the parched earth.
I will pour my Spirit into your descendants
and my blessing on your children.
They shall sprout like grass on the
prairie,  like willows alongside creeks.
This one will say, ‘I am God’s,’
and another will go by the name Jacob;
That one will write on his hand ‘God’s property’—
and be proud to be called Israel.”

 

 

 

Galatians 6:7-10

 

 

 

The Message (MSG)

 

 

 

7-8 Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The
person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his
life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, lettingGod’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real
life, eternal life.

9-10 So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will
harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit
of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related articles

• What a Mess (faithstepsjourney.wordpress.com)
• When Do I Pray? (watchandprayblog.wordpress.com)
• Reflections of Lee Eshleman (mymennonitememoir.com)
• He Got The Whole World (poemotherapishoppe.com)
• What does the Bible say about hate? (altruistico.wordpress.com)
• Loving God’s Presence – Psalm 84 (apursuingheart.wordpress.com)
• Fear Not! (cofchristdailybread.wordpress.com)
• Confession, The Lesson (christgate.wordpress.com)
• What the Bible has to say about Poor and Homeless (soshomelessministries.wordpress.com)
• Guest Post: Blessed Are The Meek (Week 3, This Little Light Blog Tour (kathleenbasi.com)

 

Who Do You Say That I Am? 051513

Bible translations into Hawaii Pidgin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Holy Spirit depicted as a dove, surrounded by angels, by Giaquinto, 1750s. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

English: John the Baptist baptizing Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This blog comes to you from the people at Peace Mennonite Church of
Columbia, MO

www.peacemennonitechurch.net

Today’s Scriptures Click the following links to read today’s scriptures or scroll to the very bottom of this blog post for those scriptures also. Lectionary Scriptures for the day selected by http://www.commontexts.org/

Psalm 29 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2029&version=MSG

Ezekiel 3:12-21 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%203:12-21&version=MSG

Luke 9:18-27 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%209:18-27&version=MSG

Who Do You Say That I Am? 051513

Luke 9 is maybe a favorite verse to many of use, yet it quietly stays as
it is. Only upon taking a special look at it, do we find it says several wonderful and special things we may not have recalled, and with the revised and lively, new language of The Message, we may have another block to our memory.

Besides asking the familiar ‘Who do you say I am?’ we also read in Luke 9:

“Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat—I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it.
Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all.”

This at first doesn’t sound familiar, but in the King James Version, this is translated as “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?”

It doesn’t even sound like the same verses, and before one even tries to explain the differences between the meaning of the two translated verses, maybe we just need to sit back for a moment and enjoy that we have these two wonderful and beautiful uses of language. Maybe Jesus said exactly what one translation or another says, although translation is never that precise or exact, and maybe Jesus meant both of what these translations are saying—-I don’t know and we don’t know.

But as a church (by ‘church’ I mean the mutually loving and mutually committed disciples of Jesus, and I’m not referring to any building or any man-made organization either) each translation has something important to say, and since King James’ translation committee and also Eugene Peterson have their own idea of what is important to hear in these words, maybe we can read
them both and come up with our own meaning, and by the Holy Spirit know we are doing our best to find meaning.

Here it is: ‘We can’t follow Jesus because we seek pleasure or happiness or relief from suffering. We follow Jesus, whoever he is, because he loves us, and we love him.’

Pray for peace,

Pastor Bill

Prayer List:
Peace Mennonite Church keeps a prayer list for those in need. If you need prayer, or want to e-mail our pastor, e-mail billd@ peacemennonitechurch.net

(Take out the extra spaces to use this e-mail—the spaces confuse spam generators).

Pray with us!

We are praying as a church, and attempting to follow the centuries’ old tradition of praying with other Christians three times a day. We are following the prayer liturgy at www.commonprayer.net
Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Peace Mennonite Church of Columbia, MO Permission is granted for one-time non-commercial use with proper attribution.

Subscribe to our blog!

Delivery daily by e-mail.

Click the button on the right.

Psalm 29  The Message (MSG)

A David Psalm

29 1-2 Bravo, God, bravo!
Gods and all angels shout, “Encore!”
In awe before the glory,
in awe before God’s visible
power.
Stand at attention!    Dress your
best to honor him!

3 God thunders across the waters,
Brilliant, his voice and his face, streaming
brightness—
God, across the flood waters.

4 God’s thunder tympanic,
God’s thunder symphonic.

5 God’s thunder smashes
cedars, God topples the northern cedars.

6 The mountain ranges skip like
spring colts, The high ridges jump like wild kid goats.

7-8 God’s thunder spits fire.
God thunders, the wilderness quakes;
He makes the desert of Kadesh
shake.

9 God’s thunder sets the oak trees dancing
A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips
their branches.
We fall to our knees—we call out, “Glory!”

10 Above the floodwaters is God’s throne
from which his power flows,
from which he rules the world.

11 God makes his people strong.
God gives his people peace.

Ezekiel 3:12-21

The Message (MSG)

12-13 Then the Spirit picked me up.
Behind me I heard a great commotion—“Blessed be the Glory of God
in his Sanctuary!”—the wings of the living creatures beating
against each other, the whirling wheels, the rumble of a great
earthquake.

14-15 The Spirit lifted me and took me away. I went bitterly and angrily. I didn’t want to go. But God
had me in his grip. I arrived among the exiles who lived near the Kebar River at Tel Aviv. I came to where they were living and sat
there for seven days, appalled.

16 At the end of the seven days, I received this Message from God:

17-19 “Son of man, I’ve made you a watchman for the family of Israel. Whenever you hear me say
something, warn them for me. If I say to the wicked, ‘You are going to die,’ and you don’t sound the alarm warning them that it’s a
matter of life or death, they will die and it will be your fault.

I’ll hold you responsible. But if you warn the wicked and they keep
right on sinning anyway, they’ll most certainly die for their sin, but you won’t die. You’ll have saved your life.

20-21 “And if the righteous turn back from living righteously and take up with evil when I step in and
put them in a hard place, they’ll die. If you haven’t warned them, they’ll die because of their sins, and none of the right
things they’ve done will count for anything—and I’ll hold you responsible. But if you warn these righteous people not to sin and
they listen to you, they’ll live because they took the warning—and again, you’ll have saved your life.”

Luke 9:18-27

The Message (MSG)

Don’t Run from Suffering

18 One time when Jesus was off praying by himself, his disciples nearby, he asked them, “What are the crowds saying about
me, about who I am?”

19 They said, “John the Baptizer. Others say Elijah. Still others say that one of the
prophets from long ago has come back.”

20-21 He then asked, “And you—what are you saying about me? Who am I?”

Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.” Jesus then warned them to keep it quiet. They were to tell no one what Peter had said.

22 He went on, “It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the religious leaders, high priests, and religion
scholars, be killed, and on the third day be raised up alive.”

23-27 Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: “Anyone who intends to come with me

has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat—I am. Don’t

run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how.

Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my

way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to

get everything you want and lose you, the real you? If any of you is

embarrassed with me and the way I’m leading you, know that the Son

of Man will be far more embarrassed with you when he arrives in all

his splendor in company with the Father and the holy angels. This

isn’t, you realize, pie in the sky by and by. Some who have taken

their stand right here are going to see it happen, see with their own

eyes the kingdom of God.”

Related articles

• Research Tools for Bible Study. (greatriversofhope.wordpress.com)
• Does the New Testament Misquote the Old Testament?. (greatriversofhope.wordpress.com)
• Taking a closer look at Isaiah 9:6 and Isaiah 7 (discover-the-truth.com)
• Righteousness? Worth a closer look. (faithfuldailyread.wordpress.com)
• Biblica Cleans Up the Bible with New “Books of the Bible” Release (christianwritingtoday.com)
• Streams of Life-Giving Water (planet.infowars.com)
• What does the Bible say about the death penalty? (winteryknight.wordpress.com)
• Knowing What the Bible ‘Really’ Means (christianitytoday.com)
• Bad thinking about the Bible: 4-13/14-13 (billtammeus.typepad.com)
• WWES? (What Would Ezekiel Say?) (dgsmith.org)

The Difficulty of Prayer 051413

Old prayer-book (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

This

blog comes to you from the people at Peace Mennonite Church of

Columbia, MO

 

www.peacemennonitechurch.net

 

 

Today’s

Scriptures Click

the following links to read today’s scriptures or scroll to the very bottom of this blog post for those scriptures also. Lectionary
Scriptures for the day selected by http://www.commontexts.org/

 

Psalm 29

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2029&version=MSG

 

Chronicles 5:2-14

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Chronicles%205:2-14&version=MSG

 

 

Acts 26:19-29

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2026:19-29%20&version=MSG

 

 

The Difficulty of Prayer 051413

 

 

The Difficulty of Prayer is that we really have no reason or excuse for not praying , not a really good reason or a really good excuse, that

is. The problem with prayer is that we originally found it quite easy and natural. Now, it’s become an unnatural act. We have to stop,

rearrange our schedule, and rearrange our activities to allow time for prayer. But it doesn’t happen that way for me so much. Prayer should come to us as easily and naturally as kneeling

down to take a cool drink of water from a clear stream.

 

 

Instead, the world and people and activities that have to be done crowd in on me and crush me like a little stinky bug. I can’t even slow this

crushing rearrangement of life, the taking of my life day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute.

 

 

I know every day how difficult it is to find time for prayer and to find time for reading the Bible.

 

 

Pray for peace,

 

Pastor Bill

 

Prayer List:

Peace Mennonite Church keeps a prayer list for those in need. If you need prayer, or want to e-mail our pastor, e-mail billd

@ peacemennonitechurch.net (Take out the extra spaces to use this e-mail—the spaces confuse

spam generators).

 

Pray with us!

 

We are praying as a church, and attempting to follow the centuries’ old tradition of praying with other Christians three times a day. We

are following the prayer liturgy at www.commonprayer.net

 

Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Peace Mennonite Church of Columbia, MO Permission is granted for one-time non-commercial use

with proper attribution.

 

 

Subscribe to our blog!

Delivery

daily by e-mail.

Click the button on the right.

 

Psalm 29

 

The Message (MSG)

 

A David Psalm

 

29 1-2 Bravo, God, bravo!
Gods

and all angels shout, “Encore!”
In awe before the

glory,
in awe before God’s visible

power.
Stand at attention!
Dress your

best to honor him!

 

3 God thunders across the

waters,
Brilliant, his voice and his face, streaming

brightness—
God, across the flood waters.

 

4 God’s thunder tympanic,
God’s

thunder symphonic.

 

5 God’s thunder smashes

cedars,
God topples the northern cedars.

 

6 The mountain ranges skip like

spring colts,
The high ridges jump like wild kid goats.

 

7-8 God’s thunder spits fire.
God

thunders, the wilderness quakes;
He makes the desert of Kadesh

shake.

 

9 God’s thunder sets the oak

trees dancing
A wild dance, whirling; the pelting rain strips

their branches.
We fall to our knees—we call out, “Glory!”

 

10 Above the floodwaters is God’s

throne
from which his power

flows,
from which he rules the world.

 

11 God makes his people strong.
God

gives his people peace.

 

2

Chronicles 5:2-14

 

The Message (MSG)

 

Installing the Chest

 

2-3 Bringing all this to a climax, Solomon got all the

leaders together in Jerusalem—all the chiefs of tribes and the

family patriarchs—to move the Chest of the Covenant of God from

Zion and install it in The Temple. All the men of Israel assembled

before the king on the feast day of the seventh month, the Feast of

Booths.

 

4-6 When all the leaders of Israel

were ready, the Levites took up the Chest. They carried the Chest,

the Tent of Meeting, and all the sacred things in the Tent used in

worship. The priests, all Levites, carried them. King Solomon and the

entire congregation of Israel were there before the Chest, worshiping

and sacrificing huge numbers of sheep and cattle—so many that no

one could keep track.

 

7-10 The priests brought the Chest

of the Covenant of God to its place in the Inner Sanctuary, the Holy

of Holies, under the wings of the cherubim. The outspread wings of

the cherubim formed a canopy over the Chest and its poles. The ends

of the poles were so long that they stuck out from the entrance of

the Inner Sanctuary, but were not noticeable further out—they’re

still there today. There was nothing in the Chest itself but the two

stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb where God made a

covenant with Israel after bringing them up from Egypt.

 

11-13 The priests then left the

Holy Place. All the priests there were consecrated, regardless of

rank or assignment; and all the Levites who were musicians were

there—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their families, dressed in their

worship robes; the choir and orchestra assembled on the east side of

the Altar and were joined by 120 priests blowing trumpets. The choir

and trumpets made one voice of praise and thanks to God—orchestra

and choir in perfect harmony singing and playing praise to God:

 

Yes! God is good!
His loyal love goes on forever!

 

13-14 Then a billowing cloud filled

The Temple of God. The priests couldn’t even carry out their duties

because of the cloud—the glory of God!—that filled The Temple of

God.

 

Acts

26:19-29

 

The Message (MSG)

 

19-20 “What could I do, King

Agrippa? I couldn’t just walk away from a vision like that! I

became an obedient believer on the spot. I started preaching this

life-change—this radical turn to God and everything it meant in

everyday life—right there in Damascus, went on to Jerusalem and the

surrounding countryside, and from there to the whole world.

 

21-23 “It’s because of this

‘whole world’ dimension that the Jews grabbed me in the Temple

that day and tried to kill me. They want to keep God for themselves.

But God has stood by me, just as he promised, and I’m standing here

saying what I’ve been saying to anyone, whether king or child, who

will listen. And everything I’m saying is completely in line with

what the prophets and Moses said would happen: One, the Messiah must

die; two, raised from the dead, he would be the first rays of God’s

daylight shining on people far and near, people both godless and

God-fearing.”

 

24 That was too much for Festus.

He interrupted with a shout: “Paul, you’re crazy! You’ve read

too many books, spent too much time staring off into space! Get a

grip on yourself, get back in the real world!”

 

25-27 But Paul stood his ground.

“With all respect, Festus, Your Honor, I’m not crazy. I’m both

accurate and sane in what I’m saying. The king knows what I’m

talking about. I’m sure that nothing of what I’ve said sounds

crazy to him. He’s known all about it for a long time. You must

realize that this wasn’t done behind the scenes. You believe the

prophets, don’t you, King Agrippa? Don’t answer that—I know you

believe.”

 

28 But Agrippa did answer: “Keep

this up much longer and you’ll make a Christian out of me!”

 

29 Paul, still in chains, said,

“That’s what I’m praying for, whether now or later, and not

only you but everyone listening today, to become like me—except, of

course, for this prison jewelry!”

 

 

National Day of Prayer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

Do We Still Need Domestic Servants? 051013

Welsh Maid (Photo credit: BasiliskSam)

Do We Still Need Domestic Servants? 051013

This blog comes to you from the people at Peace Mennonite Church of
Columbia, MO    www.peacemennonitechurch.net

Today’s Scriptures Click the following links to read today’s scriptures or scroll to the
very bottom of this blog post for those scriptures also. Lectionary Scriptures for the day selected by http://www.commontexts.org/

Psalm 97 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2097%20&version=MSG

Exodus 33:12-17 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2033:12-17&version=MSG

Revelation 22:6-9 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2022:6-9&version=MSG

Do We Still Need Domestic Servants? 051013

Somewhere, without noticing where I heard it,someone said that someone who thinks themselves very important and grand, had expressed as a solution to
the immigration problem, that we should allow as many immigrants in as were needed to supply domestic servants for those wealthy who desire domestic servants.

Inresponse a second grand person had responded that neither she nor her family thought of themselves only as domestic servants, but had a life and spirit beyond simply being a domestic servant, as they once had been, before rising.

As Christians, we should question all of this, for several reasons. First, what Christian would think it right either to be so wealthy, so lazy, so consumptive of earth’s resources as to even need domestic servants. Christ completely erased all human and living hierarchies—we are no better and no less than any other living thing. In fact, we were given the task in Genesis, at the very
beginning to care for and protect all of earth.

Further, as a Christian who dare put themselves in a social class above anyone or anything. We don’t get to rank ourselves in the grand scheme of creation. In fact, the more we can operate as servants, the better (except it is wrong to lower ourselves in anyway, just because we choose to serve—but we must choose to serve—and not be relegated to service because what someone else falsely believes.

Revelation 22 screams to us in Verse 8 and 9:

I fell on my face to worship at the feet of the Angel who laid it all
out before me. He objected, “No you don’t! I’m a servant just
like you and your companions, the prophets, and all who keep the
words of this book. Worship God!”

Bless the Rich, because they need blessing. Better to be an humble workeror servant or farmer than suffer the sins of wealth.

“When I was a servant in Rosemary Lane…” Image by Jean-Étienne Liotard. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Pray for peace,

Pastor Bill

Prayer List: Peace

Mennonite Church keeps a prayer list for those in need. If you need prayer, or want to e-mail our pastor, e-mail billd @
peacemennonitechurch.net (Take out the extra spaces to use this e-mail—the spaces confuse spam generators).

Pray with us!

We are praying as a church, and attempting to follow the centuries’ old tradition of praying with other Christians three times a day. We
are following the prayer liturgy at www.commonprayer.net
Copyright 2011. All rights reserved. Peace Mennonite Church of Columbia, MO Permission is granted for one-time non-commercial use with proper attribution.

Subscribe to our blog! Delivery daily by e-mail. Click the button on the right.

Psalm 97
The Message (MSG)

97 God rules: there’s something to shout over!
On the double,mainlands and islands—celebrate!

2 Bright clouds and storm clouds circle ’round him;
Right and justice anchor his rule.

3 Fire blazes out before him,
Flaming high up the craggy mountains.

4 His lightnings light up the world;
Earth, wide-eyed, trembles in fear.

5 The mountains take one look at God
And melt, melt like wax before earth’s Lord.

6 The heavens announce that he’ll set everything right,
And everyone will see it happen—glorious!

7-8 All who serve handcrafted gods will be sorry—
And they were so proud of their ragamuffin gods!

On your knees, all you gods—worship him!
And Zion, you listen and take heart!

Daughters of Zion,sing your hearts out:
God has done it all, has set everything
right.

9 You, God, are High God of the cosmos,
Far, far higher than any of the gods.

10 God loves all who hate evil,
And those who love him he keeps
safe, Snatches them from the grip of the wicked.

11 Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God’s people,
Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil.

12 So, God’s people, shout praise to God,
Give thanks to our Holy God!

Exodus

33:12-17

The Message (MSG)

12-13 Moses said to God, “Look, you tell me, ‘Lead this people,’ but you
don’t let me know whom you’re going to send with me. You tell me,
‘I know you well and you are special to me.’ If I am so special
to you, let me in on your plans. That way, I will continue being
special to you. Don’t forget, this is your people, your responsibility.”

14 Godsaid, “My presence will go with you. I’ll see the journey to the end.”

15-16 Moses said, “If your presence doesn’t take the lead here, call this
trip off right now. How else will it be known that you’re with me
in this, with me and your people? Are you traveling with us or not?

How else will we know that we’re special, I and your people, among
all other people on this planet Earth?”

17 God said to Moses: “All right. Just as you say; this also I will do,
for I know you well and you are special to me. I know you by name.”

Revelation 22:6-9

The Message (MSG)

Don’t Put It Away on the Shelf

6-7 The Angel said to me, “These are dependable and accurate words, every one.
The God and Master of the spirits of the prophets sent his Angel to
show his servants what must take place, and soon. And tell them,
‘Yes, I’m on my way!’ Blessed be the one who keeps the words of
the prophecy of this book.”

8-9 I, John, saw all these things with my own eyes, heard them with my ears.
Immediately when I heard and saw, I fell on my face to worship at the
feet of the Angel who laid it all out before me. He objected, “No
you don’t! I’m a servant just like you and your companions, the
prophets, and all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”

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