fbpx

Greetings from Prison

by | Jan 8, 2012 | Learning Story

Read Colossians 4:7-18
Just finished my study of Colossians, and I was WOW-ed by two important themes I had never noticed before:

Look at some of the words Paul uses to describe his friends: “beloved brother, faithful minister, fellow servant, fellow workers for the kingdom of God, a comfort to me” among them. He mentions an unusual array of people. Aristarchus, who is a fellow prisoner – does it interest you as it does me to know Aristarchus’s story? He sends greetings to a woman, Nympha, in whose house the church meets. You can hear the eagerness and longing in his voice as he remembers his precious Colossians community; you recognize the strength and encouragement those he has with have given him.

The second thing that struck me were the words, “Remember my chains.” Reading this brought one of those neon-sign moments, when words jump off the page as never before. It will take a “whole nother” (as we like to say in the south) blog to write about the connections the Holy Spirit flooded me with (Mary: “Behold I am the bondservant of the Lord.”) For now, I’ll just say that what really hit me was that Paul was suffering – he was in affliction; he was a prisoner because he had spread the gospel. But he didn’t let any of these hindrances keep him from continuing to tell the story. He didn’t do much – he did what he could. He wrote a letter. He encouraged and received encouragement from those he was with. He exhorted his beloved community miles away.

This amazing portion of Scripture leaves me with a good question: If I were in prison for the gospel (and I think I am, though in a far different way than Paul), what kinds of greetings would I send? (Put away, as Mr. Rogers might say, “Who is my neighbor?”

“I Love the Bible, I Read It and I Do It”

by | Jan 6, 2012 | Learning Story

We don't have to wait til a message in the sky appears...it's right here in the Bible


I love the Bible – I read it and I do it – I read it and I do it…
I first learned this children’s song when my kids were little. We’d play the tape in the car and we’d all shout this verse together. Then we’d talk about how it isn’t really that simple, but loving the Bible is a great gift. For Christians, it is our metanarrative, I’d tell my kids (no, I wouldn’t really say ‘metanarrative’ – that came later – just wanted to see if you were paying attention☺). It’s our story – the truest story ever told, the only one that orients us to our lives because it tells us who God is and how he’s made the world, including us. It tells us about how Adam and Eve messed up, trying to take life into their own hands and do things their way, doubting that God was really good. (And the Bible says that we are just like Adam and Eve, which I don’t think is hard to see if we take a careful look into our hearts.) We’d talk about what the Bible tells us about Jesus, the Savior who was God born as a man (they seemed to totally get that when they were little). We’d remember that Jesus had to die, and that in his death, our sins died with him. And more amazingly than that, when he rose from the dead, he raised us from the dead with him. Our sins have died; we have new life. And it is this new life that makes it possible to ‘do’ things the Bible says, like be compassionate, kind, loving, honest and to not be rude, self-seeking, and proud. We even discussed how we aren’t perfectly able to ‘do’ these things – yet, but that one day, when Christ returns, we will be see him as he truly is, and we will be like him.
[This blog began with a desire to talk a little about Lectio Divina, but as you can see, it’s not where it went. The new year is a time many people make resolutions, some to ‘read their Bibles more.’ I pray we will. I don’t know how it works exactly, but I know when I start my day by soaking in some Scripture, my mind is re-oriented, freer, clearer, and my heart is changed. May we all be blessed with a deeper knowledge of who God really is and how much he loves us in this new year.]

Community Shares

by | Jan 4, 2012 | Learning Story

On Monday, I told a short story about finding a video that I thought was really cool and going down the rough road of comparing myself (unfavorably) to this remarkable woman. I firmly believe that in true community we share with one another, and we share others’ work with others, so here is the video I referred to. Really wonderful!

A Prayer for Community

by | Jan 3, 2012 | Learning Story

I gave everyone in my family this book for Christmas!

I know many Living Story blog readers also follow Scotty Smith’s “Everyday Prayers” on the Gospel Coalition blog. But maybe you haven’t seen this one yet, or like me, need to pray it again. Community is central to what Living Story does — it has only become clearer to me over the years that God saved a “people,” not a “person.” Grace and Peace to you!

A Prayer about Our Called and Shared Life in Christ

To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. 1 Pet. 1:1–2

Gracious Father, as the New Year is just underway, we praise you for the gift of community—for all its privileges and joys, challenges and complexities. We’re an elect people, not an elite people—a chosen people, not a choice people, and as such we’ll need all the grace you will give us to live and love to your glory this year. Bring much fame to yourself as you transform us and liberate us for your redeeming purposes.

May this be a year in which we re-engage with our corporate calling as your covenant people. Unless we are intentional about this, the sin in our hearts and the values of our culture will propel us even faster into a life of alienation and isolation, selfishness and cynicism. We’re not just individually your beloved sons and daughters; we’re your treasured family—brothers and sisters in Christ, destined for a life of perfect relationships in the new heaven and new earth. When life in the Body of Christ today seems crazy and pointless, may a vision of the people we will be one Day give us humility and patience in this day.

You chose us by your foreknowledge, redeemed us by your Son, and set us apart by your Spirit. You’ve called us to demonstrate the reconciling and redeeming power of the gospel in cities and among the nations of the world. Indeed, you’ve called us to live as strangers in this world, not as strange people. If there’s to be anything offensive about us this year, may it primarily be the gospel of your grace.

Dear Father, renew and revitalize our churches, and help us plant new churches which make the gospel beautiful and believable. May we live as good citizens of heaven in the cities where you’ve placed us. May our neighbors be glad we are among them. May our communities be a better place to live because we are among them. Help us to offer a meaningful glimpse of the future we share because the gospel is true.

Lord Jesus, it’s only because you were obedient to death—even death upon the cross, that we can offer back an obedience of grateful faith. Live and love, in us and through us, all year long to your glory. Be magnified in our hearts, revealed in our cities, and revered among the nations of the world. So very Amen we pray, with great anticipation, in your most worthy name.

Who got the best gift?

by | Dec 26, 2011 | Learning Story

Today, I’m studying the gospel take on giftedness as antidote to the brutal competition and comparison that women can inflict on one another. I came upon this devotional by Eugene Peterson in Conversations: The Message Bible with Its Translator, and it occurred to me it might be very relevant to some of us the day after Christmas. Who got the best gift? WE ALL DID!

“The Corinthian church was typical of the way people act when they’re together. They were all jockeying for preeminence, asserting themselves and at the same time putting others down. Each one claiming that what he had was better than what the others had.

The church, Paul argued, is the place where we find ourselves accepted for who we are, free to be what God has created us to be. We’re not competitors; we’re a community. All the distinctions we’re used to making are dissolved here. Each of us is accepted in terms of our own unique contribution to the glory of God.

Paul used the image of the body to explain our relation to one another. We’re all parts of the body of Christ. And that means there’s simply nothing in the body that is trivial or unimportant.” Eugene Peterson, Conversations

A REMINDER TO WOMEN IN THE PENSACOLA AREA: THE SARAH SISTERHOOD/MORE THAN A STUDY BEGINS JANUARY 12. MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND BE THINKING OF WHOM YOU WILL INVITE.