Pastoral Thoughts for New Disciples

Did you ever read or hear the story about the three little pigs?  They each built a house using different construction material.  The first built his house of straw. The second of wood. The third of brick.  A wolf comes along and asks to enter each home with each pig responding that he won't let the wolf in.  So the wolf decides to blow each house down and is successful with the first two, but not the third. In 1 Corinthians 3 we read: 10 " By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. 11  For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12  If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13  their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work....

Isn't it amazing how the Word of God sounds different when read by someone else?  Another reader accents different words, pauses in different places, and gives a different intonation and inflection which impacts what and how we hear. Recently, I was meeting with our board chair and two elder co-chairs for a Bible study we are doing on the book of Acts.  It was nice to hear a certain passage read by a man's voice, because most of the time I hear it read by a woman's voice, my own. Today, as I was studying the 3rd chapter of 1 Corinthians, I came across some words that I had heard a church member repeat as he was sharing his faith with a stranger.  In my mind, I could recall his voice saying those words and I knew the meaning they had to him.  I read on and as I read another church member's voice came to mind.  I could hear the next passage as he would read and interpret it. This reminded me that there is a lot we can learn from reading the Bible together. R...

Violence. Tensions between people of different skin tones. Terrorist attacks. Threats from North Korea. Civil conflict over political processes. Alarmist news. Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Fires. Earthquakes. Cancer. Infertility. Heart disease. I think its time we get down on our knees as a community and pray. When Solomon went to dedicate the completed temple, he encountered the LORD.  God spoke saying, "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.  When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sins and will heal their land.  Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.  I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name m...