Lectionary based "Weekly Word"
(updated each Tuesday)
= check out Bill's Books at www.notperfectyet.com =
NonFiction: "Help! My Church is Leaving Me" - a UMC study guide for today.
Bill Kemp's Historical Fiction Series set in First Century Palestine: Bethany's People
available in print or e-book format from Amazon
Book 1 "Mary Sees All" - a unique perspective on the events leading to Good Friday
Book 2 "Martha Finds Rest" the Easter Story from Martha's point of view.
Coming Soon:
Bethany's People Book 3 "Eliezer Risks it All" - Mid-2022
Bethany's People Book 4 "Lazarus Dies First" - Late-2022
Jesus charged nothing. We tend to say, “You get what you pay for.” That saying is nowhere in the Bible. It is a luxury to be able to pay more for something. Many people live on the edge of subsistence. We should be mindful of them as we line up for our vaccine or drive by the local food bank.
Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to those he left behind so that they might have his authority to go into this hurting world and be compassionate. Anyone who knows Jesus can be “an authority” by simply choosing to love the people around them without compromise.
“Follow me and I will teach you all the great truths of the universe.” Jesus didn’t say that. Why have we made the church so much about teaching doctrine and so little about love?
Note that Psalm 139 speaks about the pseudo-religiosity of our enemies. They speak of God with evil intent. (verse 20) When the Devil goes out to recruit fools for his army, he always visits our churches. Conservative Christianity needs to renounce Trumpism.
Jesus comes to be baptized by John in the Jordan. His baptism, like ours, is halfway between a bath and a drowning.
John challenges our faith: Do you believe that Jesus is God? Has he become the light of your life? Does he live with you in your everyday life?
God has intruded into our cycle of birth - innocence - rebellion - maturity - midlife - old age - and death. He has given us something eternal. What we see is not a generational division, but a timeless unity.
Mary makes a spiritual leap that I think we all should make this Christmas season, especially in the midst of our fears and the growing social unrest of 2020. She says that the Messiah will be born on the wrong side of the tracks.
At Christmas and the holidays, paradoxes abound. Peace on Earth, is promised. Then Herod slays the innocents. Paradoxes prepare us for God’s built-in ambiguity.
As we look through the Bible, most of Jesus’ words were comforting words. He went around healing people – not just their bodies, but also their hearts. When we have been broken by life, Jesus is not there to tells us what we did wrong. He comes to bring us comfort.
For now, you are the second coming of Christ. If this is the apocalypse, how much more important is it that you be loving, kind, and future-oriented?
A question on the final exam is: "Are you compassionate?" If you can answer with a resounding YES! Then you pass Jesus’ final exam.
There is a day coming when all who have ever lived on this planet will be called to judgement. The test question then we be, have we used the time and position that God has given us to do good and show compassion to our fellow man?
Jesus is saying in his first message, "I am not blessing you for your accomplishments. You are already blessed for being on the path. Blessed are all those who hunger and thirst to become better people. Your heart will be filled with goodness."
The world has its class system. Jesus says, “don’t bring it home.” We should root out all hierarchy in our personal life.
Many of us will have tasks where we do the work, but don't get to enjoy the victory. Moses' story is like that. He did everything God asked him to do, but he didn't get to go into the Promised Land.
How do we separate religion and politics? I think Jesus would tell us to do our duty in each sphere. On the religious side of the coin, we worship and study the scriptures so that we might know God’s will for our lives. On the political side of the coin, we vote, become involved in social concerns, etc.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I call, primary relationships. Our relationship with God is one. Other primary relationships include our parents, spouse, siblings, and those we enter into a covenantal relationship with. These are the cables that anchor our lives.
Before we go hanging Moses' Ten Commandments in our courthouses, we best understand them. God did not tell Moses to go back to Egypt and make the worshipers of Osiris and Nut to obey these new rules. It would be like asking the average American to learn the rules of cricket. The people of the Exodus were the target audience for these laws because they had been baptized into faith at the Red Sea.
When the coronavirus arrived, the authority of the medical experts, such as those working at the CDC and at the WHO, came into direct confrontation with the authority of the President of the United States. Who had higher status as an authority?
