Serving of the back of the line

Faith Notes for September 14, 2021 

New News:

This is the last week of Women’s Bible Study and the history seminar until October 20th. Anyone interested in group Bible study during that time is very welcome to join the lectionary Bible study group in the church library on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. The Girl Scouts who meet at FPC and enjoyed the leadership of Kay Kennemur released balloons into the sky on Sunday afternoon. The girls wrote loving tributes on the balloons to their mentor and friend.

This Sunday, September19th, our scriptures will follow the complimentary lectionary readings for the seventeenth Sunday of Pentecost. They will include Psalm 54; Jeremiah 11:18-20; Mark 9:30-37; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8. 

Psalm 54 might sound familiar to people who are frustrated by the public arguments of our time. “Vindicate me, O God, from all those other people!” Two points. First, there is no guarantee that God will agree to the vindication we want. God just might side with those people who put us in the subject line of their prayers. Second, we’ve seen a lot of public debate with bitter and slanderous attributions. This is not the way Christians should argue, according to Paul’s letters. Instead, maybe we’d be better off praying about the issues that divide us than shooting darts at each other.

The Jeremiah passage is a lamentation that also asks God for vindication and retribution toward some unnamed assailant. The context of this lament is the foreign military invasion of Judah and particularly Jerusalem and destruction of the great Temple of Solomon. It’s hard to use a short Bible text like this one without placing it in its actual context. We might be tempted to speak the words of a particular scripture segment in our own lives, but we should be wary of doing this if the issue in our lives is really different from the context of the scripture reading itself.

Mark has really been giving us some difficult words to hear. Last week we learned that devoted followers of Jesus are not people who say they believe, but people who actively do what Jesus did, especially deny their self-will. This week we learn that striving for prominence is not a Christian virtue. Jesus gives us another difficult task which is to change position with those whom society has made last. Leaders do not stand at the front of the line but at the back and serve the others. A decade ago the phrase “servant leadership” was popular. It's still a truth for Christ followers. 

James, James, James. If you are getting tired of James, you’ll be glad to know that next Sunday is the last week of James in the lectionary for now. James was particularly concerned that fledgling Christian worship communities were becoming so heavily influenced by the culture around them that they were in danger of losing their distinctive Christ culture. This week he contrasts the nature of relationships in society with the nature of relationships in Christian community. He challenges us to be aware of our own words and so-called wisdom. Does it come from pleasure oriented popular culture or does it come from our relationship with God in Christ?

Meetings and Gatherings  Calendar: 

Women’s Bible Study - September 15 at 10:00 a.m. in the church library. 
History class- September 15 at noon in the church theater room. 
Lectionary Bible Study - September 15  at 5:00 p.m. in the church library. 
Lunch Bunch- every Thursday at 11:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall.

See you in church!

Allen