Pray and pray some more.

Faith Notes for September 21, 2021 
First Presbyterian Church of Big Spring

New News:

Guess what? Presbyterian Women begin their new season of Bible study on September 28th. They will have a gala kick off with a brunch at 11 a.m. then proceed with a business meeting followed by Bible study. The study for 2021-2022 is entitled What My Grandmothers Taught Me: Learning From the Women in Matthew’s Genealogy of Jesus. This is a work by Merryl Blair and covers the experience of many interesting women in the Bible. They helped shape Jesus and He shapes us so we all owe gratitude to these women.

This Sunday, September 26th, our scriptures will follow the complimentary lectionary readings for the eighteenth Sunday of Pentecost. They will include Psalm 19:7-14; Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29; Mark 9:38-50; James 5:13-20. 

Our reading in Psalm 19 gives us a series of descriptions of the relationship of God’s instructions for living with our individual lives. Reviving the soul, making the simple wise, making the heart rejoice. Taken all together, the Psalmist says that they are like drippings of the honeycomb. What do you think? Ultimately, there is a warning that we are not objective about our errors, our debts, our trespasses, so we pray that our words and meditations will align with the nobility of God’s purposes in the world.

 Whether it’s in church or any other membership organization or a workplace, sometimes it’s better to keep our complaints to ourselves. In this Numbers passage the people grumble about food. Then Moses complains about their complaints. So God establishes elders from among the grumbling and empowers them with a share of the spirit God has earlier given to Moses. Be careful of what you grumble about because you may well be the one who must resolve the issue.

This week Mark reminds us that no matter how fervently we follow Jesus, we do not have the full picture of what Jesus is doing. We also don’t have a share of the copyright on Jesus’ ministry. Jesus is willing for all sorts of people to take up the cross of ministry and we should not get in the way of anyone reaching out to the world in Jesus’ name. Maybe Mark is telling his worship communities that we shouldn’t confuse the process with the desired result. We shouldn’t get caught up in the right way and the wrong way to disciple. 

This is the last week that we will read James. Next week we move into Hebrews. But for now James wraps up his letter filled with ethical and moral admonition by considering prayer. For James, prayer is an individual act of faith done in community. Not every prayer is answered. Maybe it’s better to say that not every prayer is answered the way we want it answered, but James thinks that prayer is still valuable communication with God that opens spiritual doors and the opening of a door that seemed closed can give us hope.

Meetings and Gatherings  Calendar: 

Lectionary Bible Study - September 22  at 5:00 p.m. in the church library (not moderated). 
Lunch Bunch- every Thursday at 11:30 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall. 
Session meeting scheduled for September 23rd has been moved to September 30th.

See you in church!

Allen