Faith Notes for August 24, 2021

First Presbyterian Church of Big Spring

New News:

Increasingly, Americans say that believing in God has nothing to do with going to church. Enthusiasm for frequent church life participation at First Presbyterian Big Spring also seems to reflect this trend. Choir practice was suspended Sunday due to lack of interest even though the announcement, earlier in August, that choir would be returning was cheered. There was not a quorum for last month’s Session meeting and so no church business was transacted in June. A church in which its members are not active cannot be sustained and will not attract interest from potential new members. Some of this is the result of concern over the spread of Corona virus. Much of it is not.

Our digital outreach ministry and Wednesday course offerings to congregation members as well as non-members do have an enthusiastic following. The weekly number of people participating in these spiritual resources outstrips church and Sunday school attendance. Of course being an active member means more than just coming to worship and no matter how many people watch our video devotionals or listen to the prayer podcast or attend women’s Bible study, neither a brilliant church history nor non-member digital attenders can sustain the church as a religious enterprise.

We have a number of things to discuss and vote on in this Thursday’s Session meeting so we need a quorum. Presbyterian churches cannot operate purely on the decision making of their clergy. 

This Sunday, August 29th, we’ll follow the complimentary lectionary readings for the fourteenth Sunday of Pentecost. That will include Psalm15; Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23; James 1:17-27. The Semi-continuous lectionary this week includes Song of Solomon 2:8-13.

Psalm 15 is one of the shortest Psalms in the Bible and it asks the question: who is welcome in the tent of God? Who indeed? Is it those who perform all the Torah rituals and traditions? Or does God welcome those who passionately and devotedly worship God by speaking truthfully, being fair with others, not slandering the weak, and standing by their allegiances to God and others even though they may suffer for it? Unlike some other Psalms, God’s laws are not mentioned here.

In last week’s Old Testament reading, we heard Joshua posing a choice to the Israelites who were about to come into their inheritance. This week, we hear Joshua’s predecessor and mentor, Moses, addressing those same people at an earlier time. The Deuteronomy read says that God expects us to not design God in our own image.  The will of God arcs toward justice, so following the will of God sets us apart from other groups who don’t pursue justice in the world. Our relationship with God is not passive but a matter of actively carrying out God’s will as a community.

It’s been said that Solomon wrote the Song of Solomon as a young man and wrote Ecclesiastes as an old man. The former is bright, sensual, and optimistic while the latter declares all of life is an ephemeral mist. Some complain about this reading because of its overt sensual description of a relationship with God. People don’t want to think about God sensually, but maybe we should think about God passionately rather than passively. 

We have departed from John’s gospel. No more Bread of Life discourse. This week we get another Jesus discourse in Mark that you might recall from previous lectionary cycles. The Pharisees accuse Jesus’ disciples of not following Torah purity customs and Jesus replies with a lesson on the origin of impurity. It comes from within us and not from outside of us. We cannot defile our bodies by what we put in them, but our bodies defile the world when we are hypocrites repeating liturgical sequences without passionately practicing the ethics of God’s kingdom.

No more John and no more Ephesians either. James’ letter declares: “Be doers of the Word and not merely hearers.” He says that people who only hear and do not do, deceive themselves. They think they are religious just because they say they’re religious or say the right religious things. They have no truth because they do not actively and passionately practice God's will in the world.

Meetings and Gatherings  Calendar: 

Women’s Bible Study - August 25 at 10:00 a.m. in the church library. 
History Class - August 25 at noon in the church theater room. 
Lectionary Bible Study - August 25  at 5:00 p.m. in the church library. 
Lunch Bunch - every Thursday at 11:30 a.m.
Session Meeting - August 26 at 6:00 p.m. in the library.