Studying Paul's Letter to the Galatians

We'll spend the next few weeks looking at Paul's message to the believers in Galatia.

How do we respond to the pressure to conform to rules and regulations?
How do we respond to the desire for personal discipline without falling into the trap of attempting to gain God's approval?
Do we add anything to our walk by being "better" than anyone else?
Does the grace of God allow for jaunts off the moral deep end?

Paul writes to deter the Galatians from the notion that, apart from faith in Christ, there is a need to put on additional "stuff" in order to gain God's approval and maintain justification before him. Jesus has offered us grace, and that is all that is needed to stand before God. Adding anything else on top of that is the equivalent of stating that the work of Christ was not enough.

Galatians 1 (The Message)

1-2I, Paul, and my companions in faith here, send greetings to the Galatian churches. My authority for writing to you does not come from any popular vote of the people, nor does it come through the appointment of some human higher-up. It comes directly from Jesus the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. I'm God-commissioned. 3So I greet you with the great words, grace and peace! 4We know the meaning of those words because Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we're in by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. God's plan is that we all experience that rescue. 5Glory to God forever! Oh, yes!

6I can't believe your fickleness--how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message! 7It is not a minor variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head. 8Let me be blunt: If one of us--even if an angel from heaven!-were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed. 9I said it once; I'll say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed.

10Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn't bother being Christ's slave. 11Know this--I am most emphatic here, friends--this great Message I delivered to you is not mere human optimism. 12I didn't receive it through the traditions, and I wasn't taught it in some school. I got it straight from God, received the Message directly from Jesus Christ.

13I'm sure that you've heard the story of my earlier life when I lived in the Jewish way. In those days I went all out in persecuting God's church. I was systematically destroying it. 14I was so enthusiastic about the traditions of my ancestors that I advanced head and shoulders above my peers in my career. 15Even then God had designs on me. Why, when I was still in my mother's womb he chose and called me out of sheer generosity! 16Now he has intervened and revealed his Son to me so that I might joyfully tell non-Jews about him.

Immediately after my calling--without consulting anyone around me 17and without going up to Jerusalem to confer with those who were apostles long before I was--I got away to Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus, 18but it was three years before I went up to Jerusalem to compare stories with Peter. I was there only fifteen days--but what days they were! 19Except for our Master's brother James, I saw no other apostles. 20(I'm telling you the absolute truth in this.)

21Then I began my ministry in the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22After all that time and activity I was still unknown by face among the Christian churches in Judea. 23There was only this report: "That man who once persecuted us is now preaching the very message he used to try to destroy." 24Their response was to recognize and worship God because of me!

Malawi & Forced Marriages

Here is a link to a story I heard reported on NPR last week. I'll be looking into the organization "The Eye of the Child" to see what we can do.

Malawi has been affected by the AIDS epidemic in profound ways. Parents who die are forced to leave their children in the care of grandparents. Often the children are required to drop out of school in order to work, creating a cycle of poverty.

The article focuses on the plight of so many young girls who are being offered in marriage to older men just so the family can stay afloat. 13 year olds are marrying 40 year olds. Not only is this illegal under Malawi law, it is a moral travesty. The demands that our world has on it's people, the demands that marriage put on a couple cannot be processed or understood by a 12 year old. Can you remember being 13? Can you imagine now being "sold" into marriage at that age?

We'll talk soon about ways we can be involved in speaking out for these orphans.

The Name- Why Saint Aidan?

Aidan's life contains traces of the heartbeat we desire.

He was a man who knew how to speak the the story of Jesus in a way that could be easily understood by those who heard it.

"The first Celtic bishop, Corman, soon returned to Iona, where he declared that the Angles of Northumbria were too stubborn and intractable. The historian Bede writes that, at a meeting to discuss the problem, an Irish monk called Aidan suggested that Corman had been unreasonably harsh with his unlearned listeners, and "did not first, as the Apostle has told us, offer them the milk of less solid doctrine". It was immediately resolved to send Aidan to Northumbria as bishop."

He was a man who knew the value of simplicity & generosity.

"Aidan preached widely throughout Northumbria, travelling on foot, so that he could readily talk to everyone he met. When Oswin gave him a horse for use in difficult terrain, Aidan quixotically gave it to a beggar soliciting alms. Oswin was angry until, as Bede recounts, Aidan asked if the son of a mare was more precious to the king than a son of God. Oswin sought Aidan's pardon, and promised never again to question or regret any of his wealth being given away to children of God."
"The presents he received were given to the poor or used to buy the freedom of slaves, some of whom entered the priesthood. "

He was a man who intentionally created space for discipleship to take place.
"The saint also recruited classes of Anglo-Saxon youths to be educated at Lindisfarne. Among them was Saint Eata, abbot of Melrose and later of Lindisfarne. In time, Eata's pupil, Saint Cuthbert, also became bishop of Lindisfarne. "

May God grant grace,
that we might learn to tell the story of Jesus,
learn that it is more blessed to give than to receive
and learn to help those around us to see and follow Jesus.
By the power of the Spirit and for the sake of the kingdom.
Amen.

All quotes via Ireland's Eye.
Also, see Brittania's bio.
And the Wiki.

Abbey Life and The Affirmation of Creation's Goodness 1-4

Part 1
Living in intentional community demands an affirmation of the original goodness of Creation form those who enter into it. Any other view of the Creation (Creation as expendable or evil) would run against the nature of intentional community. This type of lifestyle seeks to allow God to speak to individuals through his Creation and to magnify him through the proper stewarding of the physical, spiritual and emotional gifts he has blessed us with.
I've been reading NT Wright's "The Resurrection of the Son of God" and his exploration on the matter is fascinating. Though it is a log read, it is well worth it. For a somewhat shortened view you can read a CT interview with him that posted in 2003.
A quote:
"...the main thing the whole Old Testament is concerned with is the God of Israel, as the Creator God who has made a good creation, and that what matters about human life really is that it's meant to be lived within God's good, lovely, created world.That is equally emphatic in the early period, where you get agricultural festivals that celebrate Yahweh as king over the crops and the land. It's equally emphatic there and in the doctrine of resurrection. From that point of view, the idea of a disembodied, nonspacio-temporal life after death appears as a rather odd blip in between these two strong affirmations of the goodness of the created order and the wonderful God-givenness of human bodily life within that created order."
I'll let this settle and post some more thoughts soon regarding the proper use of Creation in the honor of the Creator.

Part 2
The Resurrection and Thanksgiving
The bodily resurrection of Jesus points to the passion of God's heart for all things to be set right. Jesus, as the second Adam, lived the life God had intended for mankind to live and the resurrection of Jesus' body was God's confirmation of approval upon Jesus' life. Not only was it a confirmation, but a promise. The resurrection is a promise to those who believe that, one day in the future, this physical world, broken and failing, will participate in the same renewal as the body of Jesus. The Creation, good from the beginning, will be healed and set right under the rule of Jesus.
The resurrection of Jesus now points us towards the day when the physical experience we enjoy will be completely renewed and perfected. From this pointing we derive a mandate towards a lifestyle that can, in some sense, be called "prophetic." This living is prophetic because it plays out, in very real experiences, the picture of the life that is to come. It is prophetic because it employs the values that were sealed and affirmed by God in Jesus' resurrection that will ultimately be played out for eternity under the renewed/New Creation.
Abbey Life (AL)/"intentional community" attempts to integrate these two strains of thought in one microcosmic experience. AL seeks to create space where the living out of Kingdom values can take place "under one roof."
AL affirms God’s statement in Jesus’ bodily resurrection that the Creation is good. It affirms that everything that is made is made by God and demands to be acknowledged as so. It affirms that God is to be thanked for the things that we enjoy and partake of from the physical realm.
Rom 14:6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.
Eph 5:20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Tim 4:4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving

Part 3
Relationships In Abbey Life
AL seeks to embody the values of Jesus in regards to the interpersonal lives of those involved. With the bodily resurrection of Jesus giving value to the created order, we see God's continued affirmation of those he has called to salvation and a belief in their redemption and renewal. We see in the resurrection and play out in AL this belief:
Relationships now center in Jesus and progress by finding their value in his values.
Those who would journey together, whether as a guest for a meal or a year as housemates, seek to interact with one another based upon certain values.
Love
Servanthood
Encouragement
Humility
...and more.
This intentional community has this intention: To create followers of Jesus' way. To help shape people to interact with one another using the power and values of Jesus dreams regarding God's fulfilled kingdom.
Of course, living in the world, those involved in these relationships are not yet perfected and transgressions and offenses will happen. AL will also provide space for this brokenness on the grounds of the Cross of Jesus. He bids us to come with this brokenness with our confession and cry for help. He bids us first to be reconciled to himself. He bids us then to be reconciled to one another. Nothing else will do. The Cross has purchased our reconciliation and to settle for less will result in the bankruptcy of our relationships.
So, those who would journey together, whether as a guest for a meal or a year as housemates, seek to interact with one another based upon certain values.
Confession
Forgiveness
Grace
...and the like.

Part 4
Abbey Life and The Stewarding of Finances
We are encouraged in the Scriptures that the goal of mankind is a life lived for the glory of God and the sake of his Kingdom on the earth: Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto youWhatever you do, whether in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Part of this life includes the stewardship of our finances.
Abbey life seeks to create an environment of encouragement to direct the stewarding of our finances towards the kingdom of God. Our primary goal in spending should be the furthering on the Kingdom of God in this world. This is not simply an "otherworldy" perspective where we give to a "cause" for some unknown eventual profit, for this spending has very practical ramifications. Paying our bills on time, taking care of the poor, bearing one another's burdens all fall into this category. Good stewardship teaches us a right use of the financial gifts God has entrusted to our care.
This does not negate the use of gifts for pleasure (see here), for we know that enjoying the gifts of this world is part of our experience as complete human beings. Using our finances to experience good things in life for what they are, opportunities to experience the joy of the Creator in his creation, is good stewardship. It is the abuse of gifts, over-indulgence, selfishness and the like, that constitutes falling short in the goals of good stewardship.
We do well to examine the motives of our spending. This is where we will find the condition of our stewardship.

Jeff Congrats!

17 Years of education: $???.00
Gas to get there: $???.00
Graduation party this Sunday night: Priceless, because it won't cost him thing!

J+K Out

Dec 9th-11th, Austin (Peter Nevland)
Jan 12th-15th, Boulder (Groundworks)

First Post

The first post is always the hardest.
Like steel.
Like rock.