Romans 5:1-5

Summary: it's Paul, speaking to the Romans, and I need to chart this a bit: 

- we have peace with God through Jesus because He is our Lord

- we have grace with God through Jesus because we have faith in Him

- we rejoice in both hope and suffering, because suffering eventually produces hope

- finally, the hope lives up to the hype because the Holy Spirit fills in the gap

Response: Sometimes reading Paul sounds like trying to articulate a feeling to someone who's never had it, done by a college professor. It's very thorough, but they pull from so many dense sources that it's hard to keep up without some study. I can understand, though, that he would want to get this kind of thing right as can be. 

The thought is helpful for me to see where I fit in relationship to the Trinity. There is relationship with each part; it is different for each, but the end goal is still the same. Lord, help me to praise You for who You are in all the ways You are, well, You to me. 

Psalm 8 (redux)

Summary: The psalmist praises God and does some perspective taking: man above most of creation, but God way, way up above. 

Response: In the same way that I couldn't conceive of ants having a society in the same way we do, I know that God has ways far beyond what I can understand. 

Last time I read through Psalms was just that, read straight through Psalms. Getting some lectionary context, I might be able to read around my usual irk with the bloodlust in the poems. It often seems like the psalmist says, "God you made all the pretty plants and animals, and you cuddle up with me, and the people I don't like should die die die." I hope you can see how it is difficult to relate to that! 

This one feels a bit different in context. I'm able to read it less as "put my enemy out of their misery" and more of "since you're so much bigger than this, why are we even fighting at all?" Lord, help me to see my problems in Your bigger picture. 

Proverbs 8:22-31

Summary: Wisdom, still speaking anthropomorphically, makes the claim that she was created before Creation and helped with its founding. 

Response: I often miss this point of view when we get to the Genesis creation stories. It always seems like, before the Seven Days, there is not order but chaos. How does perspective change when, instead of God coming and fixing up a mess, He has an order already established and changes it to create us?

Jonathan Colton has a song he wrote for his daughter. He admits that his life seemed put together before she was born; that change was necessary from the life that he had before that and now with her; and that it's impossible to go back, but he doesn't really want to. "You ruined everything, in the nicest way."

Lord, we really did ruin everything. You chose to remake the order to make and fellowship with us. Thank You for this sacrifice among others. Help me to appreciate and emulate. 

Proverbs 8:1-4

Summary: Wisdom is personified as a woman garnering attention at a very public crossroads.

Response: it's hard to put this in a modern context. There is no attention at our crossroads! Either it's literal, and we're driving in cars to get whenever we need to go, or it's social media, and we have so many voices screaming at us and so much dopamine flying around that's it's difficult to focus on anything for too long. Lord, slow me down and focus me on what is important. You have not made me to solve the world, but to worship and commune with You.

1 Thessalonians 2:17-20

Summary: Paul is still attaboy-ing the church in Thessalonica, that even when Paul had to leave, he wanted to come back again. 

Response: If I'm honest at the moment, my home church feels like the opposite. Lord, I feel like people are more and more drawn away from my church. I understand ebbs and flows, but help me gain peace for this, and help me to be ready when the tide comes back in. 

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

Summary: Paul recounts for the church in Thessalonica their story together: him, traveling in from persecution and working while preaching; them, open to the ideas presented even at the terrible cost of their own persecution. 

Response: Less bragging and more about recounting for each other (and other churches, who would definitely get this letter to read aloud)? Hard to tell without a ministerial degree. But in all seriousness, it's a great testimony. Why is my knee jerk reaction to a testimony to put down the human aspects and not glorify God for His involvement? Lord, help me to see You and believe You. 

1 Thessalonians 1:6-10

Summary: Paul continues his praise of the church in Thessalonica, how they turned from idols and followed the way of Jesus instead, becoming a great example for churches in their area. 

Response: It's not directly in here, but I struggle with witnessing in a position of power. I'm a teacher. Students depend on me for all sorts of things. I feel like I can't, in good conscience, tell them my beliefs in the same manner that I tell them facts about my subject. I put up big warning signs anytime we broach the topic. But I do my best to show my beliefs. Lord, help me to show, even if I don't tell, of Your love.