The Counterculture Ethic (2) – Mercy and Commitment

Rob Woodrum2 Comments

Before we get to the verse we’re studying this Sunday (Mother’s Day, in case you forgot)…I want to run something by you.

I was talking with my friend Allen Newton, the pastor of Woodlawn UMC, and he told me he felt God laid it on his heart to ask local Christians to join in on a specific time for prayer, concerning our community…the oil spill, the economy…the whole thing.  Instead of this being a big, organized, publicized deal, his thought was “let’s just tell Christians to go to the beach, whatever one they like or frequent, at 5pm on Sunday afternoon, and pray for our beach.”  I love the idea…it sounds like a move of the Spirit to me.  No program or huge organizational arrangement…just something organic and honest.  Just knowing that at 5pm, Sunday afternoon, Christians will gather all along the beach to ask God for His mercy on our community and His help in our lives…quietly, but confidently…just gets me stoked.

So, to recap: This is not an organized outreach or publicity deal…there is NO rally point…just go to the beach at 5pm on Sunday, May 9th, and pray. How long you stay is up to you.  Ask God for His mercy, ask Him to help stem the flow of the oil spill, ask Him to meet the needs of our community….ask that His kingdom comes, and His will be done, here and now like it’s done in His realm.  Who knows what the Lord may do if we ask Him.

Also, if you read this before 6pm on Thursday May 6th, there is a prayer meeting concerning the oil spill being rallied by West Bay Advent Christian Church (soon to be named Salt Life Church), at the City Pier out by Pier Park.

This Sunday we’ll be reading Luke 6:37-49

We’re going to consider Jesus’ counterculture ethic which calls us to avoid a critical spirit, be forgiving and generous…and also challenges us to a radical commitment to what he’s taught us about life.

Lets be honest…these are hard sayings by Christ.  Of all these things he mentions…which is the hardest to swallow?  Is it easy for you to forgive?  Do you feel like you apply the same standard to yourself that you apply to others?

The Counterculture Ethic – A Radical Love

Rob Woodrum4 Comments

Hey Ever’body!

This Sunday we’re going to look at the teachings of Jesus that I warned you about last Sunday.  My warning was only tongue in cheek, but what we will read is definitely something believers have struggled with since Jesus first uttered it.  We’re going to look at Luke 6:27-36.

Jesus makes some powerful and profound statements about God’s definition of love.  It is all very familiar stuff, and could easily be read past as a nice reminder to follow the “golden rule”…unless we make it personal.  Imagine someone in your life who’s hurt you.  Whether they cheated you or told a lie about you or abandoned you…whatever it may be.  Imagine that person, and then read all that Jesus says here about how love thinks and acts, and imagine doing what he says for the person who wronged you.  For that person.  It certainly isn’t the easiest of things to do, is it?

It would have been one thing if he just told us not to retaliate…we can usually find the nerve to grit our teeth and not fight back.  But he pushes the boundaries so far out…he tells us to be active in showing love to difficult people.  Jesus gives us a few reasons why we would do this, and a bit of an idea what it will result in.  What are those things?

How do you see this part of Jesus’ teachings effecting your own life?  Is this something you struggle with or ignore (I don’t offer the option of it being something you do well because I don’t want to tempt you into lying, … no one does this well).

What are your thoughts on this passage?  Do we take it literally, or is it just a nice thought, or something for the future, or an ideal couched in hyperbole?  What is your take?

See you Sunday.

A Change of Priorities

Rob Woodrum2 Comments

Hey everyone! Hope your week is going well.  This Sunday we’re going to be looking at Luke 6:12-26.

The narrative transitions from the conflicts Jesus had with the Pharisees to the choosing of the 12 apostles and the establishing of the Kingdom ethic.  As we explore this passage this week, I’m going to try and focus on the change in priorities that Jesus introduces us to.  A change from the standard priorities of this broken world to the values and priorities of Jesus’ kingdom project (to use a phrase coined by N.T. Wright).

v 12-16 we have the account of Jesus selecting his 12 apostles.  This occurs after an all night prayer session that Jesus has.  As I look at that list of names, something occurred to me as I considered Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot both being included on the team.  Considering the differences between the values these two men may have embraced, what, if anything, does it speak to you about our priorities and purposes in the community of Christ’s followers?

v 17-19 describes Jesus ministering to the multitudes.  If you were to try and summarize with one word the priorities revealed in these verses, what would it be?

v 20-26 begin what is referred to as “the sermon on the plain“, where Jesus teaches many of the same things, with a few variations, as he taught in the “sermon on the mount”.  With this opening salvo of “beatitudes”, or blessings, and the contrasting “woes”…what kind of picture do we see emerging about the values of the kingdom project?  Where does personal comfort place in these values?  Do these verses comfort or disturb you (or both)?

This should be a very interesting study…you never know, it may even get me into trouble.

See yer’ Sunday!

Against the Grain of Legalism

Rob Woodrum9 Comments

Hey…you know what?  15 years ago today, we had our very first Sunday meeting under the moniker of Eastgate Christian Fellowship.  A handful of broken misfits sitting around in a converted dress shop in the Promenade Mall, which has grown into a larger gathering of broken misfits sitting around in a converted gym.  I can remember the trepidation I felt that morning…concerned that I didn’t really know what I was doing.  After 15 years, I’m still waiting for that feeling to subside.  Nevertheless, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Eastgate…I think some good things have come of this experiment, in spite of us!

This Sunday we’ll be reading Luke 6:1-11.

In this passage, Jesus is confronted about the keeping of the Sabbath in two different stories.  V 5 and V9 seem to be the bottom line to each of the encounters.  What do you take from these vignettes?  What is Jesus trying to convey to the religious leaders about the law, Himself and what it means to please God?

When we  think about the Pharisees’ application of the law, what warning can we take to ourselves in our own application of the Gospel?

It should be an interesting study, hope you can make it!

One Touch Cleaning

Rob Woodrum3 Comments

Hey all…sorry this is late.  This Sunday we’ll be reading Luke 5:12-16, the story of how a man with leprosy got healed.  Jewish law forbade anyone to get too close to a person with leprosy, obviously to curb the spread of contamination.  A person would be considered ceremonially unclean if he were to actually touch a person who had leprosy.

What does Jesus do when a person with this disease approaches him?

What do we learn about ourselves from this…both how Jesus treats us, and how we should treat others?

The graphic novel is coming along nicely.  I’m inking page 25 (out of 28) today while Robbie is flatting pages 23-24,—and should only miss the first deadline by a few days.  I’ve been given until the first part of April to get my part done.  Thanks for all the kind words and prayers for this project.  Below are a few examples of inked and colored pages.  Ben Avery is doing the lettering.

Fishing For Disciples

Rob Woodrum2 Comments

Normally “fishing stories” are associated with exaggerations and misrepresentations…but in our study in Luke 5:1-11, we will see another kind of fish story.

“Fishin’ With Jesus” could have been a cool show for early morning local TV.  Better yet, Discovery could have done a new reality series called “Heaviest Catch”… except it might have gotten a little monotonous after a while.  You’d do interviews and back-stories on the local fishermen shot on location at the local pub, get tours of their fishing vessels and quick instructions on how they go about deciding where and when to fish and what equipment they use.

Then the big moment when Jesus is introduced to them and he goes out on a fishing run with them.  Each show would have a predictable ending, where everything looks like they’re going to get skunked…and then the hand-held cameras start shaking around and you hear shouting and when the lense finally finds it’s stable focus…you see the fishing nets filled to beyond capacity and the boat is listing and Jesus is laughing telling the greenhorn that he has a sister who could pull the net faster than him. Cut to theme song and teaser for next week’s episode.

The thing is, in the story about Jesus and the big catch of fish, we find that miracle is actually only the platform being used to tell another story.  A story that teaches us something about what it means to follow Jesus.  The reason we know this is because in v10, Jesus merges the act of literal fishing with his call on Peter’s life to advance the message of the Kingdom of God, revealing to us that the whole story is a living metaphor.  As best we can make out, a metaphor about following Jesus…being a disciple.

As you read the story, break it up into four parts.  Read v1-3 and think about Simon’s (Peter’s) role.  What Did Jesus ask of him, what did he do…and how can you translate that to YOUR life?

Then read v4-7 and consider the same things concerning Peter and Jesus.  Again, read v8-10 considering the same questions.  Finally, read v11 and re-read it and then read it again, and ask yourself, what does this mean about ME?

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.  See yaz Sunday.

The Authority of Christ

Rob Woodrum5 Comments

This Sunday we’ll be looking at Luke 4:21-44.

Right on the heels of Jesus declaring that the prophecy of Isa 61:1-2a were fulfilled, he goes out and demonstrates just how it is He will be fulfilling His messianic calling.  While the people of Nazareth rejected Jesus, the people to the North-West in Capernaum have a very different reaction.  They are filled with wonder…because of Jesus’ “authority“.

What things does Jesus demonstrate His authority over in this passage?  What can it tell us about our own life specifically?  How often do we ever think about the forces that operate behind what’s seen with the natural eye?  What do we learn from Jesus’ interaction with those forces?

For all of His authority, Jesus also demonstrates submission as well.  What does Jesus submit to, and what does He NOT submit to in the last few verses of this passage?

Good stuff to consider, we’ll unpack it more on Sunday!

Closed Hearts to a Wide Open God

Rob Woodrum2 Comments

This Sunday we”ll continue in Luke’s gospel, reading chapter 4:14-30.

Many scholars believe Luke’s gospel intentionally reverses Mark’s order of Jesus’ return home and his ministry in Capernaum in order to provide a sort of overview of what will characterize Jesus’ ministry all through the story.  It’s sort of a microcosm of the whole thing.

In the text we’ll read, Jesus is the Homeboy who returns to the neighborhood after generating quite a bit of interest in his ministry while in the larger town of Capernaum in Galilee. As he goes to church with his old friends and neighbors, he is offered the customary honor of being the reader of the Scriptures that day.  The Synagogue of that time was structured in a very similar way to our present day order of any given church service – with songs, prayers, the reading of the Torah and a short talk on how it should be applied to a person’s life.  If a rabbi or honored guest was in town, he was asked to read the Torah for the group, and share any insights he may have.

So, Jesus is handed a scroll (a seemingly random affair which held such huge significance), and he reads from Isaiah 61.  He hands back the scroll, sits in the chair of honor, and with everyone waiting in rapt silence, announces that the prophecy he just read is being fulfilled at that moment.

Cut to pandemonium: Everyone is marching Jesus out of the synagogue toward a cliff outside of town…brandishing pitchforks and baseball bats, crying out for Jesus’ death.

So what happened?  Why did the people of Jesus’ own home town react like this toward him?  As you read it, and consider the place, the people (including their racial heritage)  and the implications of Jesus’ words…what do you think made them so mad?  In wanting to follow Jesus, how would we avoid doing what the fine religious folks of Nazareth did?

Stuff to chew on….see you Sunday.

Temptation: Settling for Less

Rob Woodrum3 Comments

Hey, hey!  I’m finally back to somewhat normal patterns, which leads me back to Wonderwhat!   I’ll do my best to keep updating with thoughts about our upcoming studies, but I will warn you that for the next month or so, I’ve got a lot on my plate.  For the last year, Ken Raney of Clash Creative has been negotiating with Voice of the Martyrs to do a series of graphic novel adaptations of some of the stories of triumph that have come from Christians who have endured persecution in closed nations.  I was asked to participate in this project, and a few weeks ago, they finally gave the go-ahead.  Needless to say, I have a lot of work ahead of me in laying out, penciling, inking and hopefully coloring said project.  Ben Avery wrote a compelling script…which has had me in tears multiple times as I’ve tried to convey this story through pictures.  Pray for me if you think of it…I need to learn how to draw and fast….I want, with all my heart, to do this story justice.

This Sunday we’ll be looking at Luke 4:1-13.

It’s a fascinating passage about the temptation of Christ in the wilderness.  It provides us food for thought concerning our own struggles with temptation…but it also gives us an amazing insight into just what kind of Messiah Jesus intended to be (and IS).  Jesus had to break with many of the expectations concerning the messiah in His day, and we see that the break from accepted patterns wasn’t just a public thing…it was initiated in the most private of times, alone and unobserved.

Here’s something interesting: if you get the chance, read Deuteronomy 8 and then read Luke 4:1-13 right after it.  What connections do you see?  Do you think there was a point being made in the nature of the temptations recounted in Jesus’ story?  Beyond that, what do we learn about the nature of temptation in general?  If we describe it as settling for less…less than what?  What do we learn about how to resist temptation from Jesus’ story?

This should be an interesting study…hope to see you this Sunday!

Lost and Found

Rob Woodrum1 Comment

Sunday we’ll be looking at Luke 2:41-52.

This is the one and only account we have of Jesus as an adolescent child.  Many scholars dispute its legitimacy in the text…but frankly, if someone were going to make up a story about Jesus’ childhood and insert it, I would suspect they would make it more exciting than this.  I mean…Jesus gets lost at the mall?  Really?  That’s what someone invented to make the story more interesting?  I just doubt it.

I’m going to dig into three theological truths that we learn about Jesus from this story.  As you read it, what do you learn about Jesus from what he says and does?

I’m also going to draw three parallels from Joseph and Mary’s perspective concerning our own relationship to Jesus.  What parallels do you see to your own journey with Christ in this section?

That’s the stuff to think about until Sunday.  See yaz then!