Do You Think That God Has Given Up On Us?

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Do You Think That God Has Given Up On Us?
Luke 14:25-33
The Cost of Discipleship
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights  in the desert toward my poor people, not to winnow or cleanse— 12 wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them.22 “For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.” 23 I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. 25 I looked, and lo, there was no one at all, and all the birds of the air had fled. 26 I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger. 27 For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. 28 Because of this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above grow black; for I have spoken, I have purposed; I have not relented nor will I turn back.

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There is no way to read this passage from Jeremiah and not compare it in some way to all the news that we hear each day from around the globe. It does indeed seem that there is a hot wind blowing fiercely at us, the foolish people, the stupid children. From record-breaking heat, fire, and floods right in our backyards to Saharan dust clouds high in the atmosphere, it is not hard to imagine that our fruitful land will be a desert and that the cities will be laid in ruins. Yet verse 27 of Jeremiah’s lament reminds us that the Lord is not going to end it here; there is something on the other side of this desolation.

Jeremiah’s prophecy is not exactly hopeful, but it also does not allow us to simply give up and pack it in. Things are going to be bad, “the earth shall mourn,” but we remain God’s people, we have no choice but to remain steadfast in our faith as we move through what might be our own dark night of the soul.

  • Do you think that God has given up on us, or is there a chance for redemption?
  • What in this passage might give you insight into a way through these dark days?
This Bible study, written by The Rev. Amy Feins

St. Alban’s Member Releases Music

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St. Alban’s Member Releases Music 

Sam Bindschadler (Lisa Jackson & Duane Bindschadler son), has released his first single called, “Know You Better.” You can listen to his music on any streaming platform (Spotify, ITunes, Apple Music, You Tube etc.). Support ” Know You Better” by Sam James now.

Building In Time To Pause & Re-examine Your Attachments & Priorities

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Building In Time To Pause & Re-examine Your Attachments & Priorities
Luke 14:25-33

The Cost of Discipleship

25 Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, 26 “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

– – – – – –

Crowds have gathered around Jesus, pushing past each other to hear what he has to say. Casting an eye over the crowd, Jesus sees that they surely don’t realize what a commitment following his path will be. After all, following Jesus requires letting go of things that previously seemed important or alluring and reorienting to a new way of living.

This requirement brings us back to Jeremiah’s words, “Turn now… amend your ways and your doings.” Jesus is reminding those listening that it isn’t possible to maintain the values of the dominant culture when making a commitment to God’s vision for the world. All the possessions and social standing that seemingly help one get ahead aren’t much help when following Jesus’ sacrificial way of living. One cannot merely give lip service to walking in the way of Jesus—it requires an examination of priorities, attachments, and patterns of living. The good news is that doing so lightens our load for the journey so that we are freed to pay attention to where God is moving and how we might join with others in God’s work in the world.

  • Do you build in time to pause and re-examine your attachments and priorities? The transition from summer to fall can be a fruitful time to re-evaluate habits and commitments and how we might live in a more Christ-shaped way.
This Bible study, written by Lucy Strandlund

Using Your Status To Uplift Others

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Using Your Status To Uplift Others
Luke 14:1, 7-14
1 On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

Humility and Hospitality7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; 9 and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

12 He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

– – – – – –

In this passage, Jesus is eating dinner at the home of a religious leader. The text notes that those present were “watching him closely,” but Jesus is observing them carefully as well. Luke says that when Jesus noticed how the guests were choosing places of honor, he was moved to speak in a parable. Throughout the Gospel of Luke, Jesus’ parables serve to shift his hearers’ thinking by ending in unexpected ways and helping his audience to see in a new light.

We can gather from this scene that one’s place at the table is important, as are honor and status. It also seems that then, like today, it was tempting to think one could only achieve honor and status by moving to the head of the table and asserting one’s place. What Jesus encourages, however, is to flip the norm and sit at the other end of the table. While this goes against the expected, it is a powerful action. After all, when a person of status takes a lower seat at the table, they are opening up seats for those who would never dare take a higher seat. They are indicating through their actions, without speaking a word, that they value those who might be considered “lower”. Jesus is helping them to see that the true honor is in lifting up others and that those who draw all the eyes in the room have a unique opportunity to elevate those who go unnoticed.

  • Where might you use your status to make room for and lift up another?
This Bible study, written by Lucy Strandlund

5 Hard Truths for the Church About Millennials

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5 Hard Truths for the Church About Millennials
“Contrary to popular belief, we (millennials) can’t be won back with hipper worship bands, fancy coffee shops, or pastors who wear skinny jeans.” – Rachel Held Evans

In the world of organized Christianity, few topics are more hot button than the Millennial generation.
Who are they? How do you reach them? Why are they exiting the church in record numbers?

If the Church is going to find meaningful engagement with the Millennial generation that is leaving, we are going to have to accept some hard truths:

Millennials are finding meaningful community outside of church.

There’s a sentiment within the Church that Christianity has the market cornered in meaningful community. While I would certainly argue tooth and nail that Christ-centered love is the basis for the most profound and revolutionary community experience, to assume people can’t find love and belonging outside of the Church is simply ridiculous.

Millennials know it, because they are out building their own communities of specialized groups around their own interests and doing just fine. Just look at the vibrant communities centering around local craft beer or cycling. More and more people are gravitating to communities that tap into what they are already involved in and excited about. Plus, it is easier than ever to communicate and gather thanks to the mobile devices and the social networks. Millennials simply do not have to come to church to experience meaningful community.

While I understand that Christians need fellowship with one another (I am a small group pastor after all). The fact of the matter is that Millennials are able to have fellowship, without the church. Perhaps it’s because technology is connecting them more easily, but what once brought people together in community, is quite simply becoming irrelevant.

The Church is lame in areas of art, music and technology.

Over fifty years ago when we were going through the social revolution in America, the more conservative minded went after politics to effect change, and the more liberally minded went after the arts. Today the fruit of those decisions are plain for all to see. Politics seem to be helpless to do much of anything, while Hollywood and New York (centers of art and influence) have served as bookends that have shifted our national worldview. What does this have to with the Church? Well, as a whole, Christians and churches have been lumped in with the conservatives while secular worldviews have been lumped in with the liberals. The result—both perception and reality—is that the Church in America has vacated the arts, and it is acutely perceived by the Millennials. Currently, the Church simply does not produce the same level of quality and excellence in the areas that create the biggest influence in our country.

 

Millennials are Seeking Deeper Truths.

Millennials are still seeking ‘transcendence’. Because they are building meaningful communities and experiencing beauty outside of a traditional framework that provides deeper answers to life—Millennials are still seeking foundational truths and longing for transcendence. The Church should be ecstatic about this, having been established by the Transcendent One! Unfortunately, the perception of the Church is that it is anti-intellectual, anti-science, and a place that suppresses questions and doubts. The hard truth is, we know they will be seeking transcendence…that search just probably won’t happen in our churches.

Millennials are going to start something.

The Millennial generation has an insatiable entrepreneurial spirit. They’ve been told that they can do anything—and they believe it! What’s more, they see the endless possibilities and opportunities to a greater degree than any other generation before them. And they want to make a genuine difference! This post isn’t the place to comment on wisdom, respect and earning the right (all valid points), I’m simply stating the truth that 16-29 year olds are going to start something. They feel the need to create. What the Church should be doing is empowering them to do just that. Unfortunately the typical experience is the opposite. What Millennials feel within the church is a lid. Clear space and let them lead!

They also have confidence, when asked if they thought their age held them back in their job or speaking up to elders at work they said a resounding no. So why hold them back?

The Church is still being perceived as judgmental and hypocritical.

Like a broken record, I hear stories of leaving the church because of feeling judged. There is a repulsion of this idea of “Sunday Christians” that Millennials are still seeing.  It’s been ten years since Unchristian released and gave us a clear picture of how people outside the Church viewed Christians. It’s been 2,000 years since Jesus told us to remove the plank from our own eye and died on the cross so that we wouldn’t have to judge others salvation based on performance. It’s high time we eliminate this perception.

There are many more truths we need to accept as the Church, but these are the ones that jump out at me as I sat and listened to the Millennial panels at the Future of the Church Summit. What are some other hard truths you’ve observed?
by Austin Maxheimer

When Has God Been Your Refuge?

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When Has God Been Your Refuge?
Psalm 71
Prayer for Lifelong Protection and Help
1 In you, O Lord, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me. 3 Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress,[a] to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. 4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel. For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth. 6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you.

– – – – – –

In Psalm 71, the psalmist presents themselves as aged (v. 9), perhaps looking back and appealing to God not to forget them. It is a lament mingled with appeal, hope, and praise of God. The theme of God as refuge implies the psalmist’s relationship with God is one of seeing God as providing safety but also as one of a sanctuary (v. 2) or more concretely, as a stronghold (v. 3). The psalmist also expresses their faith in God from birth until now (v. 5-6).

  • When has God been your refuge? How have the psalms been a part of that experience or how could they be in the future?
  • How do your prayers to God resemble this psalm or not? What in this psalm inspires your own prayers to God?
This Bible study, written by Lisa Ginggen

What Is Fruitful In Your Life & What Needs Trimming?

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What Is Fruitful In Your Life & What Needs Trimming?
Isaiah 5:1-7

1 Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 2 He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. 3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4 What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? 5 And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. 6 I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!- – – – – –

Chapter five concludes the introductory section of the Book of Isaiah. While previous chapters have been hopeful, chapter five is one of indictment and judgment. The primary verdict is that God’s people have acted unjustly; they have not acted in accordance with God’s justice. Isaiah uses the metaphor of a vineyard, depicting God’s activity as agricultural labor. Israel and Judah are the vineyard in which God has labored, striving for good fruit, but what his people have yielded is inedible. He will now remove them from the land promised to their forefathers and it shall become a wasteland. Saint Jerome recalls the tears that Jesus shed for Jerusalem in Luke 19:41-44, weeping for the city that is the religious and political center of his people. Saint Basil the Great offers a spiritual reading of this passage, calling each of us to be vines in the vineyard, cultivating fruit in our souls and in our lives, so that we might not be thrown into the fire. One might think of Jesus cursing the fig tree in Mark 11 or the vine that is burned in John 15. Let us respond to, rather than reject, the Lord’s cultivating labor.

  • Where do you see fruitful branches in your life? Where do you see branches needing to be trimmed?
  • We do not often think of God grieving over his people. How does such an image change your perspective of Isaiah’s prophetic message?
This Bible study, written by Jake Schlossberg

Commission Invites Letter-Writing To State Senators For Action On Miles Hall Lifeline Act, 9-8-8 Mental Health Call Centers

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Commission Invites Letter-Writing To State Senators For Action On Miles Hall Lifeline Act, 9-8-8 Mental Health Call Centers
The Bishop’s Commission on Gospel Justice and Community Care are urging California clergy and laity to join a letter-writing campaign for senate action on the Miles Hall Lifeline Act in the state legislature.

The recent launch of the national 9-8-8 mental health crisis phone line, now accessible by every phone in the United States, has increased the interest in AB 988, the Miles Hall Lifeline Act in the California legislature, notes Sister Patricia Sarah Terry, commission chair.

Passage of this bill has been supported by mental health organizations, many police departments, and the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times.

AB 988 went before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday, Aug. 1, and the meeting can be viewed here. If the bill passed Appropriations, it would go to the Senate floor for a vote by all senators.

 Is There A Promise You Hope For That Inspires Your Faith?

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 Is There A Promise You Hope For That Inspires Your Faith?
Hebrews 11: 1-3; 8-16

1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

13 All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, 14 for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.
– – – – – –

In this passage from Hebrews, we hear the story of Abraham and Sarah cast as a story of faith in God’s promises. Abraham and Sarah, argues the writer, trusted that God’s promises would be fulfilled in God’s own time. These words were likely written within 50 years of Jesus’ resurrection and were meant as an assurance to those following the nascent Christian faith that, if Abraham and Sarah can act in faith, trusting that God would prepare a city for them, Christians can draw inspiration from them, and trust that God’s will shall unfold in God’s own time.

It’s been a long time since these words were written to reassure first-century Christians. We are still waiting for the full revelation of God’s kingdom on earth. Just like the descendants of Abraham, many generations of Christians “died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them” (v. 13).

  • Sometimes, the idea that the promises of God will be revealed in God’s own time can breed complacency. But the author of Hebrews argues that Abraham’s, Sarah’s, and their offspring’s faith in God’s future promises kept them moving. Is there a promise you hope for that inspires your faith? How does that promise inspire you?
This Bible study, written by Kirstin Swanson

Do You Feel At Times Unable To Pray?

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The Lord’s Prayer1 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

Perseverance in Prayer5 And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

– – – – – –

This passage in Luke’s Gospel begins a long section about discipleship, so it is fitting that he begins by talking about prayer. The Lord’s Prayer serves as a template for structuring prayer (it is shorter than Matthew’s version): adoration, supplication, and confession, as well as moral implications. Luke impresses the attitude and ethos of prayer: it should be continuous. As Paul said, we “pray without ceasing.”

Jesus’ disciples speak for us when they ask Jesus to teach them to pray. Such a request is one that we might make today! After all, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, “God is the first mover of all things,” so we must rely on the Holy Spirit to move us first, that we might participate in prayer. But the Lord has given us the words to pray that we might not be completely lost. Not only has he given us the Lord’s Prayer, but he has also given us all of Scripture, most notably the Psalms. And these prayers are both temporal and spiritual. The Lord himself has taught us to pray for both our physical needs and our spiritual needs.

  • Can you recall a time you felt unable to pray?
  • Do you have a memory of a prayer that was answered? Do you have a memory of a prayer that you felt was unanswered? How did you respond in those cases?
This Bible study, written by Jake Schlossberg