Date: 14 Mar 2000
Time: 21:14:08

Comment

testing

Date: 15 Mar 2000
Time: 16:04:41

Comment

Unfortunately the NRSV makes Paul sound wooden and lifeless. Here is the New Living Translation of 13 and 14 (apologies to my profs at QTC):

"It is clear, then, that God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his decendants was not based on obedience to God's law, but on a new relationship with God that comes by faith. So if you claim that God's promise is for those that obey God's law and think they are 'good enough' in God's sight, then they are saying that faith is useless."

A key theme for Lent is a new relationship with God through faith. While it sounds simple, it opens to all sorts of possibilities such as baptism, repentance, spiritual disciplines and the new thing God will do at Good Friday/Easter.

A new relationship with God (through faith) will allow the people (like me) who are not good enough to trust that we are loved and forgiven.

Date: 15 Mar 2000
Time: 19:59:08

Comment

Forgot to sign my comment...michael@westcreek.net

Date: 16 Mar 2000
Time: 00:55:46

Comment

Thanks, Michael! I want to preach on this text, with the Genesis passage read earlier in the service. But I was having a terrible time making Paul's words meaningful in today's language. This New Living paraphrase gives lots of material to work with. Dot

Date: 16 Mar 2000
Time: 16:03:24

Comment

In the theme of Faith rather than Law, I am thinking of working on this text from the perspective of Cider House Rules. It is a very powerful movie about how doing the right thing is not always a matter of following the rules or even following certain lofty ideals. Being faithful to one's purpose in life, may mean doing the most loving thing even when it falls outside the bounderies of the rules and ideals.

Faith here is the courage to live one's life to the best, believing it is on the right track even though outword apearences may seem dismal. Faithfulness is living in this imperfect world with love and conviction of purpose. Faith is believing that each life is valuable even when it us badly out of tune.

Date: 18 Mar 2000
Time: 15:06:08

Comment

I've found Eugene Peterson's The Message interesting to use with this passage. My focus narrows down to one phrase in this passage: vs. 18 "hoping against hope." What does it mean to hope against hope? Abraham and Sarah's faith is an example of hoping against hope. How about the cross? When we take up our cross and share the suffering of others are we indeed 'hoping against hope'? Perhaps the Peter's reaction to Jesus'talk about the crucifixion is a negative example -- someone who couldn't hope against hope. I'm not a language scholar so if anyone knows more about this phrase, I'd love to hear about it. Thanks ~LJB

KHC To continue that thought, in case anybody cares,
the Jews of Paul's time were still clinging to the
notion that "righteousness" was related
to how well one kept the law of Moses. Well,
Abraham didn't have it, but he was still counted
as righteous. And, the belief in Jesus supersedes
the law of Moses. Jesus is the fulfillment of all
the law, and it is quite possible that even if we
did not have access to the Commandments and laws
in Exodus, Leviticus, etc, we would still know
them (or at least their true intent)through our
relationship with Christ. He is the embodiment of
all that is righteous, and through our faith in
him, we are counted (reckoned) as righteous right
along with Abraham, a flawed man who still
believed and followed.

I'm writing my sermon here. Forgive me for
rambling on. March 11, 2006 Magi in the Middle Dogwood Dave, Like everybody else, I'm a Lawist
when it's those other twits we're talking about
and a Gracist when it comes to me. Please, God,
save me from what I deserve! But THOSE PEOPLE,
they sould've known better! March 11, 2006 KHC TA in TX, my understanding of "reckoned"
in this Biblical sense is that Abraham's faith was
COUNTED as righteousness - and not only for his
sake, but also for all those generations to come
that God had promised him. That includes us, with
our faith being centered in God through Jesus
Christ. If we believe, our faith will be COUNTED,
too, in this wonderful thing called salvation.

Reckoning also holds the connotation of genesis.
Abraham's faith gave rise to a whole new nation.
When he believed and obeyed, he was building the
road of faith for those who would come after him.
Therefore, the righteousness he was displaying did
not stop with him, we are part of it. Of course,
we now have Jesus in the equation.....

Your grandmother was using yet another use of the
word "reckoning", as in "I
figure" or "I guess". Your
grandmother must come from my part of the country!

I hope this doesn't muddy the waters! March 10, 2006 TA in TX I am working on two angles here but could use some
help. I am not clear on the meaning of the word
"reckoned" here and would like other's
ideas. I looked it up in the dictionary and still
not clear. I remember my grandmother using the
word reckon in sentences such as "I reckon
so" when agreeing to something so it's not
computing for me.

I am going to lift up in my sermon how Abraham had
the faith to follow God without needing the PR
work ahead of time like we get with new products.
I am going to lift up the new show that Simon
Cowell is producing about American Inventors whose
dream is supposedly going to come true by showing
their new ideas for production to the world and
ask are we going to have faith in them just
because someone like Simon Cowell said they are
good or the PR departments, etc. (I figure that
in some ways this may be something that my young
members of the congregation might relate to as
they are fans of American Idol although I recently
found out that my oldest member who is 93 years
old also watches it.)

Abraham just knew that God would be one who would
give him all that was promised if he had faith in
God and followed God and did what God asked him to
do.

Just some thoughts.... March 10, 2006 TA in TX I am working on two angles here but could use some
help. I am not clear on the meaning of the word
"reckoned" here and would like other's
ideas. I looked it up in the dictionary and still
not clear. I remember my grandmother using the
word reckon in sentences such as "I reckon
so" when agreeing to something so it's not
computing for me.

I am going to lift up in my sermon how Abraham had
the faith to follow God without needing the PR
work ahead of time like we get with new products.
I am going to lift up the new show that Simon
Cowell is producing about American Inventors whose
dream is supposedly going to come true by showing
their new ideas for production to the world and
ask are we going to have faith in them just
because someone like Simon Cowell said they are
good or the PR departments, etc. (I figure that
in some ways this may be something that my young
members of the congregation might relate to as
they are fans of American Idol although I recently
found out that my oldest member who is 93 years
old also watches it.)

Abraham just knew that God would be one who would
give him all that was promised if he had faith in
God and followed God and did what God asked him to
do.

Just some thoughts.... March 10, 2006 TA in TX I am working on two angles here but could use some
help. I am not clear on the meaning of the word
"reckoned" here and would like other's
ideas. I looked it up in the dictionary and still
not clear. I remember my grandmother using the
word reckon in sentences such as "I reckon
so" when agreeing to something so it's not
computing for me.

I am going to lift up in my sermon how Abraham had
the faith to follow God without needing the PR
work ahead of time like we get with new products.
I am going to lift up the new show that Simon
Cowell is producing about American Inventors whose
dream is supposedly going to come true by showing
their new ideas for production to the world and
ask are we going to have faith in them just
because someone like Simon Cowell said they are
good or the PR departments, etc. (I figure that
in some ways this may be something that my young
members of the congregation might relate to as
they are fans of American Idol although I recently
found out that my oldest member who is 93 years
old also watches it.)

Abraham just knew that God would be one who would
give him all that was promised if he had faith in
God and followed God and did what God asked him to
do.

Just some thoughts.... March 10, 2006 Dogwood Dave Wesley White in the website of Kairos Comotion
Lectionary Dialogue asks the question:
When are we Lawists? and when are we Gracists?

I think that lends a stretching to our thoughts as
we weigh the above stated thoughts!

I know none of you have this problem, but I sure
find which ever works for my convenience seems to
be my situation ethics more than I want to admit. March 9, 2006 RevSue To the person who signed in "Nobody",
God always names us-Ain't nobody a Nobody. Where
friend is your self esteem? March 9, 2006 Nobody KHC has made it very simple and plain. Where
there is no actual law Christians cannot plead
ignorance. We have a law written on our hearts
just like God wanted. We know right from wrong
where the law is silent. I will call my sermon
"The Law Within". Thank you KHC. March 8, 2006 Robbie in KS Oops! Sorry for the double post! March 8, 2006 Robbie in KS I seem to be looking at alternating between
"life" and "death" in my
preaching this Lent. Each week my plan seems to
call for proclaiming the Word in terms of one word
or the other. This week I'm focusing on the
phrase "as good as dead" in v. 19.
Abraham did not weaken in faith even in
consideration of his age and the knowledge that
his body was "as good as dead" as far as
his ability to father children was concerned. I'm
wondering what that means for our faith. And,
what parts of our lives render us "as good as
dead" with regard to our faithfulness. How
do we overcome that "deadness" so that
we can live out our faithfulness even when it
seems to us that our lives have as little
potential as Abraham appeared to have before he
received the promise of God? How does our
faithfulness even in our "deadness"
point towards the Resurrection during our
observance of Lent?

Still chewing on this... March 8, 2006 Robbie in KS I seem to be looking at alternating between
"life" and "death" in my
preaching this Lent. Each week my plan seems to
call for proclaiming the Word in terms of one word
or the other. This week I'm focusing on the
phrase "as good as dead" in v. 19.
Abraham did not weaken in faith even in
consideration of his age and the knowledge that
his body was "as good as dead" as far as
his ability to father children was concerned. I'm
wondering what that means for our faith. And,
what parts of our lives render us "as good as
dead" with regard to our faithfulness. How
do we overcome that "deadness" so that
we can live out our faithfulness even when it
seems to us that our lives have as little
potential as Abraham appeared to have before he
received the promise of God? How does our
faithfulness even in our "deadness"
point towards the Resurrection during our
observance of Lent?

Still chewing on this... March 8, 2006 Mark Harvey This is a great text for the old addage,
"we've always done it that way before."
Abraham and Sarah walked by faith toward a land
they did not know. Faith is moving into the open
future. "Law," is trying to control by
depending on the predictable. It is a closed
circle. God breaks in from the outside of the
circle, as well as from the inside. "The way
we've always done it" is valuable, of course,
as contrast to open-endedness, sort of like
temptation is necessary if we want to be saved
from it(St. Anthony of Egypt- that was last weeks'
wilderness sermon!) March 7, 2006 Mark Harvey This is a great text for the old addage,
"we've always done it that way before."
Abraham and Sarah walked by faith toward a land
they did not know. Faith is moving into the open
future. "Law," is trying to control by
depending on the predictable. It is a closed
circle. God breaks in from the outside of the
circle, as well as from the inside. "The way
we've always done it" is valuable, of course,
as contrast to open-endedness, sort of like
temptation is necessary if we want to be saved
from it(St. Anthony of Egypt- that was last weeks'
wilderness sermon!) March 7, 2006 JWLand KHC,

Your story of the money brings back an Andy
Griffith episode to me. Opie found fifty dollars
on the side of the road. He turned it in. Andy
had him wait 3 days before he could claim it in
case somebody came in looking for it.
The 3 days passed and the money was Opie's. He
went shopping but put some in his piggy bank.
Parnell Rigsby came into the sheriff's office
looking for his purse that had fifty dollars in
it. He said he had been in the office earlier and
had talked to a little red headed boy. Andy went
home to talk to Opie about it and discovered the
piggy bank was broken open and the money was all
gone. Assuming Opie was on another shopping spree
Andy charged out the door. He found Opie in the
sporting goods store. But Opie wasn't buying
anything, he was getting his money back for the
fishing pole he had bought with the money, and was
going to take it to Andy to give to Parnell
Rigsby. The law was that the money belonged to
Opie. His heart said the money belonged to
Parnell Rigsby. That little boy lived by his
faith. March 7, 2006 KHC I think I'll go with Romans this week. I think
I'm going to call my sermon "Writing My Own
Rules". We don't have a manual to refer to
for every circumstance of life. The Bible gives
us general guidelines, not a case-by-case answer
to every question. So our faith must become our
compass of what is the right and what is the wrong
response. Trusting God to guide us is the example
Abraham gave us. By living by faith, we soon have
our own personal rule book written.

For example, there is no law anywhere that says if
you find $100 lying on the sidewalk that you have
to call every person in the phone book to see if
he or she has lost it. But faith tells us we must
do our best to get it back where it belongs.
Failing to find its owner, there is no law that
says what to do with it next. But faith tells us
that giving it to the local food pantry is the
right thing to do.

A far flung example? No, I found $100 on the
sidewalk last Thursday afternoon. (and no, I
won't tell the congregation it was I who found the
money)

If we live by faith, laws aren't as necessary. March 7, 2006 WLB Paul experiences the promise of God in Christ.
This trained Jewish scholar makes the remarkable
leap of insight to see that God's promise to us is
not dependent on our ability to keep the law,
which is an outworking of the promise. Abraham
was declared right with God before the law was
given. It is our faith in the promise itself -
and ultimately in the one who promises - that
gives us new life. The promises of God are for
all who have faith. March 6, 2006 KHC I love the reaction of peoples' faces during Bible
studies when I point out that Abraham came before
the Law of Moses, yet he was better at keeping the
spirit of the law - obedience - than the
Israelites. (Most of the time anyway.) And he
didn't have a quick reference guide to carry
around with him.

Somehow we've got the idea that if it isn't
written down somewhere, it's not a law.
"Show me where that's written!" we will
angrily or sarcastically dare anyone who
challenges us in any way. But even if it is
written down, we are very adept at putting a spin
on the law so it fits our preferences. Putting it
in writing seems so very important to us in order
to know what's what, but then we don't like the
restrictions of that code. As long as it doesn't
apply directly to us, recorded law is great!

Abraham, on the other hand, had nothing in
writing. He had a sort of gentleman's agreement
with God. You do this, you get this. You go
where I lead you, you get this. And he proved to
be faithful in leaving his home, taking Isaac up
the hillside, all these hard things. Sure he
wasn't sinless, but he was definitely sitting on
the side of righteousness on the balance scale.

We balk at the small things. We can't even keep
the posted speed limits. We can't even honor the
posted Handicapped Parking signs. We can't even
report everything the IRS says we have to.
How on earth would we show righteousness if we
were asked to do what Abraham was asked to do with
no written rule about it?

It has been said that many of the people who act
most like Christians are supposed to act have
never read the Bible - or the 10 Commandments.
I don't know if that's true (I seriously doubt it)
but it makes the point that having the law in
writing is no guarantee it's followed. March 5, 2006 YoYo No doubting Thomas, that Abraham.

Faith is the things hoped for, the conviction of
things unseen. Paul had a real theme going here. March 5, 2006