Weekly Readings & Reflections
Hello Friends,
It was a moving experience to gather together in our sanctuary for worship this past Sunday. Almost a full year has passed since our last service indoors. I was busy with preparations, making sure everything was in order – but when I sat still and listened to the prelude, the emotion of the moment welled up inside me. Months of preaching to an empty room were replaced by being gathered with the people of God. We were 32 souls all told – not a large crowd. Yet there was a felt goodness to sharing the moment in God’s house. Over the years, I have been present for hundreds of services in our sanctuary – assuming this is how it would always be. What was once routine now seems a rich blessing.
I should know better than to take any good thing for granted, but of course I do anyway. The past year has taught us to appreciate many things we may have taken for granted: our health, fellowship, human contact, singing and so on. As we make our way, bit by bit, toward a life more familiar I hope we will remember to appreciate life’s rich and simple gifts.
Peace,
Richard Holmer
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First Reading Genesis 17 : 1 - 7, 15 - 16
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous." 3Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4"As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
15God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."
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Reflection
This is another covenant story. Abram and Sarai are given new names: Abraham and Sarah. They are promised that their descendants will be numerous and they will be blessed by God. Abraham and Sarah are the parents of a people who will be God’s people. It is not their worthiness but rather God’s promise to them that gives them their special status.
- This promise came to Abraham and Sarah late in life. What might God have in mind for you in your older years?
- When have you found it challenging to believe in the promises of God?
- How can we claim Abraham and Sarah as our ancestors?
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Second Reading Romans 4 : 13 - 25
13For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
16For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, 17as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations") — in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be." 19He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. 20No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22Therefore his faith "was reckoned to him as righteousness." 23Now the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, 24but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification
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Reflection
Paul reflects on the significance of the faith of Abraham. Abraham’s virtue, his righteousness is not in his obedience but in his trust in God. Abraham was convinced that God could and would do what God had promised. Paul encourages the followers of Jesus to live with that same confident faith. It is the faith that saves.
- What does the phrase “hoping against hope” mean to you?
- How much faith is enough faith?
- What tests your faith? What strengthens it?
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Gospel Mark 8 : 31 - 38
31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."
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Reflection
Just before the scene in this passage is the moment where Peter confesses that Jesus is the long expected Messiah. However, his understanding of what that means is clearly limited – as indicated by his response to what Jesus says is in store for him. Jesus proceeds to describe what will be required of his disciples. The paradox of the gospel is that we can find true life by losing our lives for the sake of the gospel.
- What does it mean to lose your life for Christ’s sake?
- What’s the motive for trying to gain the whole world?
- Why is the world opposed to the way of Jesus?
Prayer of the Day
Heavenly Father, it is your glory always to have mercy. Bring back all who have erred and strayed from your ways; lead them again to embrace in faith the truth of your Word and to hold it fast; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Please email your questions or comments to Pastor Holmer using the blue envelope link below.
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