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Saturday, 7 October 2017
Galatians 3:26 For in union with the Messiah, you are all children of God through this trusting faithfulness; 27 because as many of you as were immersed into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah, in whom 28 there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor freeman, neither male nor female; for in union with the Messiah Yeshua, you are all one. 29 Also, if you belong to the Messiah, you are seed of Avraham and heirs according to the promise.
4:1 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a minor he is no different from a slave, even though he is the legal owner of the estate; 2 rather, he is subject to guardians and caretakers until the time previously set by his father. 3 So it is with us — when we were “children” we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe; 4 but when the appointed time arrived, God sent forth his Son. He was born from a woman, born into a culture in which legalistic perversion of the Torah was the norm, 5 so that he might redeem those in subjection to this legalism and thus enable us to be made God’s sons. 6 Now because you are sons, God has sent forth into our hearts the Spirit of his Son, the Spirit who cries out, “Abba!” (that is, “Dear Father!”). 7 So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son you are also an heir.
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Some Jewish Christians who followed Paul to Galatia claimed the Bible required Gentile men to be circumcised, to in effect become ethnic Jews, to join God’s family (cf. Genesis 17:10-14). But Paul was emphatic: God accepts all people, of all backgrounds, based on their trust, not because of outward identifying signs. “Faith working through love,” not ritual purity, was what mattered. The early Christian communities stood out in their world: “Only a minority of groups even claimed to surmount ethnic and class divisions; the churches who brought diverse peoples and classes together were thus distinctive. Early Christians…proved distinctive in challenging class (slave versus free) and often gender prejudices.” * That willingness to challenge prejudices needs to remain a distinctive trait of genuine Christianity.
• The kind of Christianity the “Judaizers” wanted inevitably had strong cultural and ethnic overtones. But Paul, born in that ethnic group and culture, said, “Now if you belong to Christ, then indeed you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.” Do you ever struggle to accept believers in Jesus who come from some ethnic, cultural or denominational background different than yours? More broadly, how about neighbors, fellow students or coworkers from an ethnic or cultural background different than yours? What helps you to view all people as beloved children of God?
Prayer: Creator God, your creation includes many kinds of flowers and trees, an amazing variety of animal life—and lots of different kinds of human beings. Plant in my heart your obvious delight in diversity. Amen.
* HarperCollins Christian Publishing. NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, eBook: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture (Kindle Locations 266575-266578). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Family Activity: The Bible tells many stories of missionaries. Create your own family “missionary” story. Gather your family for a local “missionary” drive. Before you leave, select a few places you would like to stop and share God’s love in some way. Would you like to take treats to firefighters or police officers and thank them for their service? How about praying for local store owners as you shop? Could you offer to do some yard work for a neighbor? Maybe you could visit those in the nursing home or a lonely neighbor. You might also want to walk through your neighborhood praying for your school and places of worship. Pray and ask God to help your family be missionaries, sharing God’s love wherever you go.
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Patrick McLaughlin
Patrick is the Community Pastor at Resurrection Downtown.
I’ll never forget some experiences when I first got out of school. I was sad to leave the friends I had studied and played alongside. I was also anxious about my homecoming. After several years away from my home state, my identity had transformed with some new convictions. I was anxious because I was once an insider in whom many had invested, but I felt I was returning as an outsider who had perhaps betrayed them. I was so anxious that I considered not coming back. I was much more comfortable maintaining the new friendships and the identity I had developed. I feared that this new identity would be challenged and I would lose some convictions I had gained, thus betraying the friends with whom I had developed this new identity.
We all face questions of identity. People frequently ask: “Where are you from?”, “Where did you go to school?”, or “Where do you go to church?” It is common to check for mutual friends on social media before accepting a friend request. While in my first church out of school, I had an interesting experience of claiming identity. After sharing some of my new “strange” convictions, I would hear something like, “That’s what someone from there would say or think.” They believed I was from the place I had gone to school! They were always shocked when I shared that my geographical roots were the same as theirs. I believe it was hard to accept that we shared an identity, and that like mine, their identity too could be transformed.
One of my ongoing challenges is to remain rooted andadaptable; to act with the confidence of a child of God (Gal 4:1) as I embrace the mystery of God’s Kingdom around me marked by diversity of thoughts, deeds, physical traits, and spiritual journeys. Honestly, I lean towards comfort in adaptability, while others find comfort in rootedness. I believe both have value and the tension they create is a part of our journey to know and love God.
Paul’s teaching in Galatians 3 and 4 shows that our nature can be to maintain our identity in the past (as Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, men and women). But doing so neglects God’s promise for the future that has us all sharing a common identity as the Body of Christ (Gal 3:28). It is natural, because the past, pleasant or not, gives us a foundation upon which we now stand. Ideally, the past holds previously fulfilled promises, and fears we have already traversed. If not, take courage—God’s promise is more than a foundation. God’s promise looks forward—it is primarily a launching pad. Our inheritance as “heirs” (Gal 4:7) to the Kingdom of God is continually being revealed even as we live on Earth. It is no wonder that we are taught so many times in Scripture to never fear. We have nothing to fear in the past—it has already come and gone. Even if you feel caught in a cycle where the past repeats itself, if you are reading this, you have survived. Our bruises and scars remind us of where not to go, what to possibly expect in the future, and through it all to call out “Abba, Father” to God for comfort (Gal 4:6). For those stuck or unsure about the future, God’s promise is a word of hope. Things won’t always be as they always have been as we choose to celebrate the new identity God is revealing in and around us.
I realize that I could have survived by maintaining the identity with which I had come—not my natural tendency but the tendency of the context in which I was raised. But God has called us to do more than survive. God has promised us abundant life (John 10:10). The thief in the night Jesus referred to is the one who convinces us that we are better divided by race, gender, and class, etc. The image of “coming in the night” doesn’t mean you need to leave your house lights on to ward off potential thieves. It tells me we should expect that thief from within. How did these messages get there? This is where I gain understanding about inheriting the sins of our ancestors. Paul said that as children we are under the guardianship of parents (Gal. 4:2). The messages to divide we received as children were usually subtle. They came like a thief without our parents even knowing we were receiving them. We saw the people our parents spent time with and the entertainment they choose. We weren’t blind to the composition of the teams we were placed on or the schools we attended. We knew places we could go and places we weren’t allowed. We heard the community’s anxieties about “them.” None of these in and of themselves were wholly bad or evil. They were subtle lessons that filled a void of curiosity about otherness. As we grew older those subtle messages informed our own biases and instincts. Without disciplined attention, we aren’t even aware we have them and we don’t fill the curiosity void with positive narratives about “the other.” Our subconscious instincts and biases sneak into every decision we make. We tend to pass them along to our children without even knowing it. We must remember that the thief is good at what he does—he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing (Matt 7:15). We must be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves (Matt 10:16), because the world profits from our continual conflict, and so encourages it. But I say there is hope.
In my journey to discover my identity, as a child of God and an heir to the kingdom, I have had the privilege of going to faraway places. In these places, almost no one shared my childhood and adolescent experiences, so I saw the world through a completely different set of lenses. I visited rural Appalachia as a teenager and walked away feeling that I need to always remind myself that there are poor white people too. My experiences in college and graduate school taught me to remember every day that people of different race and ethnicity, of different sexual orientations and genders, and of different socioeconomic status have gifts from God that help me and others inherit the Kingdom. As I’ve served in the local church, I have realized I don’t have to travel to faraway places to learn these things. Our communities, large and small, are full of “Greeks and Jews,” “free and slave,” “male and female.” We are called on a spiritual journey to courageously claim our identity with all of God’s children so that together we may inherit the Kingdom of God on Earth as it is in Heaven. If you’re not already involved, I hope you’ll join a serve opportunity, a class, or some other social function of the church to build a foundation for this journey. I hope you’ll then keep coming back to continually re-orient yourself towards the promise of the Kingdom of God.
Patrick McLaughlinPatrick is the Community Pastor at Resurrection Downtown.
I’ll never forget some experiences when I first got out of school. I was sad to leave the friends I had studied and played alongside. I was also anxious about my homecoming. After several years away from my home state, my identity had transformed with some new convictions. I was anxious because I was once an insider in whom many had invested, but I felt I was returning as an outsider who had perhaps betrayed them. I was so anxious that I considered not coming back. I was much more comfortable maintaining the new friendships and the identity I had developed. I feared that this new identity would be challenged and I would lose some convictions I had gained, thus betraying the friends with whom I had developed this new identity.
We all face questions of identity. People frequently ask: “Where are you from?”, “Where did you go to school?”, or “Where do you go to church?” It is common to check for mutual friends on social media before accepting a friend request. While in my first church out of school, I had an interesting experience of claiming identity. After sharing some of my new “strange” convictions, I would hear something like, “That’s what someone from there would say or think.” They believed I was from the place I had gone to school! They were always shocked when I shared that my geographical roots were the same as theirs. I believe it was hard to accept that we shared an identity, and that like mine, their identity too could be transformed.
One of my ongoing challenges is to remain rooted andadaptable; to act with the confidence of a child of God (Gal 4:1) as I embrace the mystery of God’s Kingdom around me marked by diversity of thoughts, deeds, physical traits, and spiritual journeys. Honestly, I lean towards comfort in adaptability, while others find comfort in rootedness. I believe both have value and the tension they create is a part of our journey to know and love God.
Paul’s teaching in Galatians 3 and 4 shows that our nature can be to maintain our identity in the past (as Jews and Greeks, slaves and free, men and women). But doing so neglects God’s promise for the future that has us all sharing a common identity as the Body of Christ (Gal 3:28). It is natural, because the past, pleasant or not, gives us a foundation upon which we now stand. Ideally, the past holds previously fulfilled promises, and fears we have already traversed. If not, take courage—God’s promise is more than a foundation. God’s promise looks forward—it is primarily a launching pad. Our inheritance as “heirs” (Gal 4:7) to the Kingdom of God is continually being revealed even as we live on Earth. It is no wonder that we are taught so many times in Scripture to never fear. We have nothing to fear in the past—it has already come and gone. Even if you feel caught in a cycle where the past repeats itself, if you are reading this, you have survived. Our bruises and scars remind us of where not to go, what to possibly expect in the future, and through it all to call out “Abba, Father” to God for comfort (Gal 4:6). For those stuck or unsure about the future, God’s promise is a word of hope. Things won’t always be as they always have been as we choose to celebrate the new identity God is revealing in and around us.
I realize that I could have survived by maintaining the identity with which I had come—not my natural tendency but the tendency of the context in which I was raised. But God has called us to do more than survive. God has promised us abundant life (John 10:10). The thief in the night Jesus referred to is the one who convinces us that we are better divided by race, gender, and class, etc. The image of “coming in the night” doesn’t mean you need to leave your house lights on to ward off potential thieves. It tells me we should expect that thief from within. How did these messages get there? This is where I gain understanding about inheriting the sins of our ancestors. Paul said that as children we are under the guardianship of parents (Gal. 4:2). The messages to divide we received as children were usually subtle. They came like a thief without our parents even knowing we were receiving them. We saw the people our parents spent time with and the entertainment they choose. We weren’t blind to the composition of the teams we were placed on or the schools we attended. We knew places we could go and places we weren’t allowed. We heard the community’s anxieties about “them.” None of these in and of themselves were wholly bad or evil. They were subtle lessons that filled a void of curiosity about otherness. As we grew older those subtle messages informed our own biases and instincts. Without disciplined attention, we aren’t even aware we have them and we don’t fill the curiosity void with positive narratives about “the other.” Our subconscious instincts and biases sneak into every decision we make. We tend to pass them along to our children without even knowing it. We must remember that the thief is good at what he does—he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing (Matt 7:15). We must be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves (Matt 10:16), because the world profits from our continual conflict, and so encourages it. But I say there is hope.
In my journey to discover my identity, as a child of God and an heir to the kingdom, I have had the privilege of going to faraway places. In these places, almost no one shared my childhood and adolescent experiences, so I saw the world through a completely different set of lenses. I visited rural Appalachia as a teenager and walked away feeling that I need to always remind myself that there are poor white people too. My experiences in college and graduate school taught me to remember every day that people of different race and ethnicity, of different sexual orientations and genders, and of different socioeconomic status have gifts from God that help me and others inherit the Kingdom. As I’ve served in the local church, I have realized I don’t have to travel to faraway places to learn these things. Our communities, large and small, are full of “Greeks and Jews,” “free and slave,” “male and female.” We are called on a spiritual journey to courageously claim our identity with all of God’s children so that together we may inherit the Kingdom of God on Earth as it is in Heaven. If you’re not already involved, I hope you’ll join a serve opportunity, a class, or some other social function of the church to build a foundation for this journey. I hope you’ll then keep coming back to continually re-orient yourself towards the promise of the Kingdom of God.
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Prayer Requests – cor.org/prayer Prayers for Peace & Comfort for:
• John Salberg and family on the death of his wife Verda Salberg, 9/23
•Bruce Durkee and family on the death of his father William R. “Bill” Durkee, 9/23
•Ed Phillips and family on the death of his mother Margaret Phillips, 9/22
• Lisa Swarts and family on the death of her father James Craig, 9/21
•Family and friends of Linda Lambright on her death, 9/21
•Stephen Franano and family on the death of his mother Carmen Franano, 9/20
•Chuck Lyman and family on the death of his uncle Charles Watkins, 9/19
•Cherri Fuchs and family on the death of her mother Sharon Harmon, 9/15
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©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
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©2017 Church of the Resurrection. All Rights Reserved.
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
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