"Meditation – 60 Days of Prayer" from The Upper Room in Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Tuesday, 20 September 2016 "WEEK 1: LOVING THE TRADITION BEHIND THE TRADITION"

"Meditation – 60 Days of Prayer" from The Upper Room in Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Tuesday, 20 September 2016 "WEEK 1: LOVING THE TRADITION BEHIND THE TRADITION"

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
WEEK 1: LOVING THE TRADITION BEHIND THE TRADITION
Read Galatians 3:28 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.
A Reading from God Unbound:
In the rest of the epistle to the Galatians, Paul argues for the tradition behind his Hebrew tradition. The love of Christ has captured his heart. He has surrendered to Christ’s authority. As a result he has given himself completely to God’s mission in the world—a mission to everyone. As he says in Galatians3:28, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” In this, one of the earliest texts in the canon, Paul subsumes his own tradition to the deeper, more ancient tradition of God making all things new.
The tradition behind the tradition begins in Eden with God’s promise of salvation to Adam and Eve. It moves forward with God’s promise after the great flood and on to the calling of Abram and Sarai to be a blessing to the whole earth. All of that happens before the Hebrew tradition exists—long before Moses, the Exodus, or the giving of the Law. The central focus of the Hebrew Bible involves the story of God who is calling forth and creating a people to bless the entire world. Paul has become an apostle for an apostolic God, not by human choice or even his own human desire but by the call and empowerment of God.
Prayer: Creator God, You make all things new. Thank you for renewing and restoring us with the love of Christ…time and time again. Create in us a heart of love and compassion, a heart like Yours, so we can be a blessing to the whole earth. Amen.
Post your prayer for the church to the Prayer Wall.
God Unbound: Wisdom from Galatians for the Anxious Church. Copyright 2016 by Elaine Heath. All rights reserved. Used with permission from Upper Room Books. From pp.28-29. -------

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