"Meditation – 60 Days of Prayer" from The Upper Room in Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Tuesday, 11 October 2016 "WEEK 4: WHEN SYSTEMS CHANGE"
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11
WEEK 4: WHEN SYSTEMS CHANGE
Read Galatians 3:27 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.
A Reading from God Unbound:
Paul’s revolutionary words reflect the core wisdom Christ gave him in the Arabian desert. That time became liminal space, a threshold between what he thought he knew about God and his new realization in which he had to relearn who God is and what God is up to. The core of his new learning has to do with the equality of all people in God’s eyes. Because of Christ, because of the Holy Spirit, according to the will of God, all people receive God’s salvation. Men, women, young, old, Jew, Greek, slave or free are united to Christ and therefore join him as offspring of Abraham. All “are one in Christ Jesus” and can be filled with the Holy Spirit. All can minister using the gifts of the Spirit. For a zealous young Pharisee steeped in religious and political systems that were riddled with inequality based on ethnicity, religion, gender, social strata, and more, the radical nature of Paul’s words cannot be overstated.
The church in our day finds itself in equally radical liminal space. Culture shifts challenge us to become much more multicultural and egalitarian, to embody the revolutionary inclusiveness of Galatians 3:27-29 in ways that the church has yet to realize fully. When truly lived out, this text could return moral authority to the church—moral authority all but lost due to sexual misconduct, greed, sexism, racism, and other sins done in the name of God. Indeed, unless the church embraces and lives into Paul’s words in this text, we will lose credibility with our neighbors, and it will be our own fault.
Prayer: God, when change surrounds us, we give thanks that we can count on Your constant presence and deep love. Reveal to us Your will. Let us participate in the changes that bring about Your desire for us to be “one in Christ Jesus.” Teach us to celebrate our differences, to learn for each other, and value all the gifts given to build up the church. 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.55-56.
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WEEK 4: WHEN SYSTEMS CHANGE
Read Galatians 3:27 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.
A Reading from God Unbound:
Paul’s revolutionary words reflect the core wisdom Christ gave him in the Arabian desert. That time became liminal space, a threshold between what he thought he knew about God and his new realization in which he had to relearn who God is and what God is up to. The core of his new learning has to do with the equality of all people in God’s eyes. Because of Christ, because of the Holy Spirit, according to the will of God, all people receive God’s salvation. Men, women, young, old, Jew, Greek, slave or free are united to Christ and therefore join him as offspring of Abraham. All “are one in Christ Jesus” and can be filled with the Holy Spirit. All can minister using the gifts of the Spirit. For a zealous young Pharisee steeped in religious and political systems that were riddled with inequality based on ethnicity, religion, gender, social strata, and more, the radical nature of Paul’s words cannot be overstated.
The church in our day finds itself in equally radical liminal space. Culture shifts challenge us to become much more multicultural and egalitarian, to embody the revolutionary inclusiveness of Galatians 3:27-29 in ways that the church has yet to realize fully. When truly lived out, this text could return moral authority to the church—moral authority all but lost due to sexual misconduct, greed, sexism, racism, and other sins done in the name of God. Indeed, unless the church embraces and lives into Paul’s words in this text, we will lose credibility with our neighbors, and it will be our own fault.
Prayer: God, when change surrounds us, we give thanks that we can count on Your constant presence and deep love. Reveal to us Your will. Let us participate in the changes that bring about Your desire for us to be “one in Christ Jesus.” Teach us to celebrate our differences, to learn for each other, and value all the gifts given to build up the church. 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.55-56.
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Our mailing address is:
The Upper Room Strategic Initiatives
PO Box 340007
Nashville, Tennessee 37203, United States
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