St. Phil's Daily Bible Readings: August 2011

Monday, August 22, 2011

How to Live Your Faith When Life Isn't Fair (6)

Each hay this week, read Habakkuk 2.

The chapter opens with the prophet climbing to a height from which he may have an unrestricted view to see what God will say, to see how God will answer him. He knows that he needs to move from where he has been to someplace else, to a place up and out. His efforts integrates the senses, hearing and seeing.

Questions:

What do you need to do to rise out of your current situation, beyond the immediacy of what you are experiencing?
Are you more perceptive to what you see or hear?

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Habakkuk 1

Habakkuk 1

This past Monday, Dr. Schultz began an on-line Bible Study (on this site), "How to Live Your Faith When Life Isn't Fair." Today at St. Philip's, he starts a 3-week Sermon Series with the same focus.

Today's Sermon Notes:

It is both a hard-to-hear and easy-to receive reality: we are not in control.
"Fairness" is both objective and subjective.
"He knows if your've been bad or good, so be good for goodness' sake." (John Frederick Cook)
You life your faith because you choose to believe.

Questions

What are some ways that you can faithfully respond to:

Violence?
Injustice?
Wrongdoing?
Destruction?

Friday, August 12, 2011

How to Live Your Faith When Life Isn't Fair (5)

The first chapter of Habakkuk is conversational, the prophet speaks with God. The Holy is relational; listening, speaking, responding to the prophet. Habakkuk, unsatisfied with God's response, doesn't stop with what he hears. He pushes his cause.

Question

How do you respond to God when you don't like what you've received?

Luke 24:30-32

Question

When and where have your eyes been open to see Christ present with you?

Thursday, August 11, 2011

How to Live Your Faith When Life Isn't Fair (4)

Habakkuk begins impatiently, "LORD, how long will I call for help [italics mine] and you not listen?" (1:2, CEB).

This honestly expresses our human condition. If you're never impatient about something, then you're not being honest with yourself. While you may have more patience about some things than you do others, there is still a point in time when waiting exceeds your tolerance.

Read through the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) for examples of Jesus' patience. Consistently compassionate, He is not consistently patient - especially with His disciples, who appear at times to be obstinately resisting what he is teaching them.

Teaching his disciples, Jesus is clearly conscious of the limited time that He has with them. His impatience stresses the immediacy of their need to learn and live. Similarly, Habakkuk's impatience with God expresses the prophet's concern for the urgency of the people's need.

I've observed that when we pray for patience, God's response often seems to allow our continued waiting. Instead of interpreting that as unanswered prayer, we can understand it as an opportunity to perceive 'time' in a different way, to re-focus the immediate into the larger context of the whole of life. We can also seek clarity about the catalyst of our impatience, discerning if our emotions are stirred from selfishness or selflessness.

Is my impatience about me; or, about my interest in and concern for someone else?

Habakkuk's impatience is selfless. Even as he, too, may be a victim, his impatience is for others, not with them.

Questions:

When has your impatience been clearly for yourself?
When has your impatience been for someone else?
The Bible presents patience as a desirable quality; Galatians 5 identifies it a "fruit of the Spirit." How does your patience express your faith?

Matthew 14:22-33

Questions:

What makes Peter bold and confident in Jesus?
Why does Peter become afraid?

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

How to Live Your Faith When Life Isn't Fair 3

People often determine "fairness" subconsciously, reacting from an emotional response to an event. We Christians choose to understand fairness as expressing that which is "right." Our biblical understanding of "righteousness" is living in relationship with God, obediently to God. Jesus taught that this a our priority of purpose (Matthew 6).

The writer of Hebrews reminds us that growing to know 'right' from 'wrong' is spiritual maturity (Hebrew 5:11-14). It is a distinction that we cultivate by studying Scripture, and intentionally learning about the social implications of our actions. "Fairness" is always relational, involving and effecting yourself and at least one (1) other person.

Questions

Are there particular lessons about 'right' and 'wrong' that you remember from your early years?
What passages of Scripture have provided helpful insight for you, encouraging you to live faithfully?
What experiences have enriched your understanding of fairness as you have matured?
Who are the persons immediately effected by how you live?

Romans 10:5-15

There is no distinction between people for God's love

Questions

Read verse 9 again. How do you talk about your faith?
Who have you been excluding when you share your faith?

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

How to Lifve Your Faith When Life Isn't Fair 2

We Christians give authority to The Bible as God's Word for our faith, life, and faithful living. Most Christians agree with that premise; however, what we understand that to mean varies greatly both among various traditions and within them. As we're using the Bible to learn how to live our faith, let's consider what it means for us.

As a United Methodist Church, this statement expresses how we receive, accept, and use the Scriptures.

Questions

From what faith tradition to you use the Bible?
How does that tradition understand the authority of Scripture?

Psalm 105

Question

Where and when have you experienced God's loving care in your life?

Monday, August 8, 2011

How to Life Your Faith When Life Isn't Fair 1

Living faithfully, we experience the fullness of life that Jesus offers (John 10:10). We daily create and encounter situations when we have to determine what is a faithful response and how we will live it. Some situations are more challenging than others - especially those that question and confront our sense of being 'right.'

Our focus in this study will be how we live our faith when life isn't fair, when circumstances seem to distance us from the presence of the Living Christ who promised to be with us always (Matthew 28:20).

Why study Habakkuk?
While planning my preaching for St. Philip's in August, I prayed for discernment about choosing biblical texts that would also be relevant for us to grow into and to grow from. I landed in Habakkuk. The book is from a minor prophet from the 7th century. Don't prejudice 'minor'; that descriptive means that the book is shorter than those by the 'major' prophets. And, don't dismiss the 7th century as begin too distant from ours; the Bible has a timelessness and timeliness to any generation's condition and need.

Let's begin our study establishing some common ground.

While anyone is invited and welcome to share in this virtual study, I will approach it from a United Methodist Christian perspective. My intent is to acknowledge and respect the positions of other Christian - as well as non-Christian - traditions; however, our focus will be as it is stated above. (I invite you to visit my pastoral blog for other faith conversations.)
Each day, I will offer insights and comments about the text, and a question for reflection and discussion. Please, join the conversation so we may learn from each other as we learn together.
Within this next few days, I'll post a Reading Plan. Please, read the assigned text(s) for the day before you post a comment.

Read for tomorrow:

Skim Habakkuk. Read at least three (3) different English translations (versions).

Question