Week of August 28

Waiting on God

Sowing our Prayer… Reaping the Spirit

 

What does love look like?  It has the hands to help others.  It has the feet to rush to the poor and needy.  It has eyes to see misery and want.  It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.  That is what love looks like.

-Saint Augustine (In his sermon on 1 John 4:4-12, our passage for Wednesday)

Monday	John 13:31-35; Matthew 14:13-21
Tuesday	Galatians 5:13-6:10; Luke 7:11-17
Wednesday	1 John 4:7-12; Mark 10:17-22
Thursday	John 15:12-17; Matthew 20:29-34
Friday	1 Peter 1:13-2:10; John 21:1-14
Saturday	2 John 1:4-6;  John 11:1-44

Last week we looked at the purpose of an individual Christian: to love God and to love others.  Our main passage is Matthew 22:34-40; take a moment to re-read this passage.  Last week we focused on loving God, this week we will focus on loving others.  The two directions of our love in Matthew are not separate from each other.  In fact, as some of this week’s passages will say, if we do not love others, we do not love God.  We show our love for God by loving others.  If you found yourself asking last week “How do I love God?” or “How do I show my love for God?” then this is your answer: love others. 

Each day’s scriptures include a passage on loving others and an example of Jesus loving others.  While reading the first passage of each day, write down how you would define ‘love’ if you only had that passage to describe what love is.  When reading the second passage of the day, observe Christ’s love and how his love is shown (through healing, providing, speaking truth, etc?).  How does our love compare to this love?  Read John 14:12 and ask if your acts of love live up to this promise and Jesus’ own actions.

Remember to pray for the Spirit to clarify the mission for Oak Chapel and for the Spirit to give us the power to work in this mission.

Week of August 21

Waiting on God

Sowing our Prayer… Reaping the Spirit

You ask me, “Why should God be loved?” I answer: the reason for loving God is God himself. And why should God be loved for his own sake? Simply because no one could be more justly loved that God, no one deserves our love more. Some may question if God deserves our love or if they might have something to gain by loving him. The answer to both questions is yes, but I find no other worthy reason for loving him except himself.

God is entitled to our love. Why? Because he gave himself for us despite the fact that we are so undeserving. What better could he have given? If we ask why God is entitled to our love, we should answer, “Because he first loved us.” God is clearly deserving of our love and especially if we consider who he is that loves us, who we are that he loves, and how much he loves us.

True love is precisely this: that it does not seek it own interests.  And how much does he love us? He so loved the world that he gave his only Son; he laid down his life for us

-Bernard of Clairvaux

Monday	Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Tuesday	1 John 2:15-17; 3:6-10
Wednesday	Micah 6:6-8
Thursday	Revelation 2:1-7
Friday	Deuteronomy 10:12-13
Saturday	1 John 4:20-21

The past two weeks we have focused on the purpose of the church, both inward and outward.  The purpose of the church is intertwined with the purposes of the individual Christian.  Read Matthew 22:34-40.  This will be the base passage of the next two weeks, looking at the purpose of a Christian: to love God and to love others.  This week our focus is on loving God.  Read the quote and the verses for each day and reflect on your life.  How do you mirror the love of God shown in these passages?  Are there parts of your life that do not mirror this all-out love for God? 

Remember to pray for the Spirit to clarify the mission for Oak Chapel

and for the Spirit to give us the power to work in this mission.

Week of August 14

Waiting on God

Sowing our Prayer… Reaping the Spirit

 

Last week our focus dwelt on the marks of the Church, on themes describing who the Church is for those within the Church. 

“The real question should not be, ‘Who is the Church?’, but should be, ‘What is the Church’s task?’  What is the Church’s purpose outside of itself in the world?  The Church is not supposed to just be ‘there’.  The Church is on a Mission.  The Church has a purpose.  The Church has its being in being sent.  The Church’s sentness is its identity.”

-John Drury

Monday	Matthew 28:1-10, 16-20
Tuesday	Acts 1:1-11
Wednesday	John 20:19-22
Thursday	Luke 4:16-21
Friday	Ephesians 3:7-12
Saturday	Ephesians 6:10-20

Mon., Tue., & Wed.  – The task commanded to Jesus’ followers in these verses is the most important task of the Church.  The Church, the body of Christ is sent into the world in order to proclaim that Christ is alive and their only salvation.  By now, these two passages may be very familiar to you.  Read the passages as if you had not ever seen them before.  On the back of this sheet, make observations on what Christ is commanding his followers to do.

Thu., Fri., & Sat.  – These verses show another, yet related, task of the Church.  Jesus proclaimed the task in Luke 4, Paul discusses the same task and states that it happens through the Church in Eph. 3, and gives more understanding to how it is done in Eph. 6.  The Church proclaims that through Christ, the poor and oppressed can have freedom from these ‘powers’ and can live freely in Christ’s body through the Holy Spirit in the armor of God.

Remember to pray for the Spirit to clarify the mission for Oak Chapel and for the Spirit to give us the power to work in this mission.

Week of August 7

Waiting on God

Sowing our Prayer… Reaping the Spirit

For the next two weeks we will be looking at the purpose of the Church, seeing what the Church is supposed to be and to do.  This will not be specific to Oak Chapel, but will be true of the entire Body of Christ.  Each day will have a theme on what the church is or does for those within the body of Christ.  Since each theme is true of the entire Body, it will be true of Oak Chapel.  How should each theme, then, help clarify our mission as a church?

Sun.	Word  “God’s people cannot be without God’s Word, nor can God’s Word be without a people.” - Martin Luther                                           Isaiah 55:11; Mark 4:1-20
Mon.	One  “God is one, and Christ is one, and His Church is one, and the faith is one… Unity cannot be severed; nor can one body be separated by a division of its structure.”  - Cyprian                                     Ephesians. 4:1-16; John 17:20-23
Tue.	Holy  “The Church is said to be holy because Christ its head is holy who makes the Church the partaker of his holiness because it is called by a holy calling and separated from the world, because the Word of God is holy, and because the Holy Spirit in this assembly sanctifies believers by applying to them Christ’s holiness, awakening in them the desire of perfect holiness” - John Gerhard                                   1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Peter 1:15-16
Wed.	Sacrament  “From the outset, those who have confessed Jesus as the Christ and ‘who accepted his message were baptized’ and were immediately found devoting themselves to ‘the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship, the breaking of bread and to prayer’ (Acts 2:41,42), italics added).” - Thomas Oden                                                               Acts 2:37-47
Thu.	Universal  “It is called universal then because it extends over all the world… teaches universally and completely one and all the doctrines which ought to come to men’s knowledge… and because it universally treats and heals the whole class of sins which are committed by soul or body…” - Cyril of Jerusalem                                                         1 John 1:1-5
Fri.	Apostolic  “The church is apostolic insofar as it retains, guards, and faithfully transmits its apostolic mission.  Those sent by the Son are the apostolate. - Thomas Oden                                                      Matthew 28:18-20
Sat.	Discipline  “Discipline requires obedience to the divine commands as to sincere religious worship of God alone and as to holiness of life.” - Petrus van Mastrict                    Matthew 18:15-18; 1 Timothy 4:8-16

Remember to pray for the Spirit to clarify the mission for Oak Chapel and for the Spirit to give us the power to work in this mission.