Mission Faithwalk

                   Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”  (Genesis 1:26-28) This isn’t the beginning of community. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and all the angels were a community before Adam was created. It is, however, the beginning of human community, and it consisted of God and two humans: one male, one female. Both the male and the female human were created in the image of God, which gives each t...

                   And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24-25)                 Yes, I mentioned the second verse in today’s passage yesterday. I’m still thinking about the concept of community. I’m sure there are people who have the whole community thing figured out. I think God may be working on me in this area. I don’t think I have it figured out. I don’t even want to figure it out. I’d much rather give up meeting together, except online (perhaps). I want to be invisible. I want to hide. I don’t want to deal with people because they’re going to decide that I’m a freak, a monster, or a loser and walk away. It’s happened too many times. ...

                 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. (I Corinthians 12:12-14)   not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25) One of the things I discovered while going to Hillcrest RV Resort that they had lots going on. There were two clubhouses, and activities all the time. When I came to Erie for the summer, it seemed as if the community disappeared. After a time, I figured out that the key to community is, in large part, having a place to get together. That’s generally lacking in Erie. The closest I could come was our churches, most of which...

                   For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us. (Isaiah 33:22)                 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25)                 Yes, this is yesterday’s verse, but as I was not sleeping last night, I was thinking, and a couple of thoughts seemed interesting enough to explore. The first deals with culture and pronouns. The verse repeatedly says that God is our ____. For Americans, the emphasis here is that God is your _____ and my _____ therefore our ___. Individually. What happens between you and God should not have anything to do with what happens between God and me. In the Israeli...

                 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us. (Isaiah 33:22)                 Two possibilities immediately leap to mind that really have nothing to do with God, and everything to do with politics. The first is that the government should never be God, even though throughout history, that’s precisely what happened. The second is that the functions listed above are ones for which some level of responsibility has also been given to mankind, with God as the supreme judge, lawgiver, and king. This is the idea that the Founding Fathers used when designing the federal government. No king, but a panel of judges, two large bodies of lawgivers, and no king but a president. And they set up checks and balances designed to prevent any of these from usurping the power of the others.    ...

                 The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. (Psalm 119:130)                 Once upon a time, if someone decided to go somewhere, they pulled out a map. Generally, they were folded in 12” by 3-4” rectangles, and you would have to unfold it, locate where you are, then where you want to go, and figure out how to get from one to the other. It wasn’t really practical to have the whole map unfolded for the whole trip, so you refolded the map so you could see the part of the trip you were map open. There would be times when you might have to unfold it and refold it a different way, to make another part of your journey visible. If you were alone in the car, that could make life difficult. And no, you never seemed to get the map folded back the way it was when you bought it. Now, of course, we have...