Memorize & Ponder for Sunday April 12-19, 2015
Responding with Gratitude for Easter
2 Corinthias 4: 5-6 (Full Reading – 2 Cor 4: 1-7) (NRSV)
For we do not proclaim ourselves;
we proclaim Jesus Christ as lord
and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.
For it is the God who said,
“Let light shine out of darkness,”
who has shone in our hearts
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.
Being the Church in Christ: Wisdom from Pastor Paul
(The Brentwood Sermon Series for 2015)
Throughout 2015, the Christian community at Brentwood Presbyterian Church will be considering how to be the church in Jesus Christ, guided by the wisdom of Pastor Paul. We invite you to listen for what the Spirit is saying in the text, then question how those insights might change the ways you see things and act in the world. Share your thoughts during the week on the meaning the Spirit creates for you in this text by posting a comment on our website – brentwoodpc.ca.
A Provocative Pondering
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us provoke one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together … (Hebrews 10:23-25a)
It is an intriguing and daunting image that Paul uses here, one that has attracted the attention of the world’s great artists.
They have tried to capture the light of the glory of God found in Jesus Christ in the face of Paul. Over the next several weeks, we will put up on the screen some of those images. We will open ourselves to the working of the Holy Spirit to help us understand what impact that artist’s rendering has on us. We will be open to exploring the impact of the images and the words on how we allow the light of the glory of God that we see in Jesus Christ to shine through from our faces as we go about our daily lives.
It is important to remember this is God’s doing. It is the light of God that is shining through us, not any genius or brilliance of our own. We have been entrusted with it. We have been equipped for it. We have the privilege and joy of letting that little light shine – not ours alone, but God’s.
And the purpose of that shining is not for our benefit or grandeur, whatever others may think. That is the heart of the discipline of the Christian life. Our shining is a witness to, and working of, the God who created, is redeeming, and is sustaining the universe. God has made us part of the most important enterprise in the world – the coming of his Commonwealth – and we are ‘slaves’ to that project. Ironically, in that form of ‘slavery,’ we find the true freedom of grace, the glorious freedom of the children of God.
How can use that slavery/freedom this week to let God’s light shine through you to all you meet?