Law is a guardian until Christ comes

Galatians 3 - 4:7. Paul develops the idea that the Jewish Law is nothing more than a guardian, a stopgap, until Jesus Christ can come and fulfill the law. God never intended to be revealed only to the Jews. He intended to be the God and savior of all peoples in the world.

Psalm 47 speaks of all nations praising God. From all time God intended this. Somehow the Jews lost sight of this. But the prophets, under God's inspiration, did not. Many times in the psalms and the prophets God speaks of all the nations coming to him, repenting, bowing the knee, worshiping him. And God spoke of blessing the nations. The Israelites, in their hatred of their neighbors, wanted to keep the revelation of the true God for themselves.

Don't we too tend to lose sight of the fact that God is for all people and not just my little bunch? Don't we stick with our church, our circle of Christian friends? We act as if we would like to keep the good news to ourselves.

We think others will not appreciate it. Or else they would have already believed. They might make fun of us or get angry if we share Jesus the savior with them. So we dare not try to evangelize, tell them the good news.

We rationalize that it is us versus them. But God does not. He does not see it that way. Like in the Psalms, God desires all to come to him and praise him. It is right that we all should gather as brothers and praise God. The Live Aid shows get it half right. We are brothers: red and yellow, black and white. But what we share in common is a creator who deserves our gratitude for life and all the good things he gives us.

All non-believers are potential believers. God desires that it be so. All of them would be immensely better off if they knew the truth of the Good News of Jesus Christ. They have to be told, perhaps more than once. Advertisers know the value of repetition. Teachers know the value of repetition. Those who do not believe simply do not understand yet. If told another way they might finally get it. (Of course God gives the inspiration but we must be the feet of God.)

The Good News is that God does love us all, not just our little group, and made a way through the work of his Son for all to come before his throne to praise and glorify his holy name as is only right.

We who have accepted Him are carriers. Are we contagious?

Trinity Sunday

The Sunday after Pentecost is called Trinity Sunday in the liturgical tradition. Yesterday was Trinity Sunday. As our preacher said, "The only day named after a theological maxim."

Beforehand the worship leaders gather for coffee for 30 minutes. One of the singers made the comment that the concept of Trinity was too hard, implying that he need not accept it. Why keep trying to explain something that no one can understand?

Well I left that alone. I had nothing to share. Nothing came to me. So I left it alone. I feel no compulsion to defend God. He can do that very well himself.

We then heard a good sermon. The sermon was one that skirted the issue. JD did not try to explain it saying, "For me to try to explain the Trinity would be like a four year old girl trying to explain her parents' marriage." Think about that one a minute.

The scripture for the day spoke of the theophanies in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 14. The visions tried to visualize God in visual terms understandable by humans. Another singer beforehand had quipped "What was John smoking when he wrote this?"

In retrospect the only helpful (I think) comment I could made at the time was that the Trinity is important because it speaks of God's love and glory as active and inclusive. Love and glory are shared among the persons and more importantly for us, shared with us as well. God wants to include us in his fellowship among the persons of the Trinity. Jesus worked to explain that in John 16.

God is one, and a unity but he readily and eagerly and lovingly wants to share his fellowship with us. He also wants to share his glory with us too but we must do what he does and share it back. We must love him back as the persons do.

It's amazing. And really not understandable.

Galatians

I am reading Galatians right now. What should we take from this letter?

Paul starts right in with his message right there in verse one in his greeting. Paul wants his readers to know we please God, not man. We are to give glory to God and not to men.

Paul criticizes Peter for changing his behavior when the Jewish Christians come around. Privately he knows he need not live and eat like a Jew but publicly, he tried to please men by pretending to be a Jew.

The Jews were not eating with the Gentile Christians in Asia Minor. This was wrong. We are free. If we associate with sinners for the sake of the gospel this does not make us sinners. People do not have spiritual cooties. If we associate with homeless people for the sake of the gospel that does not make us homeless. If we work with prisoners or the poor to give glory to God this is a good thing. Jesus did the same thing.

Paul spends a lot of time explaining to the Galatians that he did not submit to the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem but to God. He had a separate call from God. He went to Jerusalem for a leaders meeting. He went as an equal. And they confirmed that God had called him and blessed his ministry.

His conclusion was that his teachings had equal weight with any emissaries from Jerusalem. No matter what they said, he was equal in authority.

The Jewish Christians had trouble breaking out of old habits. Paul knew he was CALLED to break out. He was free to live as a Gentile to serve the gospel. He knew that it served God and helped the Galatians if he did so.

In summary (2:16) a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus. We may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law. No man is justified by works of the law. Paul repeats it for emphasis.

This is a direct condemnation of the Judaizers who are trying to get people to live more like Jews. Paul directly condemns that. Righteousness does not come through the law. If it did then Christ died needlessly (2:21).

today

walked to store and got some groceries. Walked back with my canvas grocery bags.

Ate a breakfast of egg, bacon, homemade bread toast and milk.

Then to gym for a workout. Watched an old movie on the personal TV.

Went to the bank to get a cashier's check to close a loan.

Then off to Turbo Tuesday for the final school party. Found out my tutee is a Christian. In two years it never came up. Then we said goodbye. Likely I'll never see him again. I pray that our short relationship helped a little. Maybe it helped me more.

Then home and soon after to Life Group.

Oh, DD2 is leaving for camp in a couple of days. She is cooking for us for the last time for over two months. We had salmon tonight. Tomorrow we arer hainvg chicken tetrazzini.

Life Group was pretty good. Talked on John 14 some. Then took a couple of guys home and told them about a movie we saw. They were more familiar with Irton Man 2 and Robin Hood (Robin deBois to them).

Home to catch up with Farmville. ;-)

Pentecost

Cool MP spoke on the Holy Spirit Sunday morning. Finally, at the end, he mentioned it was Pentecost. But just as an afterthought.

In the evening I was the substitute reader since Rocky was out of town. Rocky is in a wheelchair so he has to know whether the reader is there or not. I can be more spontaneous. This certainly would look very spontaneous since I came out of the choir and crossed the nave to walk up and read.

I looked over and notice no one was in the "ready" position, just under the epistle side reading box. So I did glance at what was being read in the bulletin. The new bulletins, since the beginning of the year, have all of the service including all the reading. I saw that we had a fairly short psalm and decided that we would read in responsively.

Then an older couple came in and sat near the front. I thought maybe one of them would read. I tried to decide whether I was relieved or disappointed. It was mixed.

But after the collect no one moved towards the lectern so I grabbed the bulletin and headed over to read. I am tempted to start to watch myself but I tried to be in the moment, enjoy the situation, feel what I feel. I did find enjoyment in reading.

We read a few verses of Psalm 32. I knew there was one lesson, not two. That was interested. What I did not know until just now what that I was reading Acts 2. All of Acts 2. Well up to verse 41. I read the coming of the Holy Spirit and then all of the description of Peter's sermon.

The Pentecost story is a great story and I wished to do it justice. I wished I could look up and connect with the audience but really that would not work since I had not rehearsed this. If I looked up I would lose my place. But I tried to pause at the commas and inflect the questions and exclamations a little. This is a reading, not a one act play, so no overdoing it. Try not to rush it. Take it easy. I read it from the bulletin. That seems bad manners somehow but I can be excused since I am emergency reading.

I had to turn the bulletin page twice. On the second turn I was wondering how long more. It did seem long. But I think it turned out well. There is not a high bar for satisfaction yet I'm sure all lectors try to make it special. I think it was special.

Afterwards I noticed some special people in the congregation. Jokingly I mentioned, Ric from AD Players with what looked to be his mother, and said "maybe I'll be discovered". But it was not to be.

Also Mary Frances, our former alto who has written one novel and is editing her second one. She may be successful with this one. The first one was not bad. It was fun since it was partially set in Houston. She says this one is much better.

I got some nice comments. It was a pleasure to do it. It was nice to be complimented. Again I try to experience the moment and enjoy the praise. It's not rocket science but it is nice not to fall flat on my face. hehe

The two Nancys

Following up on last two blogs. I mentioned the bff the two Nancys.

We went forward and the rest of my homeroom went back. So I did not see them for a whole year.

I suppose I was sort of interested in one of the Nancys. I wondered if one of them was mildly interested in me. That is another story. I think I have told it from another angle. Perhaps it should be told again. But not now.

This about seeing her again the next year. Now she was a 10th grader and I was an 11th grader. Over the summer or sometime in the previous year she had a makeover. She dyed her hair, cut it differently and learned to use a lot of make-up. She probably lost some weight too. I liked the older Nancy but the newer Nancy was a hit at least with the other girls.

She also changed her behavior. From fairly quiet person with one main friend she became an outgoing vivacious girl who aimed to be popular with the popular clique. As far as I can tell she succeeded pretty well. To her credit she did not totally drop the old Nancy. But they were drifting apart. The other Nancy looked about the same as she did in junior high.

But that was not my interest. She was no longer someone I could deal with. Not that she would have been interested with me. My rep in high school was "out of it nerd". She would have hurt herself by associating with the likes of me.

But I was very interested in observing a person who totally remade herself for high school. Obviously she did not like who she was in junior high. So she went out to change that. High school is a time to find out who you are. Or in this case to create a whole new you and then live in that new body. She set out to improve herself and she did.

Midtermers no more

I mentioned I was a mid-termer yesterday. I was born in January. Why they let January kids start in January, maybe earlier than my birthday I don't know. Did we start later that year. I know I was born January 20 and two of the girls were born on January 21. Cool huh?

Anyway I went on like this going through the school year "backwards" all through elementary and into junior high. Then there were rumors that mid-term was going to be eliminated. The school board decided to do it gradually, not abruptly. So those left in elementary school would switch over as they moved on to junior high (7-9). Those like me who were in junior high would continue as a mid-termer until moving on to high school. So it was a three year transition for junior highs.

There must have been a meeting at our junior high of the group of us still in mid-term. I think there were two homerooms with mid-termers. There were some 12 homerooms of regular kids. They often did not know what to do with mid-termers. When we moved over to the junior high in January they did not expect so many. So as an emergency they put a homeroom in the girls health room. Our lockers were right by the entrance to the girls' locker room. hehe. Did the boys try to peek in? Sure they did. But not me, I don't think. The woman coach who got this duty was never happy about it. She was often not in the room at all in the mornings. She never took pride of ownership in our accomplishments. We won the 7th grade soccer intramural championship. She never came out to watch us play.

Our home room stayed together for three years though I cannot say I got to know many of them. The boy in front of me, C.A. regaled me with stories of his exploits with the ladies in the last couple of years. But I had one bff in D.M. I was jealous when he tried to have other friends. So for the most part he didn't have other friends. We stayed friends throughout high school too. Another outstanding duo were the two Nancys who were also bff. I wonder if they stayed friends during high school. I'm not sure.

Anyway this is about the transition. When it came to going to a regular schedule they gave us two options. After the May-June semester of 1965 we could opt to stay back and take 9th grade over again. So the kids who did that would take the first semester classes over again in the fall and continue with the second semester in the spring graduating the next June and coming to high school in 1966. Or we could go to summer school and skip H-9 and immediately go to 10th grade in the fall.

Most of the kids decided to stay back. But my friend DM decided he wanted to go forward. And he encouraged me. He did not want to do it by himself. I agreed to do it with him.

That meant taking three classes in summer school, the maximum possible, quite an undertaking then going on to high school in the fall of 1965. There we would have to take one ninth grade class and take another class the next summer to finally catch up. There were six periods and four "solids": math, science, English, and history. We did not have to take an extra PE class or extra elective. So it was just one ninth grade class in the fall. I remember it was Algebra. All these classes were filled with failing kids, kids just barely hanging on. I don't think we quite realized what we had gotten ourselves into.

These kids were scary. The second semester summer school was basically for kids who flunked during the first summer school session, meaning they had now flunked twice. There was only one place where that was held, at San Jacinto High School downtown. The neighborhood was scary. The kids were scary. We could assume they were all carrying knives, cigarettes, maybe even dope. The teachers felt it best to take a don't stir up trouble approach. After all they were outnumbered. We were a couple of clean cut suburban kids. We stood out.

The teachers assigned these classes were fighting a losing battle. We really tried to get our work done but the bedlam around us was distracting. I'm sure we were verbally abused for trying to actually do the work. One thing I learned from DM was how to organize time so that we could get it all done before going home. He was a genius at that and showed me a vision of how it was possible. Before that time I had not really believed it possible. Much of my abilities in college to later take 18 or 21 hours per semester has to be credited to the mentoring I got from DM.

DM and I devised a special code for communicating. He was a bit more excited about it than I was. I understand that he still uses it. A few years ago I communicated with him and he insisted that I "read" a coded message that he sent me. I could still but just barely. Essentially it evolved over time as variation on the actually English alphabet. We kept changing the letters to things not likely to be identified by a casual observer. But they looked enough like the original letter that to us, who had been involved with its evolution, there was little problem reading it. I was never caught with a note but DM was once and he got a good laugh at the teacher's confusion.

That first year in 10th grade was OK scholastically. I don't think I ever fit it though. Some of it had to do with my being a year younger than the rest of them. But probably a lot of it had to do with my not being confident around people. Anyway it solidified the relationship with DM and I. It was us against the world a lot of the time. Later I would try to get dates with girls but that was almost entirely a failure. I guess if I had been willing to settle for a not so good looking girl but I wasn't. So when I finally did get dates it was with girls at other schools. I ruined my rep in my own school. But I did not mean to speak on that. I have covered it before.

I may have covered this before too but it is more appropriate here. My ninth grade Algebra class, called Algebra 1B was a class for those who got an F in the class in the spring semester. There must have been more than one class as D.M. was not in this class. I am sure teachers hated to teach this class. But the woman who taught my class was sort of an exception. She said she was involved with the college group that developed MAD magazine. She developed a crazy character where she described herself as a witch. She had ditties for each day of the week. The most famous were for Monday and Friday. We were to sing them in class. She had a souped up broom with stick shift and other silly ad-ons. Some of these kids would make her a new one to try to get brownie points.

That was another class where I felt out of place. There may have been a few others who were serious about trying to learn but here I think even the teacher had given up teaching seriously. That was really weird to me. I hate to waste my time. If I am there I might as well do my best. I guess that applies mostly to learning anyway.