Friday, July 16, 2010

St. David's News & Notes, July 16, 2010

Blessings to you all this very summery Friday.

Since it's too hot to go outside, why not stay inside a read? May I recommend this short article by Dallas Willard called, Why Bother with Discipleship?

I'll also take the time here to remind us all of the the basic ideas and questions behind the Sunday sermons right now. These will continue to frame my teaching and preaching for the next several weeks in a focused way. I appreciate your patience and interest as we continue this series. And I hope you will find this teaching as helpful as I have in my life.

As we come to the subject of sermons (why have them?), and the Bible (why read it?) and Church (what is it? and why go?), we might ask this fundamental question.

Who is your teacher? And what does your teacher teach? All of us have a teacher, maybe several of them. And we'd better make sure our teachers our good ones.

Well, quite obviously, I'll say that Jesus is the best one there is. There is another short, helpful article by Dallas Willard titled, Who is Your Teacher? that may help you see my point (well, Dr. Willard's point). I've found this article very helpful in presenting a sound view of Jesus, and revealing how much I value (or undervalue) Jesus' authority as a teacher of real life in the real world.

The next four questions are also from Dr. Willard. I've found them in teaching and his books, particularly Knowing Christ Today, from which they are taken.

These are all questions that we answer each day, usually subconsciously. Bringing to our conscious mind these questions and our answers to them helps us reflect on them and, if necessary, make needed corrections.

Question 1: What is real? What is reality? The answer is of Jesus is: Reality is God and his kingdom. And the kingdom is, in the simplest terms, where God is active, where what God wants done is done.

Question 2: Who is well-off, or blessed? The answer of Jesus is: Anyone who is alive in the Kingdom of God, that is, anyone who is interactively engaged with God and with the various dynamic dimensions of his reigning. Such engagement with God is an eternal living, an eternal life (cf. John 17:3).

Question 3: Who is truly a good person? A really good person, as Jesus teaches, is anyone who is pervaded with love: love for God who first loved us and who in his Son taught us what love is (1 John 4:9-11).

Question 4: How do you become a really good person? You place your confidence in Jesus Christ and become his student in kingdom living. In other words, you learn from him how to live in the kingdom of God as he himself did.

I'll keep unpacking these questions and showing how our lessons in Luke specifically address them (1) because Jesus is a good teacher and (2) so is St. Luke who wrote an authoritative record of of Jesus' life and teachings so that we can "have certainty regarding the things [we] have been taught" (Luke 1:4).

The readings for this coming Sunday are:
Genesis 18:1-14
Psalm 15
Colossians 1:21-29
Luke 10:38-42

Announcements
 
Our Wednesday evening Bible study following the 6pm Mass will cover Ecclesiastes chapters 7-9.  Also, our St. Augustine's Prayer Books are in. We are suggesting a donation of $15 per copy.

Blessings to you all,

Fr Greg+

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