.

 11/8 The Church: In, Out, Up & Down                       1 Co. 11; 16:1,19
The Church is those who are called "out" of the world; "in" to fellowship with others; made from "above" by the Spirit; at work "below" here on earth

11/15  Reciprocal Interiority                                       Ephesians 5:22-32
Two Become one.  There is a unique tension in any good relationship between “mine” and “not mine”.  We see this illustrated in the Trinity.  God wants to express this aspect of Himself in and through the Church.

11/22  God's Gifts in Community                              1 Co. 12:1-11
God gives gifts to individiuals, to be used in community, for the building up of the Church, and expressing God's character and message to the world.

11/29  The Church:  God’s Alternative Kingdom Begins       1 Co. 13
The calls to love or be subject to one another always relate the individual to another or a group of people (Yoder).  

12/6  The Kingdom of God as a Visitor                       Luke 17:20
Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost - all recount the coming of a divine stranger (D. Guder)

12/13  The Kingdom as Herald                                   Luke 2
Faithful Christian witness means: understanding the unique challenges and opportunities that exist where we live, the gods we are fighting against, the idolatries that tempt people here in a unique way.

12/20  The Kingdom as Hospitality                            Rev. 3:20 & Mt. 25
Congregations that reflect who God is take the time to creat space to reach out and invite others into a new relationship with God and with each other (D.Guder)

12/24    The 1 and the Many                                        Mt. 2:13-18
The Church is local when the saving event of Christ takes root in a particular local situation w/ all its natural, social, cultural and other characteristics which make up the life and thought of people living in that place…and when natural cultural divisions are transcended (Zizioulas, Being As Communion).

12/27       The Church of the Future                Mk. 1:14-15
Eschatology (study of last things) is not only about the end of the world.   It is about the future breaking in today w/ an alternative order known as the reign of God.  The announcement of Jesus that in his coming the kingdom of God had drawn near (Guder).

In the month of Jan. we will be looking at gifts God has given the Church.  The analogy will be a medicine cabinet for our healing, things God has given to deal with deal with our sin and the sin of the world, in order that Christ may be formed in us.

1/3  Saints:  The Gift of our Family History                      Heb. 11
A child cannot grasp even elementary mathematics simply by reading a textbook; the help of a teacher is essential.  A medical student is not qualified to become a doctor simply by reading all the textbooks on physiology, anatomy and the like.  When she has completed this she has to go thru a long period of clinical training...learns thru hr. by hr.contact w/ an experienced MD before she can learn to interpret the light and shades of an x-ray (L. Newbigin).   In the same way, God has given us flesh and blood teachers and "doctors" of the faith who want to train and equip us in the faith.

1/10  Scripture:  The Gift of God’s Written Word
(Christ is The Word;)

1/17  Prayer:  The Gift of Talking with God                      (More to come on this one.)

1/24    Image:  The Gift of Creative Vision                        Genesis 1:26-7; Colossians 1:15
God has communicated to us through Christ (The Word) and calls us images of Him to ea. other and to the world.  We are invited to find creative ways to express that “imagery”.

1/31  Communion:  The Gift of God Himself                     John 13, 14:15ff
God in Christ gave himself to us, literally and symbolically as a model.  He gave himself in the body and the blood.  And He gives himself to us in the Spirit.