Church rebirth through reading the scriptures

A clergy colleague of mine, the Reverend Scott Gunn blogs passionately about how a church he served found new life by reading the Bible!  Great read!


From "Seven Whole Days" Blog


Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)


God takes scripture seriously. After giving the heart of the Law (“Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”), God tells the people of Israel to keep the words in their hearts. But that’s not all. God wants the people of Israel not just to know the scriptures, but to teach them to their children. If we understand ourselves as the heirs of Israel, then we too should place ourselves in this story. We are meant to know the scriptures and to talk about them at home and to teach them to our children. We might not literally fix the scriptures on our foreheads, and most of us don’t have gates. But there is no mistaking the intent of the command: we are meant to display and honor the scriptures publicly.

Read Scott's whole post HERE

Varieties of gifts, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

1 Corinthians 12:4-11 (NRSV)

4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

When we think deeply about the differences between people, we see that there truly are "varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit." Unfortunately, it can be hard to create the time and the space to think in these deep ways. All too often, it is in the midst of the busy-ness of our lives that we encounter someone who is unlike us in some way and we react with a lack of charity and patience. In Corinthians, Paul recognizes the diversity of the members of the church in Corinth, and is striving to help the people there to recognize that difference can make the whole body stronger, and that these differences can be Spirit-filled.

When we turn to God, and when we reflect deeply upon the ways that the Spirit has given us each gifts, we find that it is really ok, and also quite wonderful that we don't need to be all things to all people. We don't each need to have all the gifts under the sun, but we do need to be open enough and respectful enough of one another to recognize the gifts that they have, and the gift that they are.

~The Rev. Peter M. Carey

Encountering the Mystery of God: Reading Stephen Cook's, "Conversations with Scripture: 2 Isaiah"

One of the brilliant teachers I was blessed to have in seminary was Dr. Stephen Cook, who is a wonderful Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) scholar, as well as a great teacher and writer (also, check out his blog HERE). He published "Conversations with Scripture: 2 Isaiah" this year and I have browsed it just a bit until this point. Being the final day of the year (at least in the Julian Calendar), and being that this is a day "off" (though occupied with watching children, cleaning the house, etc), I picked it up again. This book has a wonderful discussion and exposition of 2 Isaiah, the 2nd part of the book of Isaiah, a book of the Old Testament that (along with the Psalms) is quoted the most in the New Testament, and one that we hear often in the Christmas season. It is a good read, and Cook is brilliant in helping us to see this book with new eyes, not making the complex overly simple, but giving some "onramps" into this incredible text.

The "mystery" of God is central to 2 Isaiah, and Cook has helped me to encounter this "awe-ful" aspect of God in new ways, here is just an excerpt from the Introduction:

"Awe before Isaiah's God refreshes our reverence. It submerges the ego, paving the way for owning up to our frailty. It turns us outward from concern with self to the need and suffering for others, especially the poor and peripheral. As we repose ever more deeply in God's mystery, the Lord who is absolutely sufficient for our succor increasingly works through us to relieve others' brokenness. Simultaneously, the Holy transforms us into ever more reverent advocates of the natural world."

Just brilliant, thank you Dr. Cook!

~ Rev. Peter M. Carey

Those Seven References, book by John Dwyer

My friend from seminary, John Dwyer, has had his senior independent study published. It is a study of the Bible's seven references to homosexuality. I have not yet read it, but know John and his work well, and know that it will be excellent. So, I am putting a plug in for everyone to get this book and read it. I know that his will be an important voice in the discussion of Homosexuality, the Church, and the Bible. Check it out HERE on Amazon.com.

The Persistence of God: Prevenient Grace

I have long given thanks for God's persistence in calling people into action to bring about God's Kingdom. In my own life, God has time and again called me to worship, to follow, and to serve God. God's Grace is ever-present, and sticks to us like fly-paper, theologians call this "Prevenient Grace," (going back to Augustine of Hippo) ... God's action in our lives moves alongside us and is wrapped up in our lives. God's persistence in calling Samuel is clearly evident in this morning's reading from the Scriptures in the Daily Office:


1 Samuel 3:1-10
Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.
2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room;
3 the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.
4 Then the LORD called, "Samuel! Samuel!" and he said, "Here I am!"
5 and ran to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call; lie down again." So he went and lay down.
6 The LORD called again, "Samuel!" Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." But he said, "I did not call, my son; lie down again."
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
8 The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me." Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy.
9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, "Samuel! Samuel!" And Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening."