Share what you learnt at church today

Discussion in 'Faith, Devotion & Formation' started by Scottish Knight, Jul 29, 2012.

  1. Scottish Knight

    Scottish Knight Well-Known Member

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    what did you learn from church today? I'd love to hear what others came back with after the service!
    Perhaps we can share :)

    The sermon was on the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21)

    It really struck me the worthlessness of earthly hoarding. And it made me think of my motivation in working and my concerns in life. I know I need to remind myself to work for Christ, seeing it as a vocation and not primarily for earthly gain. Also I have a lot of future worries at the moment and my natural instinct is to save as much as I can, But the sermon reminded me of the importance of tithing as an expression of trust in Christ, and of thankfulness of what He has so far given me.
     
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  2. Adam Warlock

    Adam Warlock Well-Known Member

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    This is an awesome idea for a thread.

    Our OT reading this morning was King David & Bathsheba. Our parish has spent the last couple of weeks in a very penitent mood, so it gave us a chance to study the text from a fresh perspective. I was really hit hard this time, even though it's a familiar story. When we indulge any wink-and-nudge private sins, they always have deep & dangerous consequences. Such sins can fester during times of spiritual doldrums where we just go through the motions. They will spiral out of control. And then, like the prodigal son or like David in Psalm 51, we wake up and say "how did it come to this?". We do these things in the very sight of God. And it is before God that we must come in repentance. And then, as we kneel before him, there is nothing that we can do that would satisfy his righteousness. Only he could bear our guilt; only he can purify us.

    The depths of sin, atonement, mercy, and forgiveness are much greater than I realize. We know it, but we don't always know it.
     
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  3. Andrea

    Andrea Member

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    We've been studying Ephesians lately. We talked about unity with each other and the Christian community at all. I also learned that when it's hot in the church it's even hotter with vestments on, and you get really tired after mass from the heat.
     
  4. Gordon

    Gordon Well-Known Member

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    It is great that most of us share a common Lectionary these days. Like Adam our OT reading was the story of Bathsheba, but our local Priest Nicholas concentrated on the NT readings and the bread of life, moving from the not so nice stuff to the acceptance of the love of Jesus through the bread. I don't recall a sermon delivered by Nicholas that didn't give one something to reflect on when the went back out into daily life.
     
  5. Gordon

    Gordon Well-Known Member

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    We are lucky here in the land down-under it is winter for us and the vestments help to keep us warm....
     
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  6. Anna Scott

    Anna Scott Well-Known Member

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    Great idea for a thread, Scottish Knight. :)

    Sadly, I've missed two Sundays. I've been really struggling with my health. In a recent sermon, the Priest said, "Where there is faith, there is no fear." That really stuck with me, especially dealing with my disability. My spinal problems are progressing, and sometimes I am scared to death. I don't talk about it much. I'm still walking, but it's difficult so much of the time. I really needed to hear those words, "Where there is faith, there is no fear." It's funny how one sentence can have a profound effect. I felt like the Holy Spirit was speaking to me. . . .So, I'm moving forward, one step at a time; and I thank God that I am walking.

    Anna
     
  7. Toma

    Toma Well-Known Member Anglican

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    Keep walking, Anna. I am praying for your spirit, that you never despair with God despite your health - and also praying for your health, that it improves and you can rejoice more and more in your Lord, Who imparts all good things (not just spiritual ones)!

    ~

    Yesterday I found it salutary to visit the R.C. parish of my Franciscan friends, if only to stay inside for the first half (the Liturgy of the Word). I don't believe R.C. prayer is less-efficacious with God than Anglican prayer, despite grievances I have with their doctrine. The first reading was from 2 Kings 4:42-44, the story of the man bringing a meager bag of food, and the prophet Elisha telling him to open it up for an hundred people. Naturally, it was miraculously multiplied, leaving open a prophecy for the true Man of God much later. The Epistle was Ephesians 4:1-6, the beloved text of one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism... the Gospel was John 6:1-15, the fulfillment of Elisha at the feeding of the 5000.

    Before going to the Mass, I sat down in the church of the Fathers, the church of my heart, to read Chrysostom's and Augustine's comments on this section - they are my first preachers :p. Augustine said that the lad who appeared before Jesus Christ with 5 loaves of barley and 2 loaves of fish was Israel, who had held the 5 books of Moses and the 2 greatest commandments of the Law within their own heart for generation upon generation. Israel had never been able, of themselves, to break open the Torah and multiply it before the whole world (Jew & Gentile alike), nor live the 2 great commandments - because they were still mere children in the understanding of it all. Only by the coming of the Lord Jesus is all brought together, Jewish daily bread from the Scripture opened up and given to Jew & Gentile alike. Chrysostom asked why Jesus would go so far from Jerusalem so near to the Passover (?) - why, to slowly & subtly bring people away from the exaggerated confines of the Law, and unto Himself!

    In the Mass itself, the priest took a different tack: he firstly mentioned that the breaking of the bread wasn't some metaphor for justice, feeding the poor, or anything like that... but was more a picture and revelation of who Jesus Christ is. The multiplication occurred before the faces of 5000 people, Jews AND Gentiles, just before the Passover, the holiest time for Jews - who had to remember and recall that God had smitten a gentile people in order that they might be free from Egypt. The first message here, to this priest, was that Jesus brings together everyone on the earth, Jew & Gentile alike, not only to stand together in one accord, but smiles in seeing us finally together, and tells us to sit down on the dew of the grass to be fed by Him, as one body in faith.

    The priest's second message was focused more on Ephesians: before the One Lord, One Faith, and One Baptism moment, you have the line which is "the key" to this priest's mind: "bear with one another in all patience, kindness", etc.! It was only by the grace, power, and might of Jesus' holy presence that the 5000 vastly-different people was brought together to sit down on the grass. He did not delight in their individual talents, gifts, graces, spiritual heights, or anything like that - in fact, He picked out a boy who, for all we know, never actually said a word - a mere child without anything to say. We are not to put each other up in high places after carefully examining each person's "talents", like some X Idol tele program, but we are to all admit that we can bring nothing of ourselves except sins, and our hope that they are banished by God and by our love, bearing with one another in all patience. We are not to look to people who are 'higher' than ourselves to keep the Church up with their special talents, for none of it is all that special - why, Jesus Himself, when He saw that they were coming to apprehend Him and make Him King for feeding them with carnal bread, showed them the spiritual path: He wiped His hands of the crumbs, and said "see ya", and retreated to the mountain to pray. Even He did not acknowledge His great power, but went in silence.
     
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  8. Sean611

    Sean611 Well-Known Member

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    The Liturgy of the Word came from:

    2 Kings 4:42-44
    Ephesians 4:1-6
    John 6:1-15

    The sermon was about Jesus' miraculous feedings of the 5000 and how the story is so important that it is recorded in all four Gospels. The priest explained that the story is about how Jesus is able to provide for the needs of his people, spiritual needs and human needs. Spoke about how John's emphasis is on leading the disciples into a deeper understanding of the power of Jesus and a deeper belief. The people were physically hungry, but they also hungered for peace, forgiveness, hope, and comfort. God still provides for his people, you can see all the charity organizations that started out with nothing and very little funds and today provide for millions. All-in-all, a great sermon and lesson.
     
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  9. Sean611

    Sean611 Well-Known Member

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    Yesterday's sermon was on Christ as the bread of life and the true bread from heaven and how many of the followers of Jesus and 1st Century Jews didn't understand him. This bread will satisfy us forever. The Rector also pointed out that the Church must avoid becoming a religion of convenience. We are to be conformed to God's mission, not our own. Church sometimes tries too hard to be relevant and convenient for people and can reflect culture, rather than offering a true alternative to it. I must say, it was a fantastic sermon and very timely, especially after GC.
     
  10. Scottish Knight

    Scottish Knight Well-Known Member

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    the sermon was good this morning, but I think I learnt the improtant lesson at the start of the first hymn. I arrived at church with a slight cold, and just as it happened I was sitting next to two people undergoing cancer treatment. hence they had to move away from me as a precaution. Well! I was certainly not feeling in a worshipful spirit at this point. As we stood up for the first hymn I felt downright miserable, but the words of the hymn reminded me I was here to worship God, and in doing so I soon forgot about my cold, and was truly happy being there.I am stubborn so it's a lesson I have had to learn many times lol
     
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  11. Adam Warlock

    Adam Warlock Well-Known Member

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    Oh wow. I was just thinking about this thread a few minutes ago.

    After something that happened this morning, I'll just say this: never be ashamed of your gifts and vocation. Have confidence that you are doing what God called you do to. If you don't have that confidence, you probably know why. But even if you are "lowly" in the eyes of the world, and even if you meet someone wealthy & powerful in your own line of work, be bold when you proclaim what Christ has done for you - and what he has done for others through your vocation.
     
  12. Gordon

    Gordon Well-Known Member

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    Our sermon was on the difference between ritual and reality and basically themed on Christs words regarding what come out of the body is what makes you unclean and not what goes into it.
     
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  13. Scottish Knight

    Scottish Knight Well-Known Member

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    amen
     
  14. Anna Scott

    Anna Scott Well-Known Member

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    Sean,
    Glad to hear your Rector is standing firm in the Gospel of Christ apart from convenience and cultural influence. Strange that these issues were encountered when Christ walked among us and are sill present today.

    Two Sundays ago, we had a guest Priest whose entire sermon was about the Holy Eucharist and what it means to partake of the Body and Blood of Christ. It was so beautiful. Afterwards, I shook his hand and told him my sister and I were just talking about John 6 on the phone earlier that morning; and how Baptists see the Lord's Supper as an ordinance (my sister is still in the Baptist Church.) The Priest smile and said, "the Eucharist is life." And he is so right. Receiving the Body and Blood of Christ is life indeed.

    One of the interesting points the Priest made is that it is through the Spirit that we know in our hearts we have received the Body and Blood of Christ. I wish I could quote his entire sermon. He explained John Chapter 6 so well, acknowledging that we must eat the Flesh of Christ and drink His Blood, while understanding the role of the Spirit.
     
  15. historyb

    historyb Active Member

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    I actually remember today. That worship is about God not about us. I must say I find it rather interesting that these lessons never clicked with me when I was Catholic but now I find a love of Christ in the Eucharist and other things seem to just click now for me
     
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  16. mark1

    mark1 Active Member

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    Tony Campolo spoke at our church yesterday.

    He emphasized that while non-Christians can indeed be saved without knowing Christ, we should still be strong in our emphasis on evangelism to non-Christians. He suggested that this is like being in an African country where malaria is rampant and we have the cure. Should we not tell anyone about the cure because some will be saved even without any medicine?
     
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  17. rhiannon

    rhiannon Member

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    yesterday I finally learned that I am now relaxed when the priest talks about Chrislike God or the God that Christ shows to us. I have had an upside down journey with this since about this time last year the priest preached a sermon asking us if we loved God. He got a garbelled email from me and in that week he loaned me the book "Christlike God" to read and it took some reading but I digested it to where I understood it. But it took what felt like forever to settle. Yesterday when he refered, I knew in my own journey what the priest meant and I could listen without all the negative that had gone on before whenever he refered to the phrase. I learned directly from the sermon I am now clear about it.;) It took some doing even getting to the stage where I almost convinced myself I wasn't Christian never mind Anglican anymore.(which came into what he showed me about prayer too) But stuck it through and breathed a positive sigh yesterday and he got I hope was a convincing email in return. Though not much to do with the Sunday in hand. But where I am at on that journey. :)