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Sunday, June 27, 2010

This post was written by Nathan on June 21, 2010
Posted Under: Sunday Scriptures

Holy No’s: Rightly Focused Protest…deepens our understanding of process

Open with a time of prayer asking God to show you the areas of your life and our lives together that need the correction of God’s Word.
Before we begin to discuss any more about social justice, let’s understand and agree that ultimately God is the only one who can fully define what is socially just and what is unjust. However, Scripture gives good indication about some practices that are unjust and also gives good indication of what is the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness and self-control. So these practices and fruit can be good measuring sticks for us to hold up to our social practices to determine if, in fact they are just.
- If they are NOT ‘just’ by these standards, then we are likely failing to live up to the love that God calls us to which is ‘just.’ If our lives ARE marked by just actions then we can say that the actions at least are loving (only God can judge the heart).
- Some have argued that this series does not focus on the key aspects of the gospel – the heart of Christianity. Yet Jesus insists that we are to love God and love others if we are to get to the heart of his Way. So as far as social justice issues are "loving people Jesus’ way" this is, in fact the heart of the gospel. And where we are focusing on our pet social projects that do NOT show love to others, we are missing the point.
- DISCUSS the above – allow room for people to be honest.
We are blessed in our 21st century world to have things happen fast. I can get an item I purchase online shipped to me so that I have it the next day. I can download a book over the internet so I have it on my computer 2 minutes after I buy it. I can fly from here to Europe and back in the same day.
- NAME some of the other ways that our lives move fast.
- TALK about some of the humorous aspects of our speed – let’s laugh at ourselves for a moment.
- What dangers does the speed of modern day life pose to the life of the community of faith – the church?
Marilyn Chandler McEntyre writes: "Good community organizers understand the slow movement of community life and the gradualness of most real growth."(Weavings, Vol. XXV; No.2)
- (In the following discussion when I refer to Community LIFE!, I am referring to the Church seeking to LIVE! out together that abundant LIFE! that Jesus came to bring us – John 10:10)
- If community LIFE! and growth take place over a long period of time, how can we be faithful to ‘real growth?’
- What character traits will we need to hold onto in order to allow community LIFE! to develop and mature?
Let’s face it – sometimes change to individuals and to society do not happen at the speed we would like it to. Let’s look at a story of social change that God brought about – and notice the need to be patient to allow the process to take it’s course.
The Exodus: God saves the Israelites out of slavery to the Egyptians
- READ 3:7-10 Moses is far from Egypt when God calls him to go and help save his people. Apparently the Israelites had been crying out to God – for how long we don’t know. But even after Moses’ vision from the burning bush, there would have been the preparations and the journey to Egypt which would have taken at least a couple weeks probably.
- Then the series of plagues – each announced and then endured. Read the following, noting the passage of time and discuss how it may have felt to be an Israelite that believed God was at work, but perhaps not as quickly as you would have wished for God to be. Read each short passage from Exodus and talk about how long each process may have taken.
The 10 plagues
- 1. Water to Blood
  
  7:19 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.
  
  2. Frogs
  
  8:2 And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:
  
  8:3 And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading troughs:
  
  8:4 And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.
  
  3. Gnats or Lice
  
  8:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
  
  4. Flies
  
  8:21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.
  
  5. Livestock Diseased
  
  9:3 Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.
  
  6. Boils
  
  9:8 And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.
  
  9:9 And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.
  
  7. Thunder and Hail
  
  9:18 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.
  
  8. Locusts
  
  10:4 Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast:
  
  10:5 And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field.
  
  9. Darkness
  
  10:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
  
  10:22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days
  
  10. Death of the Firstborn
  
  11:4 And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt:
  
  11:5 And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.
  - Now, I don’t know about you, but I think I would be asking why God didn’t use the 3 strike rule rather than the 10 strike rule? Or why didn’t God just skip ahead to the big one at the end if that is what made Pharoah let the people go?
  - DISCUSS what might or might not have happened if this "process" did not run it’s course. How might it have affected the process to speed it up or skip a few steps?
    - Ultimately we can’t know the answer to this question, which may frustrate us. Yet the mystery of trust is that we do our best to allow God the time to do God’s work in God’s timing!
    - DISCUSS how we might live that out in practical ways.
- Name a time in your life when God did not work as fast as you wished God would have. Were you able to see why God worked at God’s speed when it was all done? Even if not, can we entrust ourselves to God’s love and care in such a way that we don’t have to know why God’s timing is different than ours?
Close with a time of "entrusting prayer" giving control back to God rather than holding it ourselves. Ask God to give you the patience and trust to "Let go and let God" do what God wants when God wants. Feel yourself relax as you give up that control that is really not ours to begin with.
Now, walk with God, and let God’s timing unfold – one step and one day at a time as God works the miracle process of transformation in our lives and in our Community LIFE!