Following Jesus Together - April 28
Dear Friends,
This week’s good news mediation comes from Psalm 41:1-3.
Blessed is the one who considers the poor!
In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him; the LORD protects him and keeps him alive;
he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.
The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.
The word for poor in vs. 1 is an interesting word – it describes those vulnerable to being taken advantage of, the weak, or the sick. The NASB calls them the helpless.
Who comes to mind here? Who are the weak and helpless in your life? To consider them is to think of their needs, their concerns, with the intention of getting involved. Do you?
Why should you? Well, look at vs. 3:
The Lord sustains the lover of the weak and helpless when they are weak– by restoring them to health. There’s more detail packed into the original language. So try listening to this paraphrase, “most carefully You (the Lord) make his bed when he’s sick.”
Do you see God like this? The God who sees to the cleanliness of your bedsheets? The God who sustains you, who is by your side, giving you what you need.
For all who are sick and weak, let that picture of God, the Great Physician lift your spirits!
There’s a beautiful symmetry here. It turns out that the one who considers the helpless is simply imitating the Lord. Blessed are the merciful as Jesus would say. For they shall receive mercy.
Why are we blessed with God’s mercy? We receive mercy because Jesus, the lover of the poor, was NOT delivered from the cross on the day of his trouble. He was put to death, given over to the will of his enemies. All so that we might be sustained in both life and death, in sickness and in health. God sees to every moment. He even sees to our resurrection from the dead!
Sunday School @ 9:00 am – Rabbi Harold Kushner in a well known book asked some famous questions, “Why do bad things happen to good people? If God is good, why does He allow Christians to go through awful things?” We are looking at the section of the Westminster Confession of Faith that gives a Biblical answer to some of those questions. God, in his infinite goodness and providence and almighty power, is works through the bad, using the sin of men and of angels for His good purposes.
Again, we are meeting in the lounge. We can always spread out into another room if needed. The handout is attached.
Worship – 10:00am – We are studying 1 Peter 1:22-2:3 – We are born again to love one another. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Pastor in the 1940s wrote, “The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.”
It's a simple idea – God put you in a family – the church is God’s laboratory to teach you how to love, deeply and sincerely. No pretending. No faking it. – Easy to talk about, impossible without the grace of God in the gospel.
We get to taste that God is good by partaking in God’s family meal, the Lord’s Supper – We eat with those Jesus calls us to love and forgive! (Matthew 5:21-26)
Congregational Meeting @ 12:00pm – Looking forward to seeing you all!
Right now the weather is looking good for Sunday! We are planning to meet outside under the pine trees, near the gaga pit. Pack a lunch or a snack while you wait for the meeting to start. Feel free to bring your own chair if you like. The church has plenty of cold metal chairs if you forget