by Lon on December 11, 2009
Continuing our journey through John
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only,,who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
A few thoughts
- Can you imagine what it was like for God to encapsulate himself in something so fragile as human flesh?
- The Message translation goes as far as saying god ‘moved into the neighborhood’. There is this strong sense that God wanted to be a part of the fabric of our culture, joining us right where we live.
- Christ was full of grace and truth? Why do we so often think we need to speak or act with one or the other?
- John was being poetic with the phrase of ‘the one who comes after… because he was before me’. The underlying truth in it all is that while we may see God presently and actively working in our lives now and going forward, He’s always been there long before we realized.
- What might it mean by God now being ‘known’?
How was the collaborative whiteboarding session of Nehemiah 2:1-8? Hard? Awkward? Not your thing?
Just so you know drawing thoughts isn’t quite my thing either, here’s my first draft verse by verse as I experimented with it first (just so you don’t feel bad)
Here’s my 2nd try with more reflection and synthesizing of thoughts
2nd one’s not the greatest either, but visually working with things definitely helped me grapple the text more and reflect upon my own life.
I’m really trying to find all means possible to bring the scriptures as close to you as possible each gathering. I hope we can become really familiar with the story of Nehemiah this year, but even more so be shaped by it as individuals and as a community.
Things to keep in mind, especially if you weren’t there
- Nehemiah’s concern was for those on the ‘outside’ and it led him to attempt rebuilding a city
- Context – this city had been plundered multiple times, and there were already two unsuccessful attempts at rebuilding it.
- What would it be like to hope and pray and persevere for months for a single concern?
- Nehemiah’s prayer and preparation led him to be able to discern an opportunity, and not be at a loss for words when that opportunity came
- This was a massive request by Nehemiah – but don’t assume on behalf of others that they’d say no
- What does this story show you about how to engage our surrounding culture?
v2 – who are these kind people unnamed people to the crippled beggar – “People would lay him daily at the gate of the temple called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask for alms from those entering the temple”
… on second thought, I wonder if they were using him to beg for money, or take a cut, after all, what could he do with the money he collected anyways?
Peter asked the beggar to look at him – how often do we do everything we can to avoid eye contact with those less fortunate than us?
“You killed the Author of life” – how ironic and tragic.
“Jesus, who must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God announced long ago through his holy prophets”
- two thoughts on this – If I was Jesus, no one would be telling me where I must remain
- secondly – could universal restoration actually include – everything – human, creature, object, etc?
Your thoughts?
