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Love as a Spiritual Discipline

Administrator — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:28:39 +0000

On one of our early trips working in the Former Soviet Union, Jane and I had an evening off and were out exploring the streets of the old part of Riga Latvia. As we rounded narrow streets we started to hear the sound of a concert being given somewhere seeping out into the streets. It was a beautiful and “ancient” sound, and we quickly decided it must be coming from a church building. As we got closer to the source it was indeed a stately old cathedral. We eagerly paid the small admittance fee and found seats near the back. The actual concert had yet to begin, what we had heard was the “warm up”. We were surprised to see that the organ and choir were all in the balcony in the rear of the Church (I later learned many older cathedrals are thus designed). When the music started again, this time in earnest, it was simply mesmerizing. I am no devote of classical music, but the quality of the music, the place, the performers were all of a level I had never before experienced. But more than simply being a pleasing experience, something that you remember when you wear your commemorative t-shirt, it spoke to me of truths about God that I had never encountered before.

In a very real way we, as Grace Church, are called to do the same thing. We are called, through the way we come together and “perform,” to lead people to encounter the love of God in new ways. Now don’t worry, I am not suggesting we buy an organ and bust out a balcony and form a choir. But I am suggesting that we need to seriously examine what it is going to take for us to “get in tune” so that people can encounter the Love of God through us. But that takes work. Love takes effort. Hitting the “right notes” takes practice. And that is what we are going to talk about this week.

For your personal prep, take time to read 2 Peter 1: 3-11. Consider the progression of thought that Peter offers, from knowledge of God and His promises, to the effort it takes to establish them in us, to the result of our efforts.

Love on the Journey

Administrator — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:17:31 +0000

A while back a person asked Jane what it was she did for a living. Her response, delivered in classic Jane Ray deadpan, has almost become a family motto: “I pack and unpack.” You can imagine how perfect Scott’s illustration last Sunday of a long car trip was for us (and probably many others).

This week I want to stay on that road and take the illustration further. Scott’s point was that while we may agree on a destination, agreeing on how we get there is another matter entirely. The Biblical illustration that we are going to examine is a scene from the life of Abraham found in Genesis 18.

So take some time to gather your things and load up the VW Microbus for another Summer of Love road trip together.

In Him/For Him,

J.Ray

Marriage and love

Scott Ramsey — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:07:56 +0000

Marriage is commonly used as an illustration in Scripture and this week we consider what we can learn about love from marriage. The marriage relationship provides opportunities for our greatest joys and our greatest hurts. It's a place where we learn much about what love is and is not. This week we'll look at Ephesians 5 and consider what love is as we look through the lens of marriage.

Confusing our Affections

Scott Ramsey — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:55:45 +0000

Too often we love the things we know and fear the things we don't. This week we're talking about storge, which is love associated with familial affections. It's our affection for things that we're close to. When we talk about love in the Bible this isn't it. The challenge for us this week is to understand that the love we have isn't to be replaced or upstaged by our affections for the familiar. It isn't to be overcome by our fear of the unknown. We can't have a love that is based on the narrowness of our own experience, but rather a love that reflects the knowledge and experience of our God. This week we learn a lot about what love is not.

Let us love

Scott Ramsey — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 02:55:09 +0000

This week we continue to learn about love by considering the example that has been given to us in Jesus. It's often hard to think about Jesus' death through any filter other than our personal salvation, but we see in 1 John that there is much more to it than that. This week, Julie and I will share about our recent trip to Guatemala and we'll learn more about how we can love in deed in truth.

Go with the (Over)Flow

Administrator — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 18:41:17 +0000

In week 2 of "Summer Love," we will be learning about the state of Christian marriages. What you may or may not know is that, when it comes to divorce, research indicates that "Christian marriages" are not fundamentally different from "non-Christian marriages." What has gone wrong with our marriages?

We will be looking at how the state of our marriages reflect the state of our hearts. Throughout Scripture, it is abundantly clear that something within our hearts has the potential to damage our relationship with God and with others. We see it throughout the major plots of the Bible: in the story of Adam and Eve, in God's relationship with Israel, and in the Gospel. When our hearts become hardened, our relationships crumble - "out of the overflow of our hearts our mouths speak" (Lk 6:43-45).

This Sunday, we will be examining how the sins written on our hearts tend to condemn ourselves and our spouses and lead to the hardening of our hearts towards one another. The Gospel, however, brings "good news" for our hearts and our marriages. We will see how we can operate our hearts within a framework of God's love rather than our sin.

Nick Cornett

Summer of Love, take 1.

John Ray — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:17:34 +0000

This week we kick off our ten week “Summer of Love”. All of us involved in the planning and preparation of this series are very excited about what God has in store for us. As we learned when we landed in 1 Corinthians 13, Love is what it is all about.

Over the course of this summer we are going to take the time to look in depth at various dimensions and aspects of love, but it all starts with this; every problem in the world is a relationship problem. The answer to every problem is love. We are messed up because we don’t understand what love is, how we are to get and who we are supposed to really love. That is what we are going to break out this week.

In preparation for this week, take some time to read and meditate on 1 John 4:7-10 as this will be our “anchor” verse this week. Also, instead of having questions for the teachings this summer, we are going to be suggesting activities that relate to the topic. This week I will be introducing this idea and activity on Sunday morning.

In Him/for Him, J.Ray

Love, live, serve. Groovy.

John Ray — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 10:44:13 +0000

The comment was made by a friend as we were talking about chapter 15 last week that it seems the letter should have ended there. What an incredible way to close, with “Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

But Paul has different ideas. It is not enough for him to write in general terms, he is always tying his theology to practice. The practice we study this week seems to be about giving money, which it is, but only in part. The bigger issue is connecting to the life of the wider Body of Christ, showing hospitality and the reminder to do everything in love. Live, love serve.

Seems I have heard that some where before.

Paul is always working for the unity of the Body, both within the local congregation and between the Jewish and Gentile believers. What is it about selflessly giving to each other that connects us? That is one of the main things we will examine this week.

This week is also our last in 1 Corinthians. As you know, we are going to take a 10 week break from our chronological study of Paul and spent some time in a “summer of love”. Groovy.

Living in anticipation

John Ray — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:00:13 +0000

We see it happening all around us and even in our own lives. People pouring time, attention and energy into pursuits that are at best trivial and often a complete waste of time ("youtube" seems to be the first thing that comes to mind). The biggest loss in all of this is not just our time but also the lost opportunity to be doing something of real value, or eternal benefit.

Last week Scott powerfully challenged us to live our lives in anticipation of the return of our King, Jesus. He showed how the way we think about the gospel and it’s message directs the way we anticipate this event. This week we will continue in this discussion and look specifically at Paul’s description of what is to come and how it affects us.

On a personal note, thanks to everyone who worked so hard and came out to support the Olivia Ray Family Fun Day. It was an incredible success.

J.Ray

Remarkable journey

Administrator — Sun, 23 May 2010 03:57:51 +0000

We are in the midst of a remarkable journey together. So many of us at Grace are encountering God and experiencing the love of one another in ways that stretch us and continue to transform us. The things we're learning in Paul's letters and the way we're learning to understand these letters is challenging some of us in ways we hadn't imagined.

In the middle of a few weeks of looking at one the most important bits of our beliefs, we are challenged to move through the ideas handed to us by our culture and allow the scriptures to transform us. Pray for a humble spirit and a willingness to learn new things.