The Church and the World

In today's (March 6, 2012) Episcopal Cafe web site under the Speaking to the Soul section there is a piece of excellent advice for the church, "The church is not prohibited from entering the world; the world is prohibited from entering the church, says Paul." The author takes this from today's epistle of I Corinthians 5:1-8. It is advice Paul is giving the 1st century church at Corinth but it is also good advice for today's church. It has been said that when we enter the church (building) we are entering a different realm/country and that the things of that other country are left behind and new loyalities are adopted. The loyalities to flags and what they represent are left behind and a loyality to the Cross and what it represents are adopted. The church then becomes a safe haven to acquire a new understanding of how to proceed through life's journey. But one cannot stay forever in the physical structure of the church. The world in which we live as individuals is outside those doors and the values obtained inside the church can conflict with some of the values outside the doors of the church. What to do? Is there really a question involved here? With the help of the Holy Spirit we can make the choice of what to do in this conflict of values by reflecting back to that time spent in the church and remember the loyalities learned there and move on with our lives based on that learning.

As I read the words written above it occurs to me that this is really Christian Life 101; but how often do we remember and act on what we have learned while inside the church? With a nudge of a reminder from the Holy Spirit perhaps we can do better.

You can read all of today's meditation by going to:

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/thesoul/living_in_the_new_community.html#more

God Tells Joseph to Create a Federal Program

Today's (March 5, 2012) author, in the section Speaking to the Soul on the Episcopal Cafe site, speaks of God directing Joseph to develop a "federal" program to feed the people of Egypt during the upcoming famin that he predicted by way of a dream from God. Government, and religion mixed; can that be!? The author in today's meditation makes a good case for that. You can read what he has to say by pasting the following link into your browser:

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/thesoul/god_tells_joseph_to_create_a_f.html#more

The scripture reference is Genesis 41:46-57.

A Day in the Life

Yesterday's (Wednesday 2-29-12) meditation "A Day In The Life" from the web site The Episcopal Cafe under the section Speaking to the Soul had two ideas that were reinforced for me. One was how we could arrange our day; that is arrange it in the same way Jesus did. First by prayer in the morning and then to have the "... Father send us out to do the work you have given us to do..." in the words of the Post Communion Prayer.

The second idea that was reinforced was the, "... teaching message..." of Jesus. The author of the meditation says that Jesus' message was threatening to the religious and political authorities. He says, "He [Jesus] teaches of a society, culture and economy motivated by the virtues of compassion, love, generosity and equality --- a society that overturns all of the power and authority of the established orders."

The balance of Lowell Grisham's meditation is available at: http://www.episcopalcafe.com/thesoul/a_day_in_the_life.html