Three week series exploring the meaning of the parts of the logo of the PC(USA)
| Video Message | Resources |
| Week 1: The Scriptures | Monday Memo notes How to Weave the Written Scriptures into Your Life What we couldn’t cover during the sermon yesterday is how, week to week, you and I can cultivate this kind of willing, receptive relationship with the written scripture so that God’s Spirit uses them to shape and reshape us. Here are a few simple ideas that focus on quality interaction with the Bible, not quantity: – For the next few weeks, read one section a day in Psalm 119 (the longest psalm in the Old Testament, which happens to be about God’s law and written word): Psalm 119 NRSVUE;MSG – Psalm 119 – Center your own personal Bible reading on the parts of scripture that are the easy to understand, e.g. you don’t need to understand ancient cultures quite so much in order to understand them: Psalms, Proverbs, some sections of the Old Testament prophets, the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, and James. – Try reading scripture using the prayerful ancient method called “lectio divina.” It can be done in 10-15 min. and will make you open to hearing God’s Spirit through the written scripture: Lectio Divina: Engaging the Scriptures for Spiritual Transformation and Lectio Divina: A Beginner’s Guide – Busted Halo – Pray a verse a day. Use one verse or phrase from scripture as a prayer focus throughout one 24 hour period, even if it’s just single sentence prayers scattered throughout the day. Read the same passage in scripture each day for a week. As you do, you’ll see your sense of the passage deepen as the week progresses – you’ll notice, feel, and hear God more as the week goes on. (Pastor Chris mentioned a few weeks ago that this is one of his own spiritual practices.) – Work on memorizing a key verse that’s meaningful to you right now over the course of a week. Read it a few times every day till you can recite it from memory. – As you read scripture on your own, don’t just read it…make the last step of your reading going back through the passage or verses and praying them back to God – pray about the questions you have, about living these verses in your own life, and so on. As one ancient church father put it, when we pray using the scripture we are speaking to God in the very same words that God has spoken to us. – Carry one key idea from the Sunday sermon with you throughout the week. Pray about it daily. Reflect on it off and on during the week. Write about it in your journal. Then when you get to next Sunday, start the process over. |
| Week 2: The Holy Spirit | Monday Memo Notes Explore More This Week – This article was written for Pentecost 2018; it talks through why the Spirit is so crucial to what it means to be Presbyterian: What Presbyterians Believe | Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – Here are two short videos from The Bible Project on God’s Spirit in scripture: Why the Holy Spirit Isn’t Just a “Force” and Ruakh = God’s personal presence or Spirit – KirkWood’s friend and trusted voice, Trevor Hudson, wrote a book on the Holy Spirit, the Spirit work in our lives, and how we can experience God’s Spirit day to day: Holy Spirit Here and Now: Hudson, Trevor – Last, spend some time this week considering how God’s Spirit and the Spirit’s manifold work is described fully but simply and elegantly in one of our PCUSA creeds, The Declaration of Faith (1977), chapter 5: A Declaration of Faith |
| Week 3: The Cross | Monday Memo notes Carrying Your Cross this Week – Read and pray over Luke 9.21-27 every day this week: Luke 9.21-27 NRSVUE – Spend some time journaling or reflecting on your own spiritual autobiography, and specifically try to identify parts of yourself that you need to let die along the way and how that made room for Christ to live in and through you more. This would make for a good small group conversation too. – Spend time each day this week asking God what part of yourself might need to be crucified during this current season of your life. You might find the answer by considering these quotes from Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton referenced in the sermon summary: “To die to self means to let go of the illusion that we are the center of the universe. It means abandoning our desperate attempts to secure our own lives, control our reputation, and protect our boundaries, so that God can become our true security” and “My false and private self is the one who wants to exist outside the reach of God’s will and God’s love—outside of reality and outside of life. And such a self cannot help but be an illusion.” – Check out this practical article from a Christian therapist on what “dying to self” means and doesn’t mean, and questions that help you understand what that might mean in your own life: Are You Really Supposed to Die to Yourself? | Dr. Alison Cook – And here are three short reflections that work through some of the particulars of “self-denial,” such as how it’s not the same thing as “self-hatred” and how “self-forgetfulness” is a really good thing: The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness and Self-Denial Without Self-Hatred and Desire and Self-Denial |