Good Morning! Glad to be with you and start the week together. Today we begin our new week with new work on a ‘New Normal’.
‘New Normal’ is the title of our new series. It’s based on the premise that as we come out of the pandemic and re-engage ‘regular life’ there will be a ‘new normal’. The question we raised, “What will determine this ‘new normal’?”
Our answer, and our affirmation as people of faith, is that Easter and the Resurrection would be the shaping force for our future. Jesus Christ rose and in his rising offers us the gift of risen life in himself. We build this ‘risen life’ into our lives by ‘training ourselves in godliness’. (I Timothy 4:7)
Our message last Sunday (April 19 – available on our website svumc.org) focused on ‘training ourselves in godliness’. What does that mean? For us it meant working God’s good will and good ways into our will and ways. ‘Training in godliness’ is comprehensive, covering all areas of life – our bodies, minds, emotions, spirits, homes and families, our friends and community, and our world. The ‘training challenge’ – what one change can you make during this time of ‘sheltering’ (even, one change in each of the above areas) to initiate your ‘new normal’?
So much for background! Now on to our beginning! This week we’re going to start our ‘training in godliness’ at a most basic level – with our bodies.
Our Scripture is I Corinthians 6:19-20. (“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” ) As we explore this text together we find our Christian faith does have something to say about our physical fitness.
On Monday we immerse ourselves in the Scripture of the week. So I invite you to read and reread these two verses, silently, then aloud. Listen to the words and phrases. Do any of them ‘stand out’ for you? Jot down those words and phrases.
Then as part of your ‘immersion process’ copy these two verses. If you have time, copy the two verses from several translations. (As I have shared before biblegateway.com/passagelookup is a great source for multiple translations of a text.)
Then, finally, paraphrase the Scripture in your own words. If you were the Apostle Paul writing to the church at Corinth what would you be saying about ‘our bodies’ and how they are the ‘temple of the Holy Spirit’?
Do these verses help you to think any differently about your body? About how you approach your physical health? In what ways?
As you think about your body as being ‘from God’ and ‘not our own’ what might those phrases mean for how you treat your body?
How valuable is your body – since you were ‘bought with a price’?
And finally, how am I ‘glorifying God’ by how I relate to and treat my body?
This short text gives us lots to think about as we ‘train ourselves in godliness’ and establish our ‘new normal’ in God’s good will and ways.
That’s enough for now. I’ll let you get to work – in your ‘immersion process’ and in your thoughts. As always, make sure to ‘capture’ them all – write them all down! You never know how God is going to use one of your thoughts to bring forward a message for you this week!
Enjoy your work and I’ll see you tomorrow in the Workshop!
Prayer: Lord, thanks for the gift of Monday and a fresh start in a new week. Use your word to guide us into your good will and good ways for our will and ways. Strengthen us by your Spirit as we ‘train ourselves in godliness’. This we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord!