January 31, 2018

Imagining Now

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Lectionary Week

January 29 – February 4, 2018

Scripture Overview

What is the ultimate source of our strength? All the authors for this week come to the same conclusion: True strength comes from the Lord. Isaiah asks his audience: Who is like God? God never grows weary and provides unfailing strength to those who wait for God. The psalmist praises God as the one who lifts up those who are beaten down. It is not those with human strength who are truly mighty but those empowered by God. In Corinthians, Paul states that he has laid down any form of his own strength so that the gospel may advance. Jesus heals many in Mark as a demonstration of his power over the physical world. Thus, God’s power is not just a metaphor but a reality.

Questions and Suggestions for Reflection

• Read Isaiah 40:21-31. When has your focus on past events or ones yet to come caused an inability to perceive God’s work in the present?
• Read Psalm 147:1-11, 20c. What part of your life bears witness to humanity’s desire for winners and losers? How can you help others see God’s desire for wholeness?
• Read 1 Corinthians 9:16-23. What behaviors are you willing to take on or give up “for the sake of the gospel”?
• Read Mark 1:29-39. What intrigues you about the pattern of concealment and revelation in Jesus’ life that Mark’s Gospel portrays?

Respond by posting a prayer.

Do you remember working to learn the right answers so when the questions were asked you could raise your hand and speak the answer, receiving acknowledgment for being a good student? Try this one: Who is God to be compared with? What answers might the exiled Israelites have been hearing...

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Creator of night sky vistas and daytime dreams for peace, grant us the vision to see our now and our next, knowing there is none other but you and no other to whom we would entrust our future. Amen.

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