18You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, 19and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. 20(For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” 21Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”) 22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. 25See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! 26At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.” 27This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; 29for indeed our God is a consuming fire. This is my scripture for August. My preaching professor suggested that we always have a "naive" reading of the text--that is we needed to read it with no prior study or ideas. Actually, that is pretty hard to do. So I thought I'd ask your help.
So here are some question for you:
What are your first impressions of this passage?
What questions do you have after hearing/reading it?
What resonates with you?
What troubles/bothers you about this passage?
Does anything confuse you?
Okay--I don't know how many of you are reading this, but I'd love to hear from all of you.
5 comments:
you got the short straw, huh?! :)
i think scary. i feel awed. i don't understand and i feel afraid. where is the Jesus is my boyfriend stuff that we all come to church to sing about and feel good about? who is this God - and NO WONDER they were afraid!
believe me - this is a thoroughly naive reading haha
I always get a song in my heart when I read scripture. This is what I got:
(Consuming Fire - Tim Hughes)
There must be more than this O breath of God, come breath within There must be more than this Spirit of God we wait for You
Fill us anew we pray
Fill us anew we pray
Consuming fire
Fan into flame
A passion for Your name
Spirit of God
Fall in this place
Lord have Your way
Lord have Your way
With us
Come like a rushing wind
Clothe us with power from on high
Now set the captives free
Leave us abandoned to Your praise
Lord let Your glory fall
Lord let Your glory fall
Consuming fire
Fan into flame
A passion for Your name
Spirit of God
Fall in this place
Lord have Your way
Lord have Your way
With us
My first response was one of weighing the two sides of parenthood...the side that boils over in anger when children don't do as they should vs. the side that loves no matter what. After a second reading and some thought I decided that this could be a picture of an Old Testament God vs. God as he now sees us through his Son. The fear comes in the warning that there will be consequences so that while the Father loves us, eventually there will be punishment for wrongs. I think too often we avoid thinking about the punishment....saying to ourselves "I'll think about that tomorrow" and going forward with whatever it is we want to do. Hmmm? So do we bring the punishment on ourselves by our choices?
Too often we are consumed with our abilities, not our gifts from God, including Grace. We are shortsighted in thinking we can get to heaven on our own, or through our good works. Left alone without His Son, we can't accomplish anything and we can't get past our shortcomings. We can only repent for our sins and be grateful for God's Grace and His Love and His Son.
actually, i just want to read your sermon!
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