here's a gleening..."coming home" What does that mean... depends on you position and perspective right...where you are now? To a little Child Coming home means- perhaps staying over at a friends house, coming home to mommy and and daddy. To the Teens perhaps the same thing.... but still as a child there's an innocent view of "coming Home" Under most circumstance Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, some Loving parent figure is there to fall into their arms....
To the young Adult thought, College,Armed forces, or just working away from home---Coming home takes on different meaning... Coming home to family, friends, hometown, Do we accept "home" to be stuck in timewarp,
never changing...always there....
However, Hometowns changed, homes change, this does tend to upset us... Like
when the Child leaves home and Mom makes their Bedroom into a craft room or
something... (and that's under normal circumstances) But, what if someone
returns home from prison---jail...how that makes them feel...the looks, the
wonderings...but look at the passage when you get punishment for something you
did wrong that's different...
But, Christ did nothing wrong, he took the abuse.... Think about innocent abused children, what is it like for them to "COME HOME" I can't help reflect on a Scene from Forrest Gump- where Jenny is grown and with Forrest, and passes her girlhood home- where her dad abused her and her sisters... She threw her rocks and her shoe at the house---
Forrest Gump's, wisdom replied " Sometimes there's just not enough rocks!" Unfortunately, we people have baggage we carry with us, experiences, some bad, hurt feelings, abuse... But, Fortunately we have a savior who knows the hurt, abuse we have had... Here on earth, perhaps "there's just not enough rocks to fix things...
But, hallelujah, When we accept Christ as Savior, we do have a ROCK will will fix all Things! ON Christ, The Solid Rock I stand All other Ground is sinking sank, all other ground is sinking sand...I think we can utilize the Statue of Liberty's Saying Give me you tired, your poor, your Huddled masses yearning to be free.... and think of the emigrants who "came home" to America....
Someone else, stated this quote, Home is where they understand you.... Well, my Friend Christ understands us...we came have an intimate Relationship with Him....So, take a look at where you are now, Christ knows where we are now...Don't you want to come home? It doesn't matter where you've been, or what you've been doing...Jesus knows all that... Do you think it's time to be coming Home???? Ladypreacher in OHIO
Thanks to all who participated in last week's discussion of the First Peter text. It was immensely helpful!
Here, we seem to be encouraged to experience the healing that happens in spite of suffering. As was mentioned in last Sunday's text, we have eternal joy right now, even in the midst of suffering.
Jesus is lifted up both as the one who has won eternity for us by suffering for us and also as the example of how to live one's life. We are to be willing to suffer for that which is right because Christ has won righteousness and eternal healing for us.
So, I see several themes:
(1) Healing in the midst of suffering
(2) Redemptive suffering
These are just early-in-the-week rantings. What do others think?
Mark in OH
I'm in charge of the community benevolence fund and, after 3 or 4 months of no activity, I received 2 calls today. One of the conversations was with a woman who had cancer so had a hysterectomy 6 weeks ago and is still out of work on dr.'s orders. Her husband left her 3 or 4 weeks ago. She's got 2 small children, and they found her landlord dead in his living room Sunday night and she doesn't know whether his family will let the tenants stay in their houses or sell them or what. Her bills are 2 months behind. A true victim of circumstances (at least these last couple months).
Her suffering, for example, to be endured for healing? for righteousness? How will her physical suffering and circumstances affect her spiritual life? or, more to the point, the spiritual life of the Christian community (which is who this is addressed to).
It's easy for us to speak platitudes when we're relatively healthy and safe. This will be difficult ot preach without speaking platitudes.
Sally in GA
I posted this thought on the Acts page but it relates here as well- If a preacher were to use both the ideal of Acts and the hurting of 1Peter, one gets a nice contrast between what we are called to do in good times and bad. Acts emphisis is on the power of united people living in love with one another, 1 Peter is all about a people rocked by hard times and in need of profound forgiveness. Forgiving and fellowship are, of course, two sides of the same coin that draw us close to, and model, the grace and Spirit of God.
It is interesting to me to remember that we are called to do one thing by Jesus- Love (both God and one another)- but that different circumstances call for differing expressions of that one great Love.
TB in MN
I covered this text in our local weekly study group. PREACHING THE REVISED COMMON LECTIONARY points out that we cannot really understand this text apart from reading v. 18, which reminds us that this passage is specifically addressed to household slaves. The question focuses on how the slave is to endure suffering from a cruel master. Peter reminds the slaves that, though they are still owned by their earthly masters, as Christians they are now Christ's slaves, serving for his sake.
So, one preaching point might be, how do we address today's unjust social structures as Christians, who now are serving Christ, not the world's power structures.
I also like William Barclay's insight into the Greek word for "example" in v.21. The Greek word there often referred to the model letters at the top of a child's writing slate (remember those alphabet cards your grade-school teachers put up over the top of the blackboard?) that the child would use to model their own letter-writing after! Jesus is our model for enduring unjust suffering for the sake of Jesus Christ and his Good News! Ken in WV
What a beautiful piece of prose, huh?
God will bless those who, doing right by God, suffer unjustly. This is the essence of being Christian, is it not? To be Christ-like (or to model our behavior after Christ's example) is to suffer for others' sins. As a Christian community, we are called to take the sins of others on us and, in doing so, heal wounds.
Our society seems driven by whose the greatest victim; who can scream the loudest for suffering. We're told here that, like the slaves in Asia Minor, we're to NOT return evil for evil, not play the blame-game, not be slothful in our response to 'victimhood'. We are to pursue the will of God in spite of abuse and suffering, knowing that a greater will is being brought forth.
Lastly, our endurance of suffering helps us to identify those who have been through similar circumstances, thereby taking some of their burden and help in healing.
Adam from TN
