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Scripture for Sunday, September 10: Psalm 33
Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 26 (from the Heidelberg Catechism page, click the "God the Father" heading)
Reflection 1: The Power of Words
Suggested Scripture: Psalm 1
What words hang on the walls of our souls?
When the cool fall air invites us out for a walk...
When the noise of daytime fades and the song of crickets lulls us to sleep...
When we come to a stop, stunned at the glory of an eight-point buck on a creekbed in the city...
What words echo in our souls?
This week we begin a fall series on the Heidelberg Catechism and the Apostles' Creed. These summaries of biblical faith are a great gift--time-tested and community-approved. Controversy, reflection, and Holy-Spirited discernment led to a carefully-honed articulation of the faith "once for all entrusted to the saints" (Jude 1:3).
The Creed summarizes the convictions that Christians everywhere and in every time hold in common. The Catechism articulates biblical faith with a Reformed accent.
For some of us, these words are incredibly familiar. They are part of us. Saying them is like enjoying a fine wine that has been a favorite for years. For others of us, coming to receive these words of faith as a gift takes longer. We learned the content of the Catechism but didn't see how it brought us comfort, how it shaped our lives. We wonder how expressing our faith in common forms is also personal.
In this series, we will be challenged again to see how ideas have power. The words hanging on the walls of our souls have the power to shape our interactions with God, with ourselves, and with others and the world around us.
Questions for Meditation or Discussion:
1. Describe your own response to the Catechism or the Apostles' Creed. Are they life-giving affirmations of faith; statements of faith that you'd say are theologically correct but haven't sunk deep into your heart; or something else?
2. Read Proverbs 18:20-21, James 3:1-12. What kind of power do human words have?
3. Human words do have power. But human words are not ultimate. We don't create ourselves or our world. Read Psalm 33:4-9 and Isaiah 55:8-11. Describe the power of God's words according to these passages, contrasting them God's power with the power of human words. How does the scope of God's words comfort you?
4. Read Psalm 1:1-3. In quiet moments, do you find that the "law of the Lord"--his Word in Scripture, his glory in creation, his Word-made-flesh in Jesus Christ--echo in your mind and heart? If not, what litany of thoughts or attitudes compete for your attention?
Reflection 2: The Creator of Heaven and Earth
Suggested Scripture: Psalm 19; Matthew 8:23-27
When our first son was born, we brought him home to a nursery with these words on the wall:
All things bright and beautiful
All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful
The Lord God made them all
Even before Micah could understand the words, we wanted them etched into the walls of his heart: He occupied his Father's world. He belonged to us, yes. But even more importantly, he belonged to a God who created a universe with order and beauty and purpose, whose faithfulness to his creation never fails. Fundamentally, foundationally, and finally, God's world is GOOD.
Our boys share that room now, and they are fast outgrowing the décor. And their questions about God are growing too. How do we think about God as a good creator in the face of natural disasters--wildfires and hurricanes? Tornados or flooding creeks that come into our basement?
We hold to the truth of what we believe about God's goodness, and we also tell the truth as best we understand it about what happens in our world. Chaos does break through into the orderly world that is our home. God's creation and providence have a place for hurricanes.
But God is not surprised. No, God is still "enthroned over the flood" (Psalm 29). The ancient Israelites understood, perhaps better than we do, God's marvelous power over the world he made, and over the forces of chaos. It was God who brought life and order to the world at the beginning of time (Genesis 1-2). Jesus was confirmed with power as the Son of God, who ordered the wind and the waves (Matthew 8).
And as creation yearns for its completion in its Lord, Jesus Christ, God has placed us on this planet to represent him, working toward healing and wholeness in a multitude of ways in his world.
Questions for Reflection or Discussion:
1. In what way do you feel "at home" in the Father's world? Where has God shown you his loving care in providing a world that is not predominately cold or hostile, but rather DOES provide for everything we need for life?
2. We do experience adversity in this world. But Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 26 says that God will "turn to my good whatever adversity he sends me in this sad world. God is able to do this because he is almighty God and desires to do this because he is a faithful Father." Can you reflect on a time in your life when you have seen God turn adversity to your good? Are there times when you haven't been able to see what God is up to? What gives you hope and strength in such times?
3. How does a bone-deep conviction that God is in control--not chance or fate or human effort--give us as Christians a foundationally different outlook on life than people who believe differently? What comfort and responsibility do we have in knowing that creation is heading toward completion in Christ (John 1, Romans 8)?
