Saturday Scripture Shhhhh

Shhhhhhh

Saturday mornings are quiet in my house.  

I love the quiet after 5 days of constant sound and conversations in the classroom and in my home.  

It's a need I have as an introvert to fuel up in the quiet.

So I find myself writing a list of many things to do on this Saturday - when I get the spiritual nudge to go sit with the word.  You see- quiet is important.  

I can hear and feel God's nudge better in the quiet.

Romans 6 is where I am with my Bible readings...  click here for the scripture

So my sister in law Meghan gave me a method for reading scripture.  It works for me:  

Auntie M (Meghan)

Read the piece of scripture

1. What word or phrase speaks to you?
2. How is this directly relating to your life right now?
3. How is God calling you to respond to what you've read?
4. What is your Heart especially grateful for today?
5. Lay your prayer request at your Father's feet.

More on this -click here

The piece that jumps out to me is:  

Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead... we too might live in newness of life.

"I have been buried with him.  Baptism into death... " WOW.  That is deep.  

I have had moments where I have felt like I got nothing.  

Moments in life when I have been in the tomb.  Dead.  

I am not feeling that way today (thank God!) but, I know what that feels like.  I listened to an Abiding Together podcast on accompanying someone on a hard path click here to listen and it helps to discern how to be a compassionate presence and yet not carry their misery.  This is difficult for those of us with an extra dose of empathy. 

I have people that I love who are in the tomb.  I want to help them and yet, I don't want to spend too much time in the tomb- I like the sunshine, and perhaps I need the sunshine or the raindrops that are outside.  And yet, I believe that I must go there at times to help.  So I ask God for help.  Mary Magdalene went into the tomb and she is one of my favorites.  God, help me go into the tomb when you need me to.

The piece in this scripture that says that we have grown into union with Jesus speaks to me.  I am pondering "To die to our sinful nature which leads to death and be fused with Christ in the tomb".  This is an ongoing process.  I have slowly transformed over my mere 55 years here on this side of heaven and have left various sins in the tomb.  I have risen from the chains of some of my sins.  So, today I ponder about what needs to be left in the tomb at this time of my life?  Ew!  Who wants to choose to look at the ugly in their life?  Perhaps this is God calling me to respond so that I can keep growing in Christ.

There was a concept in my Philosophy class last spring that lingers.  As I walk with Jesus in my heart and ask the Holy Spirit to breathe in and out of me daily,  am I rising?  Am I allowing God's presence to take on more and more of me in my actions and way of being?  This is my personal resurrection as Jesus leads my way.

 I wrote a paper on "Aristotle, Plato, and Theology" and described God's desire to love us and to allow His creation (us) to become its best version is continually in motion.  The catch is that we have our own free will and a term limit of our life span.  Jesus shows us how to reach this actuation in a human time period.  Could it be that becoming the creation that we were created to become is simply by allowing the Holy Spirit into our very being and becoming more and more saturated with God?  

"Thy will be done" is a method Jesus gave His disciples that aligns themselves with God and living accordingly.  The link of connecting to the mystery of the Trinity is what makes becoming our best human potential possible.  And, we become enmeshed in the equation of 1+ 1+ 1 = 1 because we are fused with Christ.

6:5  5 For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin. 

Each day we begin the process again- to recognize that we also have died to sin and are living for God with the help of the Trinity.  Death has no power over us.  Sin has no power over us when we are connected to Christ.

10 As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. 11 Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as [being] dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.

I am especially grateful for the love of God our Father and that I have been given the awareness that each day, I have the very same Spirit helping me who helped Jesus as He lived and breathed.    Stop for a moment and really think about that.  (Quote from my dear friend Rosanne) after reading Henri Nowen)  This is incredible.

My prayer is that we can daily be reminded that we are not slaves to sin.  Let us know in our hearts that Death is nonsense as we live in Christ and Hope shines away all fear.

Thanks for joining me on a Saturday with Scripture.