Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Read Romans 12:1-8 (Click on Button Above)
Our Bible Study Group which meets faithfully each Tuesday morning at 10:30 has had quite a struggle with the first 11 chapters of Paul's Letter to the Romans! Hopefully, our journey into Chapter 12 will bear much fruit.
Romans 12:1. Paul begins chapter 12 with the word "therefore." This little word indicates the motivation for Christian action; it insists that what Paul has been saying in the letter up until now (chapters 1-11) is necessarily connected to what he is about to say (chapters 12-15). What he has been talking about in the first 11 chapters is a new vision of God's righteousness: Jesus Christ. This new vision of righteousness has many facets. Christ is the righteous one, the one whom God has vindicated, the one who has prevailed. Christ is also a model of goodness, a vision of what it means to act righteously. PETER L. SAMUELSON Our Savior's and Waterville Lutheran Churches, Lansing, Iowa
Paul challenges the readers (and us) to fix our attention upon God and not to "become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. " We can become so caught up with our culture that we miss the peace that the presence of God through Christ Jesus can bring us. We also will not be the leaven that God intends have us be in a troubled and troubling world.
For Paul, worship is full-bodied. It happens in community as we live out our faith by serving one another to build up the body of Christ. The quality of our worship is not measured by what happens on only Sunday mornings, but by what happens when we are together Monday through Saturday.
It is when we have that kind of mindset about other people, it changes the way we relate to people. In a very real sense, when we can recognize and honor the goodness in others, we are recognizing and honoring the fact that we all belong to one another.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
Reflect on your own spiritual journey.
Have you looked for Christ in others that you meet?
Have you prayed about being Christ to others? If you have, why is it so darn difficult to live that way???
Read, Pray, Reflect. Then, Come and Share!
Since I post this study on Face Book as well as the St Jerome's website, I invite comments and questions from any of you who are not able to be physically with us, but find this study meaningful and would like to be a part of it. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected].
Bless you all,
Fr Colin Kelly
