Receiving April 19, 2008, worship scriptures

Scriptures for April 19, 2008:
Acts 7:55-60
Psalm 31:1-6, 15-16
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-10
The first step is for you to receive these worship scriptures as spirit and life. See http://charistis.blogspot.com/2008/03/receiving-word-as-spirit-and-life.html for suggestions about how to do this. After you have your own notes, compare notes. The following can help you do that.

My April 12 prayer for receiving
Please, God, enable my heart to receive Your Word and be broken and strengthened by it. Make my eyes and ears ever better paths into my heart.

Acts 7:55-60 (selections and reflections)
"And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God..." (vs. 59)
The people who stoned Stephen were "cut to the heart" (vs. 54) when they heard what Stephen said. The people who heard Peter (Acts 2) were also "cut to the heart" (vs. 37). It wasn't a conciliatory, don't make anybody uncomfortable arrangement. They were cut to the heart. What followed was either repentance and baptism (Acts 2) or murder (Acts 7). When listeners were cut to the heart they didn't vacillate, compromise, or postpone. They decided, and acted.
How can I listen to God's Word so I am cut to the heart and repent and grow more fully into my baptism? Can, or should, I speak so others are cut to the heart? Do I want to? What if those I speak to are the kind of listeners who murder the messenger?

Psalm 31:1-6, 15-16 (selections and reflections)
"In You, O LORD..." (vs. 1)
It would be possible to read this Psalm and think Wow! too bad this Psalm didn't work for Stephen. Then I look again.
trust (vss. 1, 6)
never ashamed (vs. 1)
deliver... (vss. 1, 2, 15)
rock and fortress (2, 3)
my strength (vs. 4)
Into Your hand I commit my spirit (vs. 5)
My times are in Your hand (vs. 15)
You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth (vs. 5)
Make your face shine upon Your servant (vs. 16)
I reflect on Stephen:
full of the Holy Spirit gazing into heaven and seeing the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. I see him calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." I hear him say as he dies, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin."
As I reflect, Psalm 31 becomes beautifully and powerfully Stephen's Psalm. Trust, freedom from shame, and deliverance shine out of Stephen's story, especially his dying, all the way into our day. God was Stephen's rock, fortress and strength. Stephen committed his spirit to Jesus; and he was redeemed by the God of truth. How the face of God shined upon him; the glory from heaven was so bright and real that Stephen invited others to look and see it with him.

1 Peter 2:2-10 (selections and reflections)
"Coming to Him as to a living stone..." (vs. 4)
A living stone (ah, the rock in Psalm 31:2, 3 is also alive). It's not enough to have spring send green shoots up through the dirt; stones come to life. This is life so alive and vibrant even the stones "catch" it! Our God, our Redeemer, is a living stone; we are living stones (vs. 5). Stones crying out (Habakkuk 2:11; Luke 19:40).

"...rejected... chosen... precious..." (vs. 4, 6, 7)
Rejected and precious are not easy to keep together. The more rejected we feel, the less precious we feel. And, of course, we know the precious are chosen and the rejected are not chosen. Yet, the Living Stone is rejected, chosen and precious. So are the living stones of verse 5.

"...a holy priesthood..." (vs. 5)
"...a royal priesthood..." (vs. 9)
Peter's writing to the pilgrims of the dispersion (1:1). Pilgrims of the dispersion. How's that for describing what it's like to be a Christian today! The scattering and dispersion is getting downright geometric in an age described by one writer as the confetti age.
If there were a word that might help to unite the pilgrims of the dispersion, it probably wouldn't be priesthood. That may be good enough reason to look again. What if I could let go of what I do or don't believe about priesthood; what if I could let go of what my denomination does or doesn't believe about priesthood? What if I could just receive the spirit and life: you are a holy priesthood; you are a royal priesthood.

"...into His marvelous light." (vs. 9)
This takes me back to Stephen gazing into heaven and the glory of God.

"...now have obtained mercy." (vs. 10)
Psalm 31 appeals to God's mercy (vs. 9) for His mercies' sake (vs. 16) Ponder mercy as a word about God, and about our condition. Open to the size of that word. Love and respect mercy. Gratefully receive it and grow in appreciation of it.

John 14:1-10 (selections and reflections)
"Let not your heart be troubled..." (vs. 1)
Stephen's death must have troubled hearts. And, if some were not troubled by his death, they must have been troubled by seeing the crucified and risen Christ resisted and rejected. They must have been troubled that some did not choose what they loved supremely. Wouldn't they also be troubled that they didn't manage to somehow convey the message so that it would be accepted? In spite of all of this, and in the midst of all of this, "Let not your heart be troubled" can become spirit and life. As we actually receive the troubling experiences (instead of bypassing them, or somehow explaining them away), we can also actually receive the surpassing words: Let not your heart be troubled.

"...you believe in God, believe also in Me." (vs. 1)
"...you know Him and have seen Him." (vs. 7)