Receiving May 17 worship scriptures

Scriptures for May 17, 2008
Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a
Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20

You are invited to receive the Word as spirit and life.
There are suggestions for how to do this at http://charistis.blogspot.com/2008/03/receiving-word-as-spirit-and-life.html Whether or not you attend a church that will focus on these same scriptures May 17 (or 18), you can receive these scriptures and then interact with others who are doing the same. The primary purpose of this blog is to encourage people to prayerfully receive the Word as spirit and life. It is not the purpose here to give you devotional words about the Word. It's not the purpose to explain or interpret the Word. The purpose is to encourage and enable you to receive the Word yourself.
The purpose of this blog is being realized when you are receiving the Word, and pondering it in your heart (the center of your whole being). http://charistis.blogspot.com/2008/03/receiving-word-as-spirit-and-life.html is provided to help you do that. Following are the notes I made while doing what you are invited to do. Use these notes to help you receive the Word. If just reading and reflecting on the following notes (without taking time to prepare your own notes first) helps you receive and ponder the Word in your heart, then they are still serving some of their purpose.

May 10 prayer for receiving
Receiving You and Your Word as spirit and life.
Receiving You, God, not just some other part of me.
Paths of my being cleared to receive Your Word as spirit and life.
Diminish my doing and being; increase Yours.
Paths cleared by Your coming, paths cleared by my faith.
Let receiving be what my soul longs for and what Your heart desires.

Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a (selections and reflections)
"The Spirit of God was hovering over..." (vs. 2)

1 light darkness
day night

2 heaven Waters under divided from waters above

3 earth seas
grass, herbs, trees

4 greater light to rule the day lesser light to rule the night
stars

5 water creatures
winged birds
Blessed to multiply

6 earth creatures
man, male and female, in God's image
given dominion; blessed to multiply
food given

From daily "good," to everything "very good." (vs. 31)

7 God rested (vs. 2)
God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it... (vs. 3)

There's a lot of dividing, separating, or distinguishing happening. Light and darkness, day and night, waters under and waters above, earth and sea, greater light and lesser light--these are divided (distinguished, separated). It occurs to me this prepares the way for a quality, a power, of complementing that couldn't happen without the clear divisions, the clear distinguishing.

Psalm 8 (selections and reflections)
"How excellent is Your name in all the earth." (vs. 1, 9)
This exclamation begins and ends this psalm.

"You who set Your glory above the heavens!" (vs. 1)
"What is man that You are mindful of him?" (vs. 4)
"You have crowned him with glory and honor." (vs. 5)

God's glory above the heavens that are the work of God's fingers (vs. 3). It's not the whole hand, just the fingers that shape the smallest details. The whole sky full of stars, and their moons and planets--the whole fabulous, unfathomable universe is the needlework of God.
Words like the Psalmist used, clearly distinguish the glory above the heavens from all other glory.
After God's glory is clearly distinguished, then it is shared.
First, the Psalmist (like the Creator) divides, establishing the immense contrast between the glory of God and any other glory. After the glory above the heavens is fully recognized for what it is, then we're prepared for glory on earth. God crowns people with glory. When the glory above the heavens is clearly distinguished, and I see it for what it is (or at least I begin to do that!), then I'm prepared to receive the glory under the heavens, right here on earth, where it crowns God's people.

2 Corinthians 13:11-13 (selections and reflections)
"Become complete." (vs. 1)
In connection with the other passages this week, this becomes an appeal to bring full articulation into wholeness. That is, let the clearly divided or distinguished aspects of creation, and salvation, be combined as intended so they can complement each other.

"Be of good comfort..." (vs. 1)

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
the love of God, and
the communion of the Holy Spirit..." (vs. 14)
Is this just a standard closing at the end of an epistle, something like "Sincerely" at the end of a business letter? Is it just a form?
Or, is verse 14 an over-arching, heart-inhabiting essential? Is it substance that gives substance to everything else said in the letter? Is it a prayer to be repeated, like breath is repeatedly inhaled and exhaled; like heart beats are repeated. Is the repeating of this prayer a way for spirit and life to remain in us?

Matthew 28:18-20 (selections and reflections)
"...in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (vs. 19)
A formula? A form? A routine? A ritual? Or vastly more?
What did, or will, it mean to be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? What is there about each--Father, Son and Holy Spirit--that is especially compelling to Bible writers, and to me? What is there about the three together that is especially compelling to Bible writers, and to me? How can I grow in love for Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?