Notes From Jon

Intro – Asking the Right Questions

It’s important to ask the right questions in life – in fact, much of our education focuses around finding the right questions to ask, and the best ways to answer them.

Have you ever played the game “Psychologist?”  Tanya used to love to play this game with her youth in Birmingham.  It’s kind of an enhanced version of “20 Questions.”  One person is dubbed the “psychologist” and is sent out of the room.  While that person is gone, everyone else decides what’s “wrong” with them – for instance, everyone thinks that they are Michael Jackson, or everyone thinks they are a dog.  Then the psychologist comes back into the room and has to ask yes/no questions to figure out what’s wrong with everyone. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve decided to do something kind of crazy, I think… I’m going to preach through Romans.  Those of you who use the lectionary know that the RCL is moving through Romans in this year’s Ordinary time, and I’ve got a late start.  Plus, I’m interested in some of the parts that the RCL doesn’t touch.  So I started off last Sunday with chapter 1.

The following doesn’t read the same as it came out in the sermon – this is basically an expanded commentary on the text.  I’d love to hear your thoughts…

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Through the Book of Romans
(Hopping, Skipping and Jumping)

When & Why

Paul likely wrote this letter near the end of his third missionary journey, during his long stay in Corinth.  Paul had never been to Rome, even though he had hoped to for many years.  His work in the East had kept him so busy that he had not made it to Italy yet.  But now he considers his work in Asia Minor to be complete, so he hopes to stop by Rome on his way to Spain – which at that time was the Western edge of the civilized world.  It’s almost as if Paul was working to spread the Gospel to the “corners” of the earth. So Paul hoped the church in Rome would be a kind of headquarters for his mission work in the West.

Read the rest of this entry »