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| "The Good Samaritan" by He Qi (China) |
8th Sunday After Pentecost
July 14, 2013
AMOS 7:7-17: Amos, one of the twelve "Minor Prophets," was no small man, spiritually. His sense of divine justice speaks across the millenia as loudly as ever. With fear or favor for no prince or priest, this farmer from the sticks, spoke for God in symbolic actions as clearly as in dynamic words. In this passage he predicts that God's displeasure with Israel will result in a national disaster, an event which occurred in 721 BC with conquest of the Northern Kingdom (of Israel) by Assyria.
PSALM 82: Many of the psalms show the influence of the outspoken utterances of the prophets. One hears echoes of Amos in this psalm which may have served as a liturgical hymn in the temple in Jerusalem at the New Year to celebrate the absolute sovereignty of God.
COLOSSIANS 1:1-14: In these opening words of greeting and thanksgiving, Paul applauds the Colossians' faithfulness to the gospel as his colleague, Epaphras, had instructed them. The dominant feature of their faithfulness is love. Paul's prayer that they continue their spiritual growth in the face of a severe challenge from "the power of darkness" from which they have been rescued. These words point to a time of conflict scholars believe to have been caused by a serious heresy.
LUKE 10:25-37 (the sermon will come from this text): One of the most familiar parables answers two universal questions: who is our neighbor and how we are to relate to others with whom we have little in common, or even a deep sense of mistrust and hostility.
July 14, 2013
AMOS 7:7-17: Amos, one of the twelve "Minor Prophets," was no small man, spiritually. His sense of divine justice speaks across the millenia as loudly as ever. With fear or favor for no prince or priest, this farmer from the sticks, spoke for God in symbolic actions as clearly as in dynamic words. In this passage he predicts that God's displeasure with Israel will result in a national disaster, an event which occurred in 721 BC with conquest of the Northern Kingdom (of Israel) by Assyria.
PSALM 82: Many of the psalms show the influence of the outspoken utterances of the prophets. One hears echoes of Amos in this psalm which may have served as a liturgical hymn in the temple in Jerusalem at the New Year to celebrate the absolute sovereignty of God.
COLOSSIANS 1:1-14: In these opening words of greeting and thanksgiving, Paul applauds the Colossians' faithfulness to the gospel as his colleague, Epaphras, had instructed them. The dominant feature of their faithfulness is love. Paul's prayer that they continue their spiritual growth in the face of a severe challenge from "the power of darkness" from which they have been rescued. These words point to a time of conflict scholars believe to have been caused by a serious heresy.
LUKE 10:25-37 (the sermon will come from this text): One of the most familiar parables answers two universal questions: who is our neighbor and how we are to relate to others with whom we have little in common, or even a deep sense of mistrust and hostility.
Jews and Samaritans were as hostile to one another in Jesus' time as are Israelis and Palestinians today. Yet, like their modern counterparts, they shared the same territory. In those days, however, they also spoke the same language and held many common beliefs in the same God. But the Samaritans had intermarried with foreign tribes imported by the Assyrians after the conquest of which Amos had spoken.
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