Reading With the People of God - #5 We Believe.Sample

Memorization Challenge of the Month:

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Reading with the People of God Primer:

That’s Yucky

“That’s yucky. I don’t like it!” “Okay, I’ll trade my watermelon and eat your cantaloupe.” “No. It’s yucky!” My 4-year-old granddaughter's opinion regarding cantaloupe became quite a discussion. It didn’t matter that I would enjoy the cantaloupe. Because she thought it was ‘yucky’, no one should eat it. This is a simplified idea we will find in our passage in Romans.

Judgment was passed on what people ate, and it was compared to the law given by God. Today in Deuteronomy, we will read some of those laws. However, the rules that apply are more about what CAN be eaten and, more importantly, HOW this is happening. God’s laws were not given for the sake of restriction but out of love. He wanted to protect them by sharing what was safe, but he also wanted them to understand the relational plan of obedience and gratitude for what God provided.

There was very little ‘fast food’ eating in the Bible. Meals held a relational bond; with no grocery stores, preparing food was far more time-consuming. During this time, the rules laid out for eating food and making sacrifices in worship provided lots of opportunities to reflect on what this meant to the relationship one had with God as well as with those who also partake in the process. By the time the Jewish people lived with these laws in New Testament times, eating and sacrificing in worship had become more habitual than experiential.

Those in the Exodus from Egypt who received the law firsthand were reminded that their obedience is a love response to God. Fast forward to our Romans passage where for many years the Jews focused on following rules over relationship. Criticism and judgment were happening rather than teaching and learning about what the law said and what it meant. The understanding of the law was according to a person's faith journey with God. Paul’s point is that we answer to God in our commitment to follow Him, and judging how others do the same is not up to us. This brings us back to having conversations about our faith rather than being critical of other believers or offending other believers.

In unity, we can focus with the psalmist on worship and talk about the rest…in love.

- Gaylyn Mott, Music Teacher Stephens and Fuller Elementary and member at Cornerstone Community Church, Chowchilla.