Living the Lectionary is a weekly devotional tool intended to give you ideas for living out the Word of God that we encounter on Sundays in worship.
About this coming Sunday:
4th Sunday After Pentecost – Uncomfortable Answers – Sometimes, God’s answers are uncomfortable to us. That is the case with Job and the disciples in the boat when a great storm comes. It is also the case for us when God’s holiness is revealed to be much greater than who we are. Law: God is greater than we are, but we try to bring Him down to our level. Gospel: God uses His greatness, frightening as it is, for our benefit – even by making the greatest sacrifice: the Cross of Jesus Christ.
About this Season and Series:
Sundays After Pentecost/”Uncomfortable” – The long season of Sundays after Pentecost is one in which we look to the growth of the Church, and one in which we often encounter Jesus teaching His disciples. In our short series, “Uncomfortable”, we seek to understand a Jesus who “Disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed”.
Reflecting on the Readings (readings are linked to text on ESVbible.com)
Job 38:1-11 – God’s Uncomfortable Answer – God “answers” Job’s question (which is found in chapter 31, essentially asking God why bad things are happening) with a series of rhetorical questions meant to put Job back in a place of humility. Where might God be calling you to be more humble?
Psalm 124 – Israel’s Uncomfortable Realization – King David calls Israel to make an uncomfortable realization about its military strength after having narrowly escaped a battle with their lives. That realization is that without God, they would have been killed. What uncomfortable situations might have been worse for you, but God perhaps helped you escape?
2 Corinthians 6:1-13 – Paul’s Comfort in the Uncomfortable – Paul writes to the Corinthians about the discomfort which he and his friends have endured for the Gospel. What discomforts perhaps have you or others around you suffered for the sake of Gospel, and how might God use your discomfort as He used Paul’s?
Mark 4:35-41 – Uncomfortable Miracle – Jesus’ disciples are certainly uncomfortable when they think they may be perishing, but the realization that Jesus is more than just a rabbi seems to be uncomfortable as well. Have you ever had a realization of how great God is, and how small you are?
Living the Lectionary Ideas
Learn: We are asked to step out of our comfort zones and study things that we don’t already know. What might be an “uncomfortable” field of study for you to learn more about? Is there something that you feel you may disagree with or something that you feel you might not enjoy? Our “Uncomfortable” series is 3 short weeks, could you study it for that long?
Do: Jesus took a nap in a very uncomfortable time for the disciples. How might you take some time to rest in the midst of a busy life, showing that your comfort in found in Jesus and not in your circumstances?
Live: Elanor Roosevelt is supposed to have said, “Do one thing that scares you every day. . .”. Embrace this quote, and live into the “scary” and “uncomfortable” moments knowing that Jesus is by your side, just as He was with His disciples in the boat.