Ten Minutes for Teachers
Apr. 22, 2007
Vol. 8, Issue 4

Worship Texts:  Revelation 5:11-14; Ps. 30; John 21:1-19
Worship Theme:  Back At It Again
Other Texts:  Acts 9:1-20

Bluegrass Music & Earth Day:
This Sunday is recognized as Earth Day by the Presbyterian Church (USA).  Appropriately, our 10:30 worship this week will have a rather “earthy” flavor to it as our choir will be accompanied by a bluegrass band.   

Devotion:   
It’s interesting that in our day and age, we transform ourselves by going to malls to buy new clothes, to classes to get some extra credentials, or to seminars to get a few new tips for success or security.  The change our culture encourages is a change that occurs from being in the right place at the right time or having the right things from the right places.  Success and transformation is dependent upon being …

At the right job …

In the right school …

With the right people.

Our main story for Sunday school this week (and a similar story from John’s Gospel) challenges the notion that good things only occur by being with the right people in the right place at the right time.  Take a few minutes to read John 21:1-14 and Acts 9:1-9.  In these two stories of transformation – of encountering the Risen Christ – change occurs in the most subtle of places …

By the sea …

On the road to …

Around the fire.

This is the beauty of the Risen Christ who is on the prowl, moving in and through the world, seeking to bring a moment of glory and grace to us when we are least expecting it.

For two of the main characters in Acts 9:1-9 (Saul/Paul) and John 21:1-19 (Peter), God’s willingness to interrupt a journey and a workday led to forgiveness and new life.  It provided a completely different journey and a completely different work.  And God’s interruption was precisely what was needed for these two persons.  Saul needed to encounter his own hatred and inner-blindness.  Peter needed to encounter his own guilt and shame.

We all need to encounter the grace of our Risen Lord.  Sometimes we get that encounter on the way … in the middle of a project … when we least expect it or deserve it.  And that’s what makes it so transformative, so clearly a work of God’s redemptive love.   

Something to Chew On:
The Augsburg material asks us this week, “In what ways, and through what persons, have you encountered Jesus?  What trust is required for you to risk changing, especially in your places of brokenness, so that God’s Spirit may work renewal and restoration?”

Prayer for the day:
”We meet you, O Christ, in the ebb and flow of our lives.  We hear you in another’s words.  We trust you in our need for healing.  We walk with you in times of life’s turning.  May your Spirit help us to hear your voice, trust your call, and walk with others in your Way.  Amen.” - Seasons of the Spirit:  Ages 15-18. Pg. 51.