Advent is here again, and it sneaked up on us because it started in November - as it often does. Today I found the Nativity scenes (easy this year because last year I actually put them in organized, labeled boxes!) and Philip helped set up the stables and animals - one in the living room, one in the entryway - to wait for the coming of Jesus.
Our ladies' Bible study group finished studying Ephesians last week, and decided to do an Advent-y thing while deciding what book to tackle after the first of the year. For several years we would study a 5-15 verse section throughout the week and then share our insights and applications during our time together. We learned a lot from the books of Mark, Acts, and 1 & 2 Samuel that way, taking from 1-3 years per book!
When we were about halfway through Ephesians, we were inspired to do lectio divina each week, taking 1-3 verses each time, reading it/them 4 times and meditating silently in between each reading. We have all learned a lot from and about Ephesians since last spring. Some of the most meaningful themes for my life:
- Eph. 2:10 says (in the Greek) we are "a" product of His - not "many" products. God's Church is His workmanship. My tendency is to want to know, "What's my line in this poem?" or "What's my part in the product?" If my focus was on "What's the poem about?" or "What does the finished product look like?", I and the kingdom might be better served.
- God's people have always had problems. Paul spends a good amount of his letter pleading with the Ephesians not to live as pagans, not to slip back into the bad habits of their culture, etc. Our failures and false beliefs do not nullify His love for us, and He is continuing to work in, on and through us.
- Eph. 2 & 3 talk a lot about the abolishing of the age-old walls between Jews and Greeks. Because Gal. 3:28 equates Jew/Greek with male/female, I think the lessons of Eph. 2 & 3 could be applied to the age-old resentments between men and women. Worth more investigating...
- Pray more. It's about Jesus, not me!
Anyway, Ephesians is an awesome book and I highly recommend it.
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