Rev. Jean's Bible Study

 Pro verbs 15:1   A soft answer turns away  wrath , but a harsh word stirs up anger.    photo by marjan blan on unsplash  Captain America Graffiti  Patience may not be the first thing you think of if you are thinking of an antidote to anger.   Yet many of us were told from a young age to count to ten when you are angry.   There is a place for righteous anger.   Even Jesus turned over the tables of the scoundrels in the temple who were cheating people.   Injustice demands action.   We all know that when our anger is out of control, we are in danger of hurting ourselves or others.   We live in an angry world, from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the images of the superheroes that we give as models for our children.   They look mean and angry and they are supposed to be the good guys!   We may feel anger, but it is ever OK to act violently on that feeling?   Should NATO be enforcing a no-fly-zone?  How...

  Generosity not Greed; Kindness not Envy Proverbs 28:25 The greedy person stirs up strife,  but whoever trusts in God will be enriched.     photo by Adam Nowakowski on unsplash   I can’t remember where I have heard this story but I have heard it lately.   (Maybe one of you can tell me where.)   One person was commenting to another about the immense wealth of a third.   The listener responded:   He is very wealthy, but I have something he will never have.   I have enough.   I am not sure what our marketers and economists and investors would do if we all decided that we have enough.   We feel insecure.   Yet we are burdened with all our stuff!   Some people make their living getting us to buy things and others make their living telling us how get rid of things.   Greed drives a wedge between us.   Envy destroys the possibility of relationship.   Thank God that we have opportunities for g...

Proverb: 19:15 Laziness brings on deep sleep; an idle person will suffer hunger.   photo by Zhang Kenney on unsplash Sloth isn’t quite the same as laziness and diligence isn’t quite the same as busyness.   We all need some down time, the lazy day, a break from the worries of the world.   Sloth implies a lack of care about the world and people around you. We in our culture are very good at being busy but perhaps not so good at diligence.   We can be busy at things that don’t really matter or the little things that seem urgent and ignore the important things—the big things like justice and climate change and peace. Weekly worship along with other spiritual disciplines can keep us diligently working towards a better world.     If you want to think a bit more read and contemplate   Mark 13:32-37  

Lent has traditionally been a time to dwell on our shortcomings and promise to do better, but recently I think our shortcomings have been laid bare in so many ways that we might better focus on the alternatives.   Rather than wallowing in our sins, lets celebrate the virtues that we have been given by God’s grace.   photo by Scotty Turner on unsplash Proverbs 16:18   Pride  goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Humility is the antidote to pride.   In our culture we use pride as a synonym for self-confidence, self-respect, and accomplishment.   So we take pride in ourselves, our country, our children, our work and our accomplishments. The pride that leads to a fall is not self-confidence but arrogance and entitlement.   Humility is not self-deprecation but self-awareness and an awareness of the value of others.   I heard Ryan Reynolds interviewed recently.   After being praised for his philanthropy and congratu...

Give yourself (and others) a break  Luke 5:33-39 T im Cooper on unsplash This is an interesting group of sayings.   Luke gives Jesus credit for saying all of them but it was the writer Luke who put them all together in this paragraph.   What connection did he see in them?   I won’t pretend to read the mind of Luke, let alone Jesus, but the connection that came to my mind was, “there is a time and place for everything.”   Several years ago, this truth was reinforced to me by Stan McKay a few years before he become the Moderator of the United Church.   We were at an event together and some participants were decrying the excess of our meals when others on the streets outside the church where we were meeting were going hungry.   Stan, in his wise quiet way simply said, “In my culture, we know that there is a time and place for feasting.”    (Stan is from the Fisher River Cree Nation in Manitoba.)    In our striving to become mature...