Discussion for 26 April 2020

1 Peter 1:17-23

17 If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. 18 You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20 He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 21 Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.22 Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply[b] from the heart. 23 You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

FOR CONSIDERATION

Why does the author refer to those hearing these words as "exiles" in Vs 17?

Easter Sunday 2020

Jeremiah 31:1-6

1At that time, says the LORD, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
2   Thus says the LORD:
     The people who survived the sword
          found grace in the wilderness;
     when Israel sought for rest,
3        the LORD appeared to him from far away.
     I have loved you with an everlasting love;
          therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
4   Again I will build you, and you shall be built,
          O virgin Israel!
     Again you shall take your tambourines,
          and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
5   Again you shall plant vineyards
          on the mountains of Samaria;
     the planters shall plant,
          and shall enjoy the fruit.
6   For there shall be a day when sentinels will call
          in the hill country of Ephraim:
     “Come, let us go up to Zion,
          to the LORD our God.”

FOR CONSIDERATION
- Why would this passage be placed in the Easter Lectionary?
- Why would the Chapel Class facilitator choose this passage today?