Brick

"Not one stone upon another will be left here that will not be thrown down," Luke 21:6.

That's Jesus talking about the second Jerusalem temple. This second temple had been built when Judah and Israel returned to the land after their captivities. We remember the first temple had been destroyed when the nation of Judah ended since the people broke their covenant with God. The second temple then became the place for all the sacrifices required in the (broken) covenant. Jesus now prophesied this temple would fall like the first. And the need for its sacrifices would go away for ever. Something new dawned over the horizon. Something new that called for a temple made up of human beings, not brick and mortar. It called for a final sacrifice announcing a new covenant.

We meet with a brother or sister today founded on something eternal and new. And together we give thanks to God for a new covenant heralding his kingdom in Christ.

Trustworthy

"I am with you according to the covenant I made with you when you came out of Egypt," Haggai 2:5.

Wow! How about that?! Though Israel had destroyed the covenant with God. Though God consequently rejected both Israel and Judah sending them into their respective captivities. Though God destroyed their nation. Though God destroyed Jerusalem. Though God destroyed the temple. Though there was no covenant left. He yet kept a remnant of people, leftovers. So that he might show himself uniquely trustworthy to his covenant anyway. Not because he was legally bound to it. No. He was not. Not at all for that reason. But because that's the kind of God God is. He wants to bless, even as we prove ourselves unworthy. God is not man. God is God. No other is like him. God alone is God.

When we visit with a brother or sister today we assert that our relationship roots in God's own character. And together we give thanks through Jesus for his steadfast love.

Pure

"All of the peoples will call upon the name of the Lord and serve him," Zephaniah 3:9.

God promises that in a sure, certain time, all peoples could understand so that they might call on the Lord's name in a pure speech. But first, the remnant of Israel must return to Zion, God's holy mountain. By God's grace and power. And they did. After seventy years of captivity many of Israel and Judah returned from their scattering. They rebuilt the temple. The prophets affirmed David's royal line continued in his descendant, Zerubbabel. Even so, Israel needed continuous reminders they had broken covenant with God, and continued to violate it. Something new must come. Not by our might. Not by our strength. But by God's Spirit.

When we visit a brother or sister today we serve God in his mercy and strength. And together we give thanks that he hears us calling on him with the pure voices he gave us.

Peace

"I will make them one nation in the land," Ezekiel 37:22.

God can take a valley full of dry bones to give life to dead nations. Israel and Judah are both destroyed by their faithlessness to God's covenant. Yet, God promises to collect their leftover, dried bones into one living nation, under David's royalty. Unlike before, there will be a different covenant: an everlasting covenant of peace. In it, God will be their God and they will be his people. And all nations will know that God dwells among this people made holy by his own work. Yes. We, all of us, need a covenant of peace. Between us and God. That's what the Good Book's talking about.

We meet with a brother or sister today through the mediator of that new covenant, Jesus, the lasting king of David's royalty. And together we give thanks that God's grace establishes terms of peace with humankind.

Leftovers

"Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them," Jeremiah 23:3.

So God has mercy. After destroying Israel and Judah utterly for their faithlessness, his love wins out. God always assures a remnant, a few left overs. (Left behind? No worries - God's at work.) God promises that in 70 years he will restore a remnant. And they will rebuild the temple. Why? Why does God do this? It's not because of the covenant that they destroyed. It's because he had made yet another covenant, but with David: His royal line would last for ever. So. God saved the leftovers to secure the royal line. To bless the whole world.

We meet with a brother or sister today under the auspices of the eternal king, Jesus, royal descendant of David. And together we give thanks to God who counts the leftovers as worth it.

Broken

"The Lord said: I will remove Judah also out of my sight as I have removed Israel," 2 Kings 23:27.

(Wait! What are we talking about in these exploratories right now? This: Covenants God established and their implications. OK? So. We pay attention.) God had covenanted with ancient Israel to protect them for ever in the promised land, but Israel's part was to keep God as God. They didn't. First, God gave a millennium of prophetic invitations to return despite their refusal, then God withdrew his protections, not only for the northern kingdom (Israel) but for the southern (Judah), too. God said of Jerusalem and the temple specifically: I will cast off this city that I have chosen and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. And alien armies devastated the land, Judah no longer existed, as was true of Israel a century earlier. Covenant broken, covenant ended. Something new has got to happen.

We fellowship with a brother or sister today in a new covenant signed in Jesus's blood. And together we give God thanks for inviting us into eternal relationship.

Desperately

"They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers," 2 Kings 17:15.

Who despised God's covenant? Israel did. (And Judah. But more later about these.) They went after false idols. They sacrificed children. They became false. Though God covenanted with them to bless them and protect them for ever, they rejected him and the covenant. So God rejected all the descendants of Israel. He gave them over to plunderers. He cast them out of his sight. So. God's people, chosen through covenant, broke the covenant that validated their election. The covenant became useless. Obsolete. We need something new. Desperately. So says the Good Book.

We meet with a brother or sister today and know our fellowship depends upon God's grace. And together we give thanks to Christ who establishes a better covenant between us and God.

Possession

"If you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession," Exodus 19:5.

(The Good Book says that the former scriptures are for our instruction. So we learn.) God had said the words above to ancient Israel. He had just borne them out of Egyptian slavery on eagles' wings to his holy mountain. God said to them: You shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation; and he would be their God. All Israel agreed to the covenant. But Israel abandoned him for other gods. So God then said: You will soon utterly perish from the land; you will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed in it. 'Soon' meant about 900 years in human years. We learn God's love is hot and serious.

We meet today with a brother or sister in deep reverence for our God. And together we give him thanks that Jesus paid the price for our sin.

Testament

"I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah," Jeremiah 31:31.

New agreement? new testament? new deal? Hmm. But first, what was the covenant they already had? Well, it was the covenant God had made with them some nine centuries earlier. Yeah. When God brought them handily out of Egyptian slavery. They agreed to make God their God and to follow his Law. God agreed he would protect them and bless them forever. (Pretty sweet deal!) But they violated it big time. And God's covenant protections went away. By now, only left-overs of this people remained. In captivity. again. So. God promised a new, different covenant. Of utter forgiveness.

When we visit with a brother or sister today we share in that new covenant with God. And together we give thanks that through it he forgives our every sin.

Awaits

"Maranatha!" 1 Corinthians 16:22.

O Lord! Come! Yes, Lord Jesus! We call you: Come soon! We're waiting for your bright entrance! Your shine in the cloudy skies! Yes! We've been waiting for you! For two thousand years we have been through rain and fire and earthquake and war and strife and famine and failure and recovery and ups and downs in this old, broken, and tottering world. And we're calling for you to come: Bring the new skies and the new earth! We're calling for you! We're expecting you! Bring your kingdom to fulfill God's finished victory! Victory over all the deadly sufferings of this age. Come, Lord Jesus! Bring your resurrection! Infuse us with eternity! Your bride awaits! And with the great Spirit, we call: Come!

We visit with a brother or sister today expecting Jesus to bring us home very soon. And together we praise him in faith anticipating his advent any moment now. Marana tha!

Real

"The congregations in Asia say: Hello!" 1 Corinthians 16:19.

So. This, a real letter from real people to real people. No AI bots here. No boilerplate. No copy & paste from who knows what. Aquila and Prisca (the husband & wife team) say, Hi! The congregation that meets in their home says so, too. All the brothers and sisters send their well-wishes. They welcome each other with a kiss, a holy one. Paul personally signs his own name and sends his love in Christ. Yes! We belong to a fellowship of real people not bound by geography or circumstance. A fellowship that transcends time and space into the very heart of the eternal God.

Meeting a brother or sister today we stand in awe of the relationship Christ bought for us. And together we give thanks to Christ, the same as yesterday, today, and on into the ages.

Men

"Act like men," 1 Corinthians 16:13.

So now he's talking to men, males specifically. The call: Men - act like true men act! Strong. Valiant. Courageous. Watchful. On guard. Standing. Firm in the faith. Getting stronger. Your. everything. must. be. in. love. And that's how true men must act. So says the Designer and Maker of men.

We visit with a brother or sister today, all of us growing in the faith of Christ. And we give thanks that our God continues to mature us together into the full measure of the stature of Christ.

Electronic

"I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem," 1 Corinthians 16:3.

Whoa! What's that all about? Well, here we are, not of the world, but in this world. And it's about money. Money contributed by God's people to be sent to far-away needy followers of Christ. (No post office for regular people, no electronic money transfers in those days, right?) So, it's about how to collect such contributions and to get them accountably where they're needed. It's about the apostle Paul, no less, who never asks people just to trust him with their gift. It's about a careful record of money transfers. It's about righteousness even in this-worldly affairs.

When we visit with a brother or sister today we trust verifiably in love. And together we give thanks that Jesus trusts us with his message of peace.

First

"On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up," 1 Corinthians 16:2.

(It's amazing that the Good Book moves from a most stirring vision of victory in Jesus (!) to something so common as instructions for collecting money toward famine relief. So. We belong to the kingdom of heaven, but we still live on this troubled earth. In it, but not of it, right? Anyway.) The tradition of contributing money weekly for churchly affairs arises from this very note. Yet, this instruction had to do with what we nowadays call a special contribution. The collection went to ease the burden for brothers and sisters in hardship, for benevolence - in civil government, we'd call it for welfare. In any event, as people gaining assured victory, we have each others' backs in these passing troubles. That's what we do as we await in hope until Messiah comes.

As we meet with a brother or sister today we attend to each other's good. And together we give thanks to Christ who shares the boundless riches of his heaven with us all.

Victory

"Death is swallowed up in victory," 1 Corinthians 15:54.

Death rules over this world. Oh, sure: We humans speak of cycles of life and death. You know, when someone dies someone else is born. We like to comfort each other with the notion that nobody dies as long as the living remember them. But we know better. We know. We die. And too soon nobody's left to remember. Nothing's left but tombstones of the unremembered dead. The whole cosmos rushes toward its own extinction. But God's victory is life over death! God's victory will swallow up death itself! And life, forever life, will reign in Christ.

When we meet with a brother or sister today we talk about eternal life. And together we thank God that his life into eternity begins in this world through Christ, his victory!

Work

"Your hard work is not worthless," 1 Corinthians 15:58.

What hard work? Living out the new life in Christ. Continuing to love even when people act unlovable. Tolerating each other even when people act intolerable. Forgiving one another even when people act unforgivable. Yielding our freedoms even when people do not deserve our consideration. Using our gifts to help each other grow up into the way of Christ. Serving our Master's will. Submitting to Christ. Keeping on keepin' on. That labor. That toil. That hard work is not in vain. Jesus is coming soon. He's bringing the reward.

We visit a brother or sister today participating together in the work of our Master. And together we give thanks to God for bringing us into his labors of love.

Deal

"The sting of death is sin," 1 Corinthians 15:56.

Oh. So we're back to that now. Again. Yep. Sin. What a downer. Why do people make such a big deal out of it? Why not just let it slide? Well, in fact, people don't make a big deal out of it. We do just let it slide. But God makes a big deal out of it. He does not let it slide. Why not? because he loves us. because while we pretend it's not a big deal, sin deals us death. Yeah. We sit down at the card table with sin. And every card is death. Yep. We get dealt death cards. But then Jesus takes all our cards. He takes the deal. And he lets us walk away. He doesn't run - he dies.

When we walk with a brother or sister today we know to have received an unmatchable gift at someone's great cost. And together we give thanks to God for his grace in Christ.

Twinkle

"We shall all be changed," 1 Corinthians 15:51.

Look! In an instant. A split second. Quicker than batting an eyelid. (Did you see it?) Faster than an eye-twinkle. That fast and faster yet, we'll be transformed. And at that future moment: Are we dead? We'll be raised to life. Are we still living? We'll transform. Suddenly. Perishable changed to imperishable. Mortal changed to immortal. The stuff of this earth cannot share in the stuff of the new world. So God changes us. And when that happens: The victory of God's life swallows up death! Sin brings death. But God brings life's victory in Christ. Wow! (The best is yet to come! Way best!)

As we visit with a brother or sister today we share confident hope in the victory of God. And together we give thanks to Christ for living our path to life.

Adam

"With what body type do they come?" 1 Corinthians 15:35.

Talking about resurrection. Dead people raised from the dead. Impudent question: What kind of body have they got? Answer: Fool! Don't you understand? Everything has some kind of body particular to its type. Seeds. Grasses. Humans. Animals. Birds. Fish. Earth things. Sky things. Sun. Moon. Stars. Other stars. Everything looks like its own thing. Dead people have this body type: Image of first Adam. Perishable. Dishonor. Weak. Natural. Dusty. Made of and belonging to earth. Resurrected people have this body type: Image of second Adam. Imperishable. Glory. Power. Spiritual. Belonging to the skies. Life giving.

As we meet with a brother or sister today we hope in God who will sort the baffling things. And together we thank him that Christ is become our life giving spirit.