Thoughts for the Day
Thursday, 7th September 2023: Telling the story
Teaching Jesus Luke 5 Mission
Reading : Verses from Luke, Chapter 5
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
(Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)
Thoughts
The 'Lake of Gennesaret' has a number of names. We tend to call it now the 'Sea of Galilee' or the 'Lake of Galilee', but it's also known as the 'Sea of Chinneroth' the 'Sea of Tiberias' and the 'Waters of Gennesaret'. It's fed by underground springs, but its main source is the Jordan River, which flows through it from north to south. The lake lies alongside steep mountains on its eastern side and is a funnel for rather vicious winds, and thus storms, but at the north-east end of the lake there are gently rising grassy slopes. Here we can imagine Jesus teaching the crowds, but what to do when these became too large? The answer was to stand in a boat and teach, where the water magnifies the voice.
Years ago the local radio station in Gloucester asked me to do a five or six minute "Thought for Sunday" each week live from home. As a Deaconess I couldn't lead the 8am Communion Service, so this was a good way of spreading the Gospel.
I would gather interesting news from different parishes and discuss them with the studio. All a bit hairy really! The point was, that it meant using my gifts in a way I had never thought of before, and adapting to new circumstances.
How many ways can we spread the good news of our faith now:
- Speak/email/text others, and mention God/Church/these Thoughts?
- Tell bible stories to children?
- Add a Christian logo/emoji/blessing to emails or texts?
- Send card/note saying we are praying for someone who is sick?
Any more ideas to get the story of our faith out there?
Prayer
Father-God,
we thank You for those
who told us about You,
who read us bible stories,
and fed us the roots of our faith.
We thank You for the teachers
and ministers who nurtured our
embryonic faith,
and all who encouraged us
through times of doubt.
Now teach us how to pass on
our faith to others.
Amen.
Look up some Christian emoji's - some are better than others (and some absolutely nightmare-ish!):
Here is another symbol - the ichthus. In common Greek the letters of "fish" (ἸΧΘΥΣ) were used as an acrostic, that is they stood, in English, for 'Jesus Christ God's Son, Saviour', and the symbol was used by the early church.
