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<DIV><FONT size=4>It is important to observe that throughout the passage the
third person plural is used when speaking of believers. Jesus is addressing the
community of believers, not individuals. It is tempting to read the Gospel of
John in terms of "Jesus and me;" the language of the Gospel, however, challenges
individuals to understand that they are believers in community and to recognize
that Jesus is embodied in and expressed through the words and actions of this
community.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.goodpreacher.com/shareit/readreviews.php?cat=28">http://www.goodpreacher.com/shareit/readreviews.php?cat=28</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Holly E. Hearon</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>When my wife and I were in seminary we would often
worship at different churches together. One Sunday we drove about thirty
minutes outside the city to a small church that we expected would be very
friendly and welcoming. Boy, were we wrong! I don’t think a single
person spoke to us the whole time we were there. Now that I think about
it, I don’t even think anyone made eye contact with us. It was
saddening. It was frustrating. It was eye-opening. Afterwards
we wondered together, “What made us so different?” Was it the way we
look? The way we dressed? Was it just that we were strangers?
Why did they see us as different, instead of seeing us as the same? I
still don’t know why we weren’t greeted more warmly by that church family, but I
have heard enough similar stories from other people to know that it’s not an
uncommon experience.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://reflectious.com/2010/05/10/john-1720-26-sundays-and-other-days/">http://reflectious.com/2010/05/10/john-1720-26-sundays-and-other-days/</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Lee Koontz, 2010</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=3> I remember when I
was a youthful member of my local church fellowship, that once a term, at the
evening service, we would have a special evangelistic outreach. This was a time
when people could give their life, or rededicate their life, to Jesus. Our old
minister used the "alter-call" method which involved moving to the front of the
church in plain view of everyone; a bit embarrassing. There was this young girl,
a sad case really, who rededicated herself every time there was an altar call. I
remember thinking at the time that the heads bowed and hands up routine would
have been less embarrassing. Mind you, we all would have peeked
anyway.<BR> Of course, the truth is that when it comes to
rededication, it wouldn't hurt any of us. In fact, there is a sense where going
to church on Sunday serves this very purpose. We are always falling from some
great height, slipping on slushy ground, continually short of our spiritual
goals. Yet, as the Sundays go by, will we always focus on rededication, or will
it wear thin?</FONT><BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/easter7cg.html">http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/easter7cg.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Bryan Findlayson</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4> Holy hospitality is be the place where all grow in
wisdom and strength where the blind see and the lame walk - this is meaning of
unity - to be the church of welcome to variety of colors around us - to be a
rainbow in a world that seek monochromatic experience. In this way our testimony
is a living organism. We practice our faith by living for the common
good.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.georgehermanson.com/2007/05/the-nature-of-the-church-year-c-easter-7-sermon.html">http://www.georgehermanson.com/2007/05/the-nature-of-the-church-year-c-easter-7-sermon.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>George Hermanson</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV><FONT size=4>
<DIV>In <I>The Good Wine: Reading John from the Center, </I>Father Bruno
Barnhart writes:</DIV>
<DIV>This prayer is an epiclesis (i.e., a calling down of the Holy Spirit) over
the bread of the words of the Word, the wine of words of the Spirit, which he
has set out among them. The bread will be broken, the wine poured, upon the
cross. He lifts his eyes and prays that the fire may descend to fill these words
and figures with the reality which they have evoked as in shadow. Jesus’ prayer
is a sacrificial invocation, a flame which gathers all of the themes and words
of the supper into itself, and bears them upward ritually to the Father, calling
for the returning flame of the Spirit.</DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2122">http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2122</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4>Suzanne Guthrie, 2001</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>The issue goes back to The Beginning. To the first
principle of Creation (not the fundamentalist kind!) that everything &
every- one is created good. A consequence of humans being made in God's own
image is that that image, <I>including its oneness </I>with God (& therefore
with each other) is to flow on to benefit the whole Creation. We cannot be one
with anyone else, not even our own self, unless & until we are restored to
the oneness that has always been God's plan for Creation. That only happens as
we are restored to grace by the New Adam (who also has an Eve side!) Mostly our
efforts at 'church unity' go nowhere because we don't make Jesus' connection of
the centrality of oneness of Being, before any attempted oneness of
doing.</FONT><FONT size=3> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/laterallyluke/LLKJN172026EAST7.html">http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/laterallyluke/LLKJN172026EAST7.html</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Brian McGowan</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4>- - - -
-</FONT></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV></FONT>
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