Public school crisis. As students return to classrooms soon, falling state budgets are pushing class sizes higher while the economic recession has forced districts nationwide to lay off teachers. Last week, President Obama announced �Race to the Top,� a competition for nearly $4.4 billion in grants. Under the program, states would use the funds to ease limits on charter schools, connect teacher pay to student achievement, and move toward common academic standards.
Actually not sure I like the sound of this program. I'm not sure I agree with teacher pay being linked to student achievement. Not really fair if you're teaching something that most students don't like, but have to take anyway...plus, education is supposed to be a state matter, not a matter for the federal government. No constitutional allowance for that at all. On the other hand, our government pretty much stopped paying attention to the constitution years ago.
Sorry...supposed to be a prayer request not a soapbox. But, nevertheless, it is obvious that our educational system needs prayer!
1-7 Bend an ear, God; answer me. I'm one miserable wretch!
Keep me safe�haven't I lived a good life?
Help your servant�I'm depending on you!
You're my God; have mercy on me.
I count on you from morning to night.
Give your servant a happy life;
I put myself in your hands!
You're well-known as good and forgiving,
bighearted to all who ask for help.
Pay attention, God, to my prayer;
bend down and listen to my cry for help.
Every time I'm in trouble I call on you,
confident that you'll answer.
8-10 There's no one quite like you among the gods, O Lord,
and nothing to compare with your works.
All the nations you made are on their way,
ready to give honor to you, O Lord,
Ready to put your beauty on display,
parading your greatness,
And the great things you do�
God, you're the one, there's no one but you! (The Message)
"Although we may have the testimony of an approving conscience, and although he may be the best witness of our innocence, yet if we are desirous of obtaining his assistance, it is necessary for us to commit our hopes and anxieties to him. If it is objected, that in this way the gate is shut against sinners, the answer is, that when God invites to himself those who are blameless and upright in their deportment, this does not imply that he forthwith repels all who are punished on account of their sins; for they have an opportunity given them, if they will improve it, for prayer and the acknowledgment of their guilt. But if those whom we have never offended unrighteously assail us, we have ground for double confidence before God."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calving on the Psalms)
Can't say I totally understand that bit...but I get the last statement.
"Open and Shut"
Weekend Reading
"Q. What is the Office of the Keys?
A. The preaching of the Holy Gospel and Christian discipline; by these two the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and shut against unbelievers."
Raise your hand if you want to talk about church discipline!
*sound of crickets*
That's what I thought.
Most people probably think that church discipline involves someone snooping around in your private business and outing your private sins to the whole church. Either that, or it involves being seen as judgmental. Fortunately, church discipline involves no snooping.
One of the examples we have in the New Testament comes from 1 Corinthians, when Paul discusses a man who has taken "his father's wife" as a partner. This man's behavior was not only a violation of biblical commandments, but was also considered a scandal even to the pagans. Paul's solution was excommunication.
This man was disciplined "because his sin was public, scandalous, and ruining the reputation of the church." Church discipline is like cancer surgery. "The disease must be removed before it sickens the whole body." However, since Paul is not about shaming people or embarassing them in public, notice that he does not mention names. He actually hopes that the action of discipline will lead to the man's restoration.
In Matthew 18, Jesus gives very specific instruction on how to handle conflict and disputes among church members. The first step is to approach the individual directly. If satisfaction is not achieved, they are to get a witness and bring them along. THEN, if that fails, they are to get the leadership of the church involved. Only when all of this fails is the matter to be made public.
This article then tackles the difficult passage where Jesus tells Peter that Peter is being given the "keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:18-19) "Christians in the Reformed tradition take Jesus to be speaking of the church's mission to preach the gospel to the ends of the earth. As the Heidelberg Catechism points out, the preaching of Christ and Him crucified is the divinely-appointed means through which the kingdom of heaven is opened to all those who respond to that message with faith and repentance.
"But the church's 'binding' function--through which the entrance to the kingdom is closed--is connected to those who reject the message of the gospel when it is preached to them, for they remain bound in sin. This function of binding (shutting) is also connected to church discipline. Those who profess faith in Christ, but who do as the unnamed man in Corinth was doing, have the door to the kingdom of heaven closed to them through the means of church discipline.
"In those tragic cases where the church must make the determination that someone's conduct and refusal to repent raises serious questions about his commitment to Christ, the church must shut the door of the kingdom to him, with the goal of that person's eventual repentance and restoration.
"As tough as it is, church discipline is commanded by Paul, and the procedure to be used is given us by Jesus. Through the preaching of the gospel, the church opens the kingdom to all who believe. But for those who reject the gospel, and who insist upon behaving in such a way as to bring scandal to Christ's church, the door to the kingdom is closed."
I apologize for the long quote, but I'm not sure I could have paraphrased this portion of the article. I'm not sure I completely understand it, nor am I sure that agree 100% with this interpretation of that passage.
"Patience With Others' Shortcomings"
Galatians 6:2
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (ESV)
In the Bible, "forbearance, or tolerance, is associated with love, the unity of the believers, and the forgiveness of Christ." In Ephesians 4:2-3, Paul says we are to live "2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
If a friend forgets an appointment, do we get really ticked off, or do we just shrug it off?
Paul says we are to bear with one another. We are to maintain the unity of the Spirit. "We're to consider the unity of the body far more important than the petty irritants or disappointments of others."
"Instead of letting others' actions irritate us, we're to use them as an opportunity to forgive as the Lord forgave us."
Understood. But what if that person's actions are actually doing harm to the body whose unity we are to preserve?? Eh?
All of the readings for today seem to have a common thread which applies to me and my circumstances directly. I pray for wisdom, Lord, as I move forward, and as we, as a family, decide what we need to do next.
Lord, I understand from the Bible what the steps are in resolving conflict with brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray that these can be followed in all of the Church, worldwide. It is so important that we live together in unity as believers.
I also pray for those who are being attacked from the outside without provocation. I pray that you give your protection to believers in those circumstances. Let them know that you've "got their back," so to speak and that they have nothing to fear from the outside world.
In all things, I pray for the spirit of forgiveness, and that we may all bear with one another, keeping the unity of the body of Christ as a priority.
Grace and peace, friends.