Tonight we are reading through chapters 26-30 of Book III of The Imitation of Christ. In the later meditations, á Kempis looks at times of trial. How should we respond when others speak ill against us or when misfortune befalls us? In these writings, á Kempis does not give us an answer key such that when something bad happens we should look up the correct response and act accordingly. Rather, he shows us how someone who is in Christ responds to the hardship. If our responses are different, then the problem doesn’t lie with the response itself, but in our relationship with Jesus. These meditations, therefore, should encourage us to deepen our faith, so that when problems come again, our reaction will be different.
SCHEDULE: We are not gathering on May 24 (graduation night) or May 31 (Memorial Day). On June 7, we will start our summer study of Paul with his Letters to the Thessalonians. Summer is more informal, and children are invited to come. Please invite others to join us.
Dinner is at 6. The menu is Brunswick stew. Discussion about 6:45. Hope to see you here.
Then Job arose, and rent his robe, and shaved his head, and fell upon the ground, and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
Job 1:20-22.