2009 Initiative "365 Holy Days" - For the month of August, the "exalted" month, we focus on the Resurrection, the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is imperative to mourn the loss of ourselves, and so in this 21st century in the USA, to grieve the passing of ourselves. If you are not Christian, then you are dead in your trespasses and sins (see Ephesians 2:1); if you are Christian, then it is not you that lives, but Christ that lives within you (see Galatians 2:19, 20). The five steps of grieving are Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. This week we focus on step 3 Bargaining, as we continue through First Corinthians 15, AKA "The Resurrection Chapter".
It Is WELL With My Soul:
- Warm-up: "Go Bargain" (a card game) - Players play a new version of "Go Fish" with added rule: Player must have a card that other player needs. If no deal can be struck, THEN player "goes fishing", drawing a card from the draw deck.
- Exercise: "Another Place And Times" - Especially when studying difficult passages of sacred Scripture, it can be extremely helpful to establish a timeline of dates. When books of the bible were written and when events took place. Also, locate Corinth on the map; this will give a geographical context, and clues about the prevailing cultures of the time.
- Lesson: Dead Rising (3 of 5): Bargaining
- Bargaining Using Religion (First Corinthians 15:29; Mark 16:16)
- Bargaining Using Force (First Corinthians 15:30-32; Numbers 16)
- Bargaining Is Useless (First Corinthians 15:33, 34; Job 40:1-14)
- Life application: Bargaining is the logical next step in the process of grieving; so great is our felt anger and our felt loss, that we naturally attempt to undo what has been done, by any available means. We go through our personal inventory of resources to try to find something that can bring about the prevention of our own loss of our own lives, illogically trying to prevent something that has ALREADY happened(!). It is only when we finally realize, when we finally make it real in our own minds and hearts that bargaining really is useless because it is the LORD who holds all the cards, EVEN the cards we have been dealt. This is a saying hard to grasp, and even harder with which to come to terms. Only when we've intuited that we truly are dealing with the Almighty and counterintuited that we need to stop bargaining and move on toward acceptance of our situation, can we actually be productive for our Heavenly Father, and for Christ's Sake. Let us pray.