Epistles - Barbara Lynn Seibel

June 29, 2025June 27, 2025

Humble Attitudes Yield God’s Favor

Back in my high school days, I received the opportunity to be part of a state honor band.

Even though I knew I was running a fever, I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t want to miss the experience.

At the first rehearsal, I was playing a wrong note but didn’t realize it. The conductor eventually went one by one through the flute section to find the offending player.

I realized right before he got to me I was in the wrong, so I played the correct note instead of admitting my error. The conductor glared at me but said nothing at that moment.

Later in the rehearsal, when I was late on an entrance, the conductor stopped the rehearsal, pointed at me and said, “You are not a leader, and you never will be.”

What does this have to do with the fact that humble attitudes yield God’s favor?

I’ll explain more at the end of the post, but first join me in studying 1 Peter 5:1-10.

June 22, 2025June 21, 2025

Trials, Tests, and Insults are to be Expected

I literally walked away from the computer after deciding on the title for this post.

Why, you ask?

Because it makes me uncomfortable.

Yet, when I reflect on all I have experienced in my life, I know it is true.

I can’t run away from it.

Neither can you.

I don’t enjoy thinking that trials, tests and insults are a normal part of our lives.

Some are small and better described as inconveniences or annoyances.

But I’m not thinking about ordinary trials, tests or insults today.

Rather, I’m reflecting on the trials, tests, and insults that come because of my faith in Christ.

And that makes me even more uncomfortable.

Yet, Peter provides encouragement about this in his first epistle.

June 15, 2025June 14, 2025

Attitude Adjustment for Jesus Followers

Roughly thirty years ago, my late husband and I had recently rescued an Akita/Rottweiler mixed puppy we kept outside.

Our other two dogs were Pomeranians that spent most of their time inside.

One day, when we were all in the backyard, the new puppy started zooming happily towards my late husband. The male Pomeranian quickly took up a stance between the puppy and my late husband and started barking to take control of the larger puppy.

As the larger puppy approached, one of his paws accidentally tagged the Pom, sending the Pom into rolling somersaults. The look on the Pom’s face after recovering from the somersaults showed wounded pride. He then slowly slinked to the backdoor with his tail down, wanting to hide.

From that moment on, that Pom avoided the Akita/Rottweiler puppy.

I’ll share the rest of this story about our dog’s wounded attitude adjustment in relation to our study of 1 Peter 4:1-11 at the end of the post.

Meanwhile, let’s see what Peter has to share about attitude adjustments.

June 8, 2025June 8, 2025

Reminders of What to Focus On

Focus.

Back in my undergraduate days as a music student, I can say I was focused.

I was required to practice two hours daily per instrument as a double major in piano and flute performance.

My practice routine, however, was ten hours per day. Six hours on the piano and four hours on the flute.

I wasn’t just focused; I was obsessed.

Years and two shoulder surgeries later, this hyper-focused obsession with over practicing took a significant toll on my upper body stamina.

Today, I make sure I take frequent breaks and regular stretching, working as I do at a computer both for my day job and for my writing pursuits.

If I fail to focus on taking care of my upper body, I pay the price with significant physical pain.

Finding the peaceful balance of the right amount of activity for my upper body was a learning process that required maturity and time.

What does this have to do with reminding us of our spiritual focus?

May 25, 2025May 24, 2025

Called from Darkness to be Living Stones

Do you recognize the plant in the picture above?

It is a lithop.

I was thrilled when I first learned about these little succulent plants that look like stones or pebbles many years ago.

They even produce a flower.

When I first learned about them, it took a while to find a local plant nursery that had some for sale.

I do not have any right now, but after studying our passage for today, I might get me one or two again.

Why, you ask?

Our passage today talks about the ultimate living stone, and tending to some lithops could be a fun visual reminder of this passage.

May 18, 2025May 17, 2025

Relating to This World and God with Hope

Hope.

A four-letter word packed with positivity.

Yet hope is often something we must fight hard to hold on to when we face hardships.

Consider how the picture above relates to this post’s title.

What part of the picture represents the world?

Where do you see hope in the picture?

How is God a part of the picture?

Why is it important to relate to the world and God with hope?

I’ll share my personal thoughts at the end of the post. But first, how does 1 Peter 1:13-21 help us answer the above questions?

May 11, 2025May 12, 2025

How Do We Know God Cares?

In September 2024, a hurricane affected the area where I live.

As I was watching the rain, I saw a tree fall that just barely missed hitting my balcony and fence in the back of my home.

Once the rain had cleared, I discovered that five trees had fallen, and another one was leaning against my neighbor’s home.

Given the amount of devastation that this hurricane caused throughout the area, it wasn’t until late April 2025 that the trees behind my and my neighbor’s homes were finally cleared.

This past week, as I was surveying the tree stumps that remain, I realized that the trees going down were a provision of God’s care for me in a way that I truly needed last fall.

And yes, it has something to do with the kittens in the picture above.

I’ll explain this as we study 1 Peter 1:3-9.

May 4, 2025May 3, 2025

Are You an Obedient Exile?

This question is not about physical exile per se.

Rather, it is a question of whether you are obedient to your faith when the stakes become higher than you expected.

Are you aware there are more martyrs for Christian faith today than at any other time in history?

If this startles you, it is probable that you live somewhere where Christianity or being a follower of Jesus is not under outright persecution.

It may also startle you if you are not someone who keeps informed about the state of God’s mission to redeem people from every group across the globe.

Today, we will study the opening two verses of 1 Peter from the New Testament.

I hope these two verses will encourage you to consider deeply what it truly means to be an obedient exile no matter where you live.

February 2, 2025February 4, 2025

When Easing Back into Worship is Hard

On July 22, 2024, my husband committed suicide.

I am still recovering from the shock and disappointment of that day.

It seems both real and unreal.

Many days I still feel like I’m in a nightmare that I can’t wake up from.

So many questions with few answers.

I did not see this coming.

But God did.

This brings both comfort and anguish to me.

Then, on October 12, 2024, my ninety-year-old father passed.

So, in less than three months, I lost the two most important earthly men in my life.

I knew my dad’s death was near, given he had been in a care facility for over a year in a slow but steady decline.

But to deal with losing both men so close together was not something I ever expected to have to face.

How has this affected my ability to worship God?

June 30, 2024June 29, 2024

A Common Communion Liturgy

Growing up, the windows of my childhood home’s family room were in direct line of sight of our neighbor’s bedroom windows.

If we both had the curtains open, we could easily see into each other’s homes.

My mother told me that our neighbor once shared that my sister and I had caught her eye one day when she was opening her curtains. We were taking turns standing and reading from a small red book in front of our fireplace. She observed we would also sometimes sing and then bow our heads with our hands folded in front of us.

Intrigued, she wanted to know what my sister and I were doing.

My mother replied that my sister and I were playing church. The book we were reading was called The Common Book of Prayer. The songs we were singing were hymns. And the bowing of our heads and folding of our hands were prayers to the Lord.

What does this have to do with my title, A Common Communion Liturgy and 1 Corinthians 11:23-26?