Sermon 03-07-2010
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Scripture: Colossians 3:12-17
Sermon: SPIRITUALITY ALL THE TIME
with little time
Meditation
by Pastor Todd Buurstra
Problems aren’t your problem. Huh? Our reaction to them is our problem. For example,
Problem: You get a D.
Stinkin’ Thinkin’: I’m stupid. I’ll never get Calculus!
Qualification: Maybe, maybe not.
Problem: Your lover tells you: We’re thru!
Stinkin’ Thinkin’: I have so screwed up this relationship! Really?
Qualification: Sure?
Problem: Your boss says, Your services aren’t needed.
Stinkin’ Thinkin’: I’ll never get my kids through college.
Qualification: True?
Since Eve ate the kumquat, every human has suffered from stinkin’ thinkin’ because sin has affected us body (sickness), soul (selfishness), and mind (stinkin’ thinkin’). Paul’s mind must have been spiraling downhill as he sat there to rot in prison writing this letter to the Colossians. So Paul meditates, and calls us to the same, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, he says. How does Christ-centered meditation help us with stinkin’ thinkin’?
Well first, is what you’re doing Christ-centered meditation? In Paul’s words, is it the word of Christ that’s dwelling in you? I mean there’s a whole smorgasboard of meditation options out there. I remember hearing an otherwise pretty good reformed professor say once, Yoga is not Christian. What? I thought. I think yoga can be Christian, but what I think he was saying is that the act of just emptying your mind (like is popular now in yoga, or Transcendental Meditation, or any Eastern religion) is not Christian, per se. It’s what you fill your mind with.
Paul wants us to fill our mind with the word of Christ to purify stinkin’ thinkin’. So in his culture of many gods, he asserted, Christ is the image of the invisible God…all things have been created through him and for him… Christ is the head of the…church…so that he might come to have first place in everything… For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. Nothing else, no other god, no empty mind compares to the word of Christ.
And Christ’s word is not just to dwell in us, it is to dwell in us richly. You’ve heard about the little guy who gave me a penny the other Sunday? I stooped down and said Thanks, buddy. What’s this for? He said, It’s for you. My daddy says you’re the poorest preacher in town. How do I become a richer preacher to nourish your spirits more richly? Like communion, we let Christ’s word nourish us–the richest of fare! The Hebrew word for meditate shares the same root as a cow chewing her cud. Guigo said: “Scripture… Reading, as it were, puts the food into the mouth. Meditation chews it and breaks it up. Not the empty calories of an empty mind yoga, it’s the nourishment of Christ-centered meditation, which could be yoga.
Say more about how I let the word of Christ dwell in me richly? You find a verse through which Christ speaks to you, and chew on it. Turn it over in your mind until you think:
Problem: You get a D.
Meditation’ Thinin’: I Cor. 2:16: I have the mind of Christ. Hmmm, God gave me a mechanical mind.
Problem: Your lover says, We’re thru!
Meditation’ Thinin’: Jer. 31:3: I love you with an everlasting love. I am still loved.
Problem: Your boss says, Your services aren’t needed.
Meditation’ Thinin’: Phil 4:19: God will supply my need. We’ll be ok.
The waitress picked up a quarter and said, this is the best tip I’ll get all day. Why? You see all the napkins on the floor? Just before you there was a group of headstart kids here. They get one meal a day from their headstart class and this was their meal. Then their teacher gives them each a quarter to play one video game over there. You see, these kids don’t have Xboxes at home. This one little boy had been living in a rusted school bus, but now his family has upgraded to a shack. But his mom tries to make her kids rich on the inside. She tells her kids often, I Thessalonians 5:18: Give thanks in all things. So he leaves his quarter to thank me.
That’s the power of letting the word of Christ dwell in your richly.
Service 02-28-2010
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Scripture: Mark 1:12, 13, 35-39
Sermon: Spirituality All the Time
by Pastor Todd Buurstra
with Little Time: Centering Prayer
I wonder if a typical morning for many might be: (ring) Gotta make lunches! Gotta finish my homework! Gotta finish the boss’ report! (Sigh) Everyone wants something from me!!
And then: I don’t like baloney sandwiches! You’re late! This homework is incomplete. This report isn’t thorough. Ah, everyone wants something from me, but no one is happy with me.
Since this is a typical for too many, our title admits that we have to fit our spirituality into little time. That is why we began last week with prayer on the go. Yet praying through the day on the way to school in a bus, or on the way to work in the car, can only go so far. Praying on the go can leave us a half a bubble off with a hyperactive spirituality. To balance this, we must be still and know that I am God. Now, if we only do centering prayer, and no ongoing prayer, then we are also a half bubble off. For then we may just check it off, with a compartmentalized spirituality. So ten minutes of centering prayer is the balance to pray through the day.
How do we let prayer center us?
Jesus, as always, is our model. Jesus had a very busy life. After all, God gave him the job to save the world–talk about responsibility?! You only have to launch a new product like an Ipad, or write five essays, or finish three loads of laundry, or keep looking for a job after your 77th rejection. Jesus said, I have come to seek and to save the lost (Matthew 18:11). Whoa! Remember how Jesus Christ Superstar portrayed Jesus on a pedestal with a crowd around him each pulling him in a different way? In the rendition that I saw, Jesus was doing one of these. Everybody wants something from me, and in light of the crucifixion, and no one is happy with me! Mark portrays this busyness with the word immediately, euqus. This word occurs 17 times in Mark’s gospel so Jesus is pictured as a man of action: preaching, teaching, healing—the carpenter remodeling the world. We see it in this Lenten passage of the temptations…
So how does Jesus show us how to handle our busyness? Even in this gospel of action Jesus retreats 9 times—twice in our passages. Once on his way to be tempted, we forget that he was camping in the wilderness, campers. The other time after a huge healing service that went late, he got up before light, to go to a deserted place. Don’t you hate it when you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep because something keeps circling through your mind? The comment at the meeting. That insult. Or how pitiful that blind man looked. (I bet that was what Jesus was experiencing!) I’ve begun to think of those times as a call to prayer. And, I find that I might as well because I can’t get back to sleep until I pray through what’s swirling in my brain anyway. I try to let go and let God to rest my mind in order to rest my body
Why is it so hard for us to slow down so we can let go and let God? I think because our pride likes to feel the importance of busyness. I’ll never forget the time that the kindergarten Church School bell rung in MI, and Jessica stayed in her seat talking to my Zach. Mrs. Assink, the teacher, told us later that Jessica said, Wow, Zach, it’s so cool that your dad is the preacher that owns this church. Zach, unimpressed didn’t miss a beat, Yeah, but he farts a lot. That let the gas out of my importance. Jesus, the very Son of God, could claim more importance than us all, yet he tempered his busyness with quiet times away, praying. He was centered in prayer.
What benefit did he get from this? Jesus had a clear sense of who he was and what he was to do. So critical to God’s mission! When Martin Luther was reforming the church and he had a particularly busy day of translating the Bible, teaching in school, fighting the pope, etc. he said that he was too busy not to pray—needing that laser focus. Jesus had it. That helped him tell Satan to shove his temptations of, in a sense, money, sex and power; and, to tell Peter that even though the people of Capernaum begged him to stay, NO. For his strategy said he needed to move on in his preaching tour of Galilee. I probably would have tried to stay and go.
So St. John Cassian, 4th century, developed a practice that he picked up from desert fathers and mothers, who picked it up from Jesus. He called it centering prayer. For two millennia this has been a way to tap into the Holy Spirit within—God’s breath So that your inner calm reflects the glassy sea from St. John the apostle’s vision of God’s throne in Revelation.
How do you pray in a centered way?
First, you sit in a quiet spot for 10 minutes—I do mine at 5:30 AM.
Second, you just breathe—remember breath is the same Greek/Hebrew word for Spirit.
Lastly, you may want to match a word to the rhythm of your breath—I do Jesus…
And then you get distracted. What will I make for lunch? Hmm, didn’t like baloney, so ham? The temptation is to say, Gee! There I go distracted again! Better to just let it go, and gently come back to your word and your breath. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. And you start the day centered.
What’s the benefit of letting prayer center you? Like Jesus,
you see things most clearly that you look at most calmly.
The story, called 1000 marbles, is told of an elderly ham radio operator that was overheard talking to a younger ham radio enthusiast on the radio. Well, Tom it sounds like you have a very busy and important job, and well paying, too! Too bad that you have to spend so much time away from home that you missed your daughter’s dance recital. Let me tell you what’s helped me keep my focus. At 55 I was sort of meditating, or praying really, on how much time I have left. I’m a prayerful, or meditative, kind of guy. I realized that if I would live 20 more years, I’d have about another 1000 Saturdays in life. So I went to the toy store and filled a jar with 1000 marbles. Every Saturday since, I have taken out one marble. I found that there’s nothing quite like watching your time here on earth pass to really focus you. Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning I took the last marble out of that container. So if I make it until next Saturday, God will have given me extra time. Thanks for listening to my story, hope it helps. This is K9NZQ, clear and signing off.
Why not let prayer center you? Amen.
Service 02-21-2010
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Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Sermon: “All the Time with Little Time: Pray as You Go” by Pastor Todd Buurstra
What I love about the Warrior drama is that it takes prayer out of the monestary or sanctuary and puts it on the street, or in the house. That’s crucial for busy folks like us!
I once heard of this prayerful monk who would be so stressed after chairing his monestary’s business meeting (you know: Brother Jerome wants to paint the hall green for creation but Brother Ignatius likes black for his sins), that he needed to lock himself into his room for an hour of prayer after the meetings. I wish I had that luxury, you too? But God calls us to take prayer to the streets, of which Maid Marlene is our patron saint!
To this end, St. Paul challenges, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing and give thanks in all circumstance. In other words, pray always. How does ongoing conversation with God benefit us? First, make sure you get the verse right.
Prayer on the Go: Prayer anyway, anyhow, anywhere.
First, prayer anyway. God is saying that you don’t need a special posture to pray. Back in the dark ages when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was in Church School, the teacher would say before every prayer, Now fold your hands and close your eyes. When LeRoy the pastor’s son, came back from seminary he would play with us before his prayer by saying, Now fold your eyes and close your hands. There is nothing wrong with a certain prayer posture: kneeling, hands raised, whatever helps you, but most of my praying is with my eyes open—which I find especially effective while driving!
Second, prayer anyhow. Jesus is showing us that we don’t need special prose to pray either. Back in the day, adults prayed, O Thou who makest the heavens, we praise Thee… you know, hymn language. Up until the 19th century they thought that New Testament Greek must be a special, heavenly language since they didn’t find any written Greek like it. Until they discovered spoken, street Greek. Turns out its an exact match! Even today I find that most who are afraid to pray out loud really just need to learn what to say to take off and land. You know, Dear God,… Amen. But in between all you need to do is to have a conversation with God: love that snow, Lord! Be with Aunt Tillie’s cancer…Pray with Matt Brianik once, he’ll learn ya. The Black Sioux said, For the Great Spirit is everywhere; he hears whatever is in our minds and hearts, and it is not necessary to speak to him in a loud voice, or we might add, in perfect language.
Lastly, prayer anywhere. The Spirit teaches you don’t need a special place to pray. Cathedrals, sanctuaries, cathedrals of creation like Sedona or a lakefront, are all nice but not necessary. As Marlene, you can’t pray always without praying everywhere.
Why? Because ceaseless prayer is, like we say in the benediction, prayer with the Christ who goes with you… before, beside, above, below. The Benedictine monks have told us for centuries loaborare est orare: to work is to pray. What? Because prayer is life and life is prayer! So, if you see life as prayer then three things will happen:
In God’s presence you will receive the present of the present. I mean prayer has helped me reduce plaque. I am one who brushes my teeth thinking of my next two things to do. My dental hygenist keeps saying, slow down… brush for 3 minutes… use an egg timer. So I’ve tried to brush prayerfully by being aware of what I’m doing. Last time she said, I don’t know what you’re doing, but KEEP DOING IT! I told her I’m brushing prayerfully. She didn’t know what to say. The desert fathers said Unceasing prayer heals the mind. You know why? Because God lives in the eternal now—all time is accessible to God right now—so ongoing prayer lets us savor the moment. It gives you the present of the present where the Spirit then leads you to either give thanks or rejoice.
Constant prayer helps you see all life as God’s gift. The promotion and the job loss, the A and the C-, the baby born and the grandmother dying, if accompanied with thank you, Lord, all become a gift. Augustine reminds us that when we do not pray, our hearts are trammeled in the direction of ungrateful possessiveness. This is why I recommend you give thanks before every meal, even if it’s just a moment of grateful silence, because it helps you see, even your liver and spinach as God’s gift. And, I contend that if you say grace, it will reduce obesity. Why? Because the more gratitude that fills our hearts the less need to stuff our stomachs to feel full. Life is God’s gift.
Lastly, frequent prayer builds up a Christ-centered confidence to bless the world. I was so proud of your all-time highest mission offering of $5K+ to Haiti! You decisively answered that challenge! What builds up the confidence of a strong response to bless the world? Nehemiah tells us the joy of the Lord is your strength. Just enjoy God’s adventure of renewing the world! And this joy will embolden you to the end. The story is told of a pastor who visited a dying saint. As the pastor stepped into the hospital room he saw the son, daughter and wife in tears, with the dying man masked with oxygen. Pastor suggested they hold his hand and sing his favorite hymns. They started with Victory in Jesus, my Savior forever… and continued with Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father… and ended with Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound. As they sang the mood lifted from despair to hope, and as they came to the last verse, When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun, the pastor noticed two things: confident smiles in the room and the saint’s heart rate flattening. They sent him off rejoicing.
So, I commend to you this week, prayer without ceasing. Amen.
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Service 02-14-2010
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Scripture: Matthew 22:1-10
Sermon: Ending the Story on Valentine’s Day
by Pastor Todd Buurstra
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Service 02-07-2010
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Service: 02/07/2010
Scripture: Revelation 21:1-5
Sermon: “Epic Act Four: Thy Kingdom Restored” by Pastor Mark Swart
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Sermon 1-31-2010
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The Battle for Your Heart
Genesis 2:15-17
Romans 5:18-21
Pastor Todd Buurstra
The battle for your heart. When you think of a battle for your heart you may imagine this. As a child, you’re standing before the cookie jar, when no one is around and the angel says, Mom told you not to take a cookie, but the devil says, Ah, she’s watching her show. She’ll never know. What do you think, she counts the cookies in the jar?! (Well, my mother did.) She won’t trust you if you disobey. Ah, go ahead! Don’t they smell good? It becomes a tug of war in your heart. When we’re older it may not be the cookie jar, it may be whether I report the cash income you give me from a wedding or funeral. Or whether you buy new shoes or donate to Haiti. When is your heart a spiritual battleground? Always, right? The issues just change. To understand this spiritual warfare let’s ask all the normal questions: Why? What? Where? How?
Why is there a battle within? Because God gives us the freedom to reject him. This is amazing when you think about it. If I were the creator of the universe I might try to force you to worship me. Like me, you might do what every dictator does: force the people to yell, Heil Hitler! Force them to call you the Great Leader. Make their TV shows about how the Great Leader is so wonderful to give us food to eat (even though they may be starving), clothes to wear (even though their uniforms might be a little worn), jobs to do (even though the pay might be pennies). But God didn’t do that. God is so free of a need for our love, so secure in the love of the Trinity, that out of God’s freedom from need God could give us freedom to choose.
I mean think of the Garden of Eden. I’ve read and thought about this story literally 100s, if not 1000s, of times and missed an obvious point. Maybe it was my legalistic Dutch Reformed upbringing, but I often thought of God as a judge making sure I lived by the rules. And more than that, that there were a lot of rules: ten commandments, 613 rules. But if you look at the text there was only one rule. They could freely eat of every tree save just one.
And why would God be so free to give us such radical freedom? Read Eldredge’s reason with me, … Love cannot be forced, it must come freely. Remember that lover, parent, child.
Well, then what is the battle within? Here’s where the angel and demon analogy breaks down. A battle between an angel and demon feels almost too equal. The real battle is between a greater and a lesser, even a lover and a hater. God is greater than Satan because only God is infinitely powerful and good. Satan, though more powerful than you, is a finite, fallen
angel. With just a nod of your head God wins the tug of war, hands down. And why would you give Jesus that nod? Because God loves you while Satan hates you. Only one has your back.
God is filled with the jealousy of a wounded lover.
It’s less between a semi-equal angel and demon on your shoulder and more like the battle my friend, Earl, faced. Earl was popular and cool in high school, in the middle of the battle of his life. Many nights Earl would come home drunk. A good night, he thought, was when he didn’t remember what he did. But his mom was always up waiting. As he knelt before the porcelain throne she’d say, Earl, Earl, what are you doing to yourself? Let Jesus help you with your addiction. You see, Earl’s battle was between his mother who loved him and wanted the best for him, and his self-destructive friends. Eventually Earl realized that if he had an ounce of self-respect, it was no contest. He listened to mom, gave his life to Jesus, and got healthy.
Where is the battle within? It’s in every area of life: body, soul and relationships.
It’s in your body. One of you told me recently of the preacher who was trying to get a point across with worms. He put worms in three jars. In one jar he put in a burning cigarette. In the other jar he poured a little alcohol, not to drown, over the worm. And in the third jar he left it clean. Then he took the worm out from the cigarette smoke, dead. Exphyixation. He took the worm out from the alcohol, dead. Inebriation. But the worm in the clean air was as wiggily as ever. So he asked the congregation, What does that tell ya? An old lady from the back piped up, I guess if ya smoke and drink, you won’t get worms! Hm, how was the battle for her body going?
It’s in your soul. Paul contrasts the two sides, the Adam and Christ, in Romans, Some people read this and say, Ah, there’s nothing anyone needs to do because it says here we’re all saved. That would be nice. I wish that the rest of the Bible guaranteed me that my agnostic mother-in-law, for example, was saved. But taken in context with the rest of God’s word I have a choice, and God respects my choice too much to force me into heaven. This guarantees all believers’ salvation, and the rest? We simply don’t know because God won’t bend their will.
It’s in your relationships. I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve tried to force a loved one to love me by begging, manipulating, or ordering. I’ll never forget the story our former elder and counselor, Judy Barry, told about her daughter’s wild, college days. As Judy cried about having to let go and let her daughter make some life-altering, stupid decisions, it’s as if God said, Judy, I know what it’s like to give up a child. I did it on the cross. That’s a hard way to learn that you can’t force love, you can only give it freely, but given freely is the only way it ever returns freely
So lastly, how do we win the battle within? Most simply, make good choices by letting Jesus take the wheel. By turning over our life to Christ, we win the big battle over where we’ll spend eternity. And, we can gradually win all of the littler life battles that happen in body, soul and relationships. It’s funny isn’t it? The only way to win the battle for your heart is to surrender. May you surrender for either the first time, or for the first time today, as we pray.
Audio Recordings:
Learn how you can listen to the audio files streamed over the Internet, download files to your computer or download files to your portable media player. Visit our Podcast page for complete details.
DVD recordings of the Sunday services are also available. Please contact Bruce Taggart at (908) 685-3165 with questions.
Sermon 1-24-2010
Scripture: Genesis 1:1-5, John 1:1-5
Sermon: “Pollyanna, Eeyore, or What?” by Pastor Todd Buurstra
Once upon a time, before all time… there was a fellowship, a heroic intimacy, something called the Trinity. A very intriguing start to a theology of the biblical story! From about 500 AD till about 1970 we started theology with the Fall—Sin. In the Discovery Class we plot the Christian life in three movements: Sin, Salvation, and Service. From about 1970 till now we tend to start the biblical story one step back with God’s good creation, before we get into sin, salvation and service. But Eldredge goes back one step more, like the church fathers/ mothers, pre 500, to start the story once upon a time, before all time with a heroic intimacy, the Trinity. Why is the starting so important? Where you start the story determines how you approach life!
Indeed the gospel of John intimates this trinitarian intimacy with Jesus the Word being one with God the Creator, whom Genesis already taught is one with the Spirit. As Meister Eckhart masterfully put it, we are born out of the laughter of the Trinity. As the perfect couple ends the wedding and starts their family with a passionate kiss, so God loved Jesus and the Spirit, before the world came to be. As the wise old couple can read the other’s thoughts from smiles/frowns, so Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God were a complete oneness before we were.
And this is important for how we approach family life because Counselor Eldredge writes children would much rather know that their parents loved each other than that they loved them. It reminds me of that wall hanging I saw in Chris’ house: The most loving thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. I guess Chris, an elder in my Sussex County church, had longed for that from her husband, Deacon Bill. And their family bore witness to its truth. Born in the Appalachians of NJ, Bill got Chris pregnant at 16. (At retirement they’ll celebrate their 50th!) Their first set of kids, Billy and Becky, were born in their pot-smoking, spouse-swapping era. Billy and Becky have always struggled with their own addictions, multiple marriages, etc. Finally, at 40 they’ve rock-climbed their way to stability. Rachel and Sarah were born in Mom and Dad’s 40s, having left the reefer to become Republicans, meanwhile gaining a loving, Christ-centered relationship. Sarah has her Ph.D. in Physical Therapy, has only been married once, actually had her child after marriage, a success! Rachel is about to get married next year, after thriving in college. What a difference! A direct result from knowing that you’re born out of the laughter of the Trinity is to raise your kids out of deep love.
Yet the Bible students among us know that the Jehovah Witnesses are right! There is no mention of the word trinity in the Bible. But its fingerprints are everywhere. Not only are the three equally God, in theological accounting, they only add up to one. But you’re barking up the wrong tree if you try to wrap your finite mind around this infinite mystery. Better to just believe in your soul that eternal love has existed forever, and will exist forever, and let it waft over you into your thinking so it permeates your approach to life. Eternal love.
But if you focus only on eternal love we might have to call you Pollyanna. For a Pollyanna perspective on life is overly optimistic. You know, the sun will come out tomorrow… Pollyanna’s believe that love is all there is. People will melt into love if you smile enough. The Holocaust was basically an accident; there is no tempter devil. There is only love.
Enter Evil in Act II of the Bible story—the traditional starting point of theology giving a very different life perspective. Why is there a parallel creation story to Genesis in John? Because evil disrupted eternal love with sin. So that John’s story is really a recreation story. Jesus is about to enter to save the world. Eldredge tells the story of Lucifer, the captain of heaven’s armies that led the revolt against the Trinity, not out of love, but out of lust for power. Because of Lucifer and his minions evil entered so people hide explosives in their underwear to blow up planes on Christmas. Inexplicable tragedies like the Port au Prince earthquakes happen.
(Actually Bible students, one more thing, though Eldredge has the basic story of fallen angels right, there is no mention of an evil angel named Lucifer in the Bible. If you study the Isaiah 14:12 passage, the name Lucifer should be translated son of dawn, and refers to the King of Babylon. Why do I say this? Because leaving evil nameless, adds to its mystery, and adding to evil’s mystery keeps us on our toes. As Eldredge pens, Life is very confusing if you do not take into account that there is a Villain.) But don’t view life solely from this starting point.
What happens if you start your Bible theology from sin? Then your name is Eeyore. Good Morning, Eeyore. Good morning, if it is a good morning, which I truly doubt. The 7.0 earthquake in Haiti: How could a loving God put so much on a luckless people? No reason to roll up your sleeves. There’s nothing you can do. It’s impossible. The other shoe will fall.
So, how is a Christian to approach life, like Pollyanna, or Eeyore? Like neither. If you start the Christian story with eternal love, and are realistic to acknowledge the entrance of evil, then you realize that eternal love is deeper than evil, so your name is Hope. So Hope, what do you say about Haiti? It’s a tragedy, but we have the opportunity to build it back better—just like we did with the Indonesian tsunami where former Presidents helped us raise $8 B! Two weeks from today we will take a Mission offering for Haiti on Super Bowl Sunday. This donation is unique because it will be a cup of cold water in Christ’s name. Why is that important? Because when you watch the news reports of Haiti’s resiliency what do you see? Voodoo doctors? No, Christians singing, praying, worshiping. Connecting to eternal love in the face of evil because the Christian’s name is…Hope. You can give hope through our Super Bowl Sunday offering.
Service 01-17-2010
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Service: 01/17/2010
Scripture: Matthew 13:31-35
Sermon: “EPIC: The Story God is Telling–Prologue” by Pastor Todd Buurstra
“I wonder what sort of tale we’ve fallen into,” said Frodo to Sam in the Lord of the Rings. Author John Eldredge begins the Prologue to Epic (that we are studying in class, small groups and sermons during our New Spiritual Passion for a New You in the New Year emphasis) with these words.
Counselor Eldredge’s thesis is that we have all fallen into quite a tale, a whopper even, and we won’t be able to make sense of life until we understand the story that God is telling in our lives and in the Bible. Pick up a book/CD in the Fellowship Hall today to help you.
What kind of story have we fallen into? We have all fallen into a story because “life… comes to us the way a story does, scene by scene.” You ask me, How was Japan? I tell you, Well, it would have been fine if we had remembered to review our passports…A story! But thank God, an old one. (Actually Japan was wonderful! I think the best moments were seeing the surprise on the kids’ faces every time they were handed money. The Japanese custom is to give a monetary gift in the new year. A story.)
But this life God has given us is a story, not just because story helps us connect events in an experience, but because story is how we figure things out. Daniel Taylor writes, “Our stories tell us who we are, why we are here, and what we are to do.”
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Service 01-10-2010 – The Bethlehem Project
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Enjoy the Carol Choir Musical: The Bethlehem Project
Service 01-03-2010
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Scripture: Jeremiah 31:7-14
Sermon: Home for the Holidays
Pastor Mark Swart
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