Category: Minister’s Blog

We are in an exciting time in our church. Yesterday, we had the first of our new fourth Sunday worship services. We are beginning new ministries, including our new community discussion group at the Carlock Public Library. To continue moving forward and following God’s direction for our church, we must take steps as a community to ensure that our progress is not stopped short. Challenges and struggles will continue to come. Many of the struggles we encounter in church today are not new. This Sunday we will be looking at the struggles of the Philippian church and the advice Paul gave to help them move forward into the future. We will see three specific steps we can take as a church to ensure that we do not take any steps back.

Last Sunday we talked about the importance of remembrance as an important element of worship. This Sunday we look at a second important element, that of anticipation. The God who acted in history is the God acting now for the establishment of his kingdom. In our songs, in our Scripture readings, in our taking of communion, we share the vision of God for the world.
In the face of unspeakable tragedy like what we have seen in Orlando, we gather to recognize that with God another world is possible. We tell of how Christ conquered the forces of evil. We tell of how Christ established a new beginning for this world. We celebrate the victory of Christ over death. And in doing this, the vision of God for the world is made known. We gather in the hope of a future which shatters our reliance on violence and allows everyone to experience the peace of God.
Remember, there is only one more week before we begin our fourth Sunday worship service. If you never been to our church or have been away for a while, it is a great time to join us as we anticipate and share in the plans God has for us.

As most of you know, we will be having a slightly different worship service on the fourth Sunday of each month during the summer. These services are intended to provide an alternative but meaningful way of encountering God. For instance, we will take communion by intinction during this service, have a responsive element to the sermon much like we did during Lent, and provide an increased opportunity for members of the congregation to participate in community prayer. In the two weeks leading up to the first of these services, we will be discussing what it is that worship should mean and what purpose it serves. This Sunday we will discuss the importance of remembering. Throughout Scripture, we see an emphasis on remembering what God has done for his people. The Israelites were continually told of the importance of remembering what God had done for them in the Exodus. In the book of Luke, we read the song of Mary who remembers God’s faithfulness. Remembrance retains a central place in our worship – in the reading of Scripture, in the taking of communion, in the sermon, and in sharing our own stories of how God has been faithful to us. Changes to a worship service can be uncomfortable. But as long as we maintain our focus on what the purpose of worship is and are open to how God is working, these changes can also be transformative.

This Sunday we will be beginning our new Sunday school class based upon Richard Foster’s book Celebration of Discipline. Each week we will be looking at a different spiritual discipline as we seek to develop a deeper spirituality and closer connection to God. The spiritual disciplines are not just meant for those with theological training. God intends them for all people. There are no prerequisites. All we need is a longing for God. Even if you have never attended our Sunday school class, I hope you will consider attending this one. This Sunday is also my installation service. Our regional minister Rev. Teresa Dulyea-Parker will be joining us, and our service will be followed by our first Sunday brunch. God is working in our church. It is a great time to join us as we seek to better serve God and one another.

One of the most quoted verses in the Bible is also one of the most misunderstood. In Exodus 21 we read, “you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” People outside the Christian community, and unfortunately even sometimes those within it, use this phrase to endorse the idea of retributive violence. To the other extreme, sometimes we have a tendency to consider this and other Old Testament writings irrelevant in light of what we find in the New. But when we seek to understand this Old Testament law in light of its cultural context, we begin to understand that there is not a cruel Old Testament God and a loving New Testament God, but a God who has always urged community which reflects God’s own grace and mercy. This Sunday we will take a closer look at this controversial verse to discover what it means for the Christian community today.

Many of you may have seen the TED talk given by Brene Brown on the topic of vulnerability. As Brown describes, in order to feel connected we have to allow ourselves to be seen even when that involves making ourselves vulnerable. In listening to Brown, I recognized the power that this vulnerability can take when we allow ourselves to be open before God. When we allow ourselves to be seen in the context of our faith and in our faith communities, we experience the healing power of God. This Sunday we will be looking at how this vulnerability was exhibited when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. And during our time of response, you will be invited to participate in a foot washing. Also, as we continue our Sunday school study of prayer, we will conclude our discussion of intercessory prayer with a focus on prayers for healing. We will also be looking at the prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane. Just two more weeks of our prayer study before we move to our study of spiritual disciplines. I hope you will consider joining us.

This Sunday our church will be participating in the community Pentecost service at Danvers Presbyterian Church at 10:00 a.m. James Munro of Operation Stand Down will be providing the sermon. Because I do not have a sermon to post about this week, I thought I would post about some of the new things we are doing as a church. Beginning in July, we will be having a Thursday evening Bible study. Details will be forthcoming as to the topic, but it is my hope this will be an opportunity to ask questions which we may not otherwise feel comfortable asking about our faith in the church context. It will also be an opportunity to get to know each other on a deeper level, and dessert will be provided! We have also begun a new ministry I am calling “compassionate casseroles” through which we can provide food to people in the community who have experienced a loss or illness. For those who are interested in something more sporting, some of our church members are meeting for an evening of trap shooting on May 19, June 16, and August 14. We are also working on a slightly different worship service for the fourth Sundays of the month in the summer months. For more information on this and other events, check out the newsletters also posted on our website. This Sunday as we celebrate Pentecost, let us also celebrate how the Holy Spirit continues to move and work in our congregation.

This Sunday we will be concluding our study of the Lord’s Prayer with a petition by Jesus that can be challenging, “lead us not into temptation.” When we hear this, it is natural to ask what Jesus means by this. Does it mean that God is the one responsible for bringing temptation into our lives? Scripture is filled with stories of testing and temptation. We think of the Israelites being tested in the wilderness before entering the promised land. We think of Jesus being tempted in the wilderness prior to the beginning of his ministry. When we look more closely at these accounts of testing, we come to a fuller understanding of what Jesus is praying to be avoided. And we see it is much more about not seeking for God to do things our way.

Not everyone recites the Lord’s Prayer in the same manner. Even within our own congregation, some prefer to use the phrase “forgive us our trespasses” while others prefer “forgive us our debts.” This Sunday we will be taking a closer look at this phrase. While there is value in both recitations of the prayer, understanding this petition in the context of debt can provide context to what Jesus is seeking. The forgiveness of debt has been a central theme in Scripture since the Exodus. God desired for his people to live in a different manner from the surrounding world. In celebration of the Sabbath day, the Sabbath year, and the year of Jubilee we see a model for how we should live as the people of God. In seeking to forgive and be forgiven of debt in all its forms, Jesus is inviting us to take charge, to turn the world around and change the global pattern of retribution and vengeance, control and oppression. In forgiving and being forgiven of the debt we owe to each other and to God, we experience freedom to engage in our own exodus from slavery to the patterns of this world. Please join us this Sunday we continue to see a better understanding of what we recite in the Lord’s Prayer, and don’t forget about our corresponding study and discussion of prayer at 9:00 in the parsonage.