Things above

Beloved of God,

    I hope you’ll mark your calendar for a few important dates in the coming weeks. We will be having a conversation with our ministry leaders on Sunday, August 7th. I hope you’ll plan on spending time with us during the Sunday School hour to hear about opportunities to grow in faith, needs within ministries, and a broad picture of annual events where you might partner with our ministries.

    I hope you’ll plan on joining us for our last two Midweek Cookouts for the Summer. I’ve loved getting to spend that time together on Wednesday, and for the final two weeks, we will be doing some Tie Dye just for fun. You may bring a white item to dye, but there will also be white t-shirts available.

    Our Scripture reading for this week comes from Colossians 3. Paul is fleshing out for the Colossians the substance of the change that takes place in a Christian life. Paul tells us our affections, our intentions, and our minds themselves should be directed to the things above because that is where Christ, the very substance of our life, is seated in glory. Old habits, behaviors, patterns of thought and actions don’t have a place in our lives anymore. In fact, those parts of us are dead, and what remains of them are also to be put to death.
    Paul goes on to point out that even the deep, important divisions that hold so much sway over us have no place for those of us in Christ. Religious boundaries, racial boundaries, economic boundaries, all these are obsolete. Christ is all, and is in all. It is a totally new way not just of behaving, but of understanding ourselves as we relate to God and to each other.
    This passage gets at the heart of devotion. We use that word a lot, but do we always recognize the practice? Do we, the sinful but saved, truly practice devoting ourselves to God day by day? Do we put these old patterns, these obsolete identities to death by giving all of ourselves to Jesus? Perhaps we can practice devotion more faithfully, and start by meditating on this very passage. We’ve been raised with Christ, and we can point our whole selves toward him again, each day. 

Please join me this week in praying for:

• Those of us facing illness, recovery, or weaknesses of mind or body. 
  
• Those who are traveling; for safety as they go and return.
• Those in our community who respond to emergencies on our highways, in our wildlands, in our communities, and even our homes.
• Wisdom for those of us making decisions.
• Strength for those of us who are tired.
• Officials in positions of public trust at the federal, state, and local levels.
• Teachers and students as they begin to prepare for the coming academic year.
• People in our community who are having to face hard things, and face them alone.
• Each other! (Please email [email protected] if you’d like to be added to our prayer list)

You are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world,

Marshall 

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