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9/29/2022 0 Comments

September 29th, 2022

Beloved of God,

    This Sunday we get to come to the Lord’s Table together. I hope that you are planning to be present as we meditate on Christ’s life-giving sacrifice and reaffirm our commitment to be his disciples. I think God graciously uses this ordinance to minister to His people, and I know you will want to be with us as we practice coming to the table together.
    Please continue to prayerfully consider if you or another member of the church might be called to serve on our church council. Each year, we elect a group of members to be chief stewards of our property, our business relations, and our financial oversight. There is so much benefit to having a wide range of experiences among those called to these tasks. Prayerfully consider whether you might sense a call to that work this year.

    Our Scripture reading for this week comes from Lamentations, a book traditionally associated with the prophet Jeremiah. If you read a snippet from Lamentations 1, it’s not hard to see why folks have linked this book to the grumpy old prophet of the Exile. It sure sounds an awful lot like him: bitterness, affliction, doom, and gloom.
    But such a broad brush isn’t fair to Jeremiah, or to Lamentations either. Those who are paying attention will notice that God does not always move toward us in punishment. God’s discipline and God’s comfort are both facets of His love. In fact, if you encounter somebody who only sees God’s love in comfort, or only sees God’s love in punishment, you are likely in the presence of somebody who is only telling half the story. Even in a book of bitterness like Lamentations, we read the following:
3:22     Because of the LORD’S great love we are not consumed,
        for his compassions never fail.
23     They are new every morning…

The God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever somehow meets His people with compassions that are brand new every single day. Somewhere right there between God’s “never” and God’s “new” is everything we need. I don’t understand that, but thank God it’s true.

Please join me this week in praying for:

Those among us who are sick, hurt, or in recovery.
Families facing hard moments together.
Wisdom as this congregation makes decisions about the coming year.
Those who live with great fear, great loneliness, and great anger.
Students and teachers as they come to the last weeks of the academic quarter.
Those facing danger, destruction, or loss from hurricanes and tropical storms.
Those in positions of public trust at the federal, state, and local levels.
Those who respond to emergencies on our roadways, in our wildlands, in our communities, and even in our homes.
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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9/1/2022 0 Comments

the Cost of Discipleship

Beloved of God,

Fella-ship is happening this Saturday at the church at 8 AM. It’s a chance for our men to get together to spend time with each other, pray, and offer mutual encouragement. One way or another, donuts and coffee tend to show up. It’s a good group, and we’d love to see you.
The church office will be closed on Monday in observance of Labor Day. Enjoy the holiday and be safe!

Our Scripture reading for Sunday is pretty challenging. Every once in a while you’ll run across one of those verses that nobody has printed on a tote bag, or hanging up over the dining room table.
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26)
It gets even harder from there…
In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples. (Luke 14:33)
Does Jesus want us to walk out on our families? Does Jesus really want us to give away all of our possessions to follow him? Pastor types are always very quick to say “no, of course not. Jesus loves your family! Jesus likes your stuff!”. But really and truly the answer is more complicated. Look back at the very first verse of our reading to see why:
Luke 14:25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
The answer to these questions, whether I leave my family behind or get rid of all my stuff, is not a simple no. Instead, I think it might be this: Yes if that’s what it will cost to follow Jesus. The rest of this passage is about people, like this large crowd, who started great things without any concern over the cost. If you can’t finish, it’s better not to start. Will your family abandon you, threaten you, disown you over your discipleship? Do your things help you follow Jesus, or anchor you in the world? We do well to consider our families, our status, our possessions from time to time and honestly ask ourselves if the choice were between these things and following Jesus, what choice would we make?

Please join me this week in praying for :

An end to this pandemic.
Those having to love family through a hard moment.
Wisdom, for ourselves and this congregation.
Students, teachers, parents, and staff in our local schools.
Those who are lonely.
Those who are traveling.
In thanksgiving for those who serve regularly, faithfully, and quietly in this body.
The person(s) God will call to minister with us not long from now.
Those in positions of public trust at the federal, state, and local level.
Those who attend to emergencies on our highways, in our wildlands, in our communities, and even in our homes.
One another (please email [email protected] if you’d like to be added to our prayer list).