Category: Fellowship

8/31/2023 0 Comments

Living at peace with all people? What about me?

Beloved of God,

   This Sunday, we will not be having our regular Sunday School classes. What we will be having is breakfast food! If you are going to be with us as we worship this week, plan on sticking around for a potluck brunch at 10:30 a.m. Bring a pile of bacon. Bring a casserole. Bring hasbrowns that have been covered, peppered, and chunked. If you forget to make something, pick up apple fritters on the way. Or just show up knowing that a 9” x 13” pan is more than enough monkey bread for almost anybody and you won’t go hungry.

   Our Scripture reading this week follows hot on the heels of our sermon text from last week. It picks in Romans 12:9 and goes on through the chapter. Sometimes I wonder if we miss how demanding this passage is because it sounds so gentle. Folk, I’m not always loving or lovable. My spiritual zeal sometimes fizzles. I often fail to inhabit joys with the joyful, and sorrow with the mourning. Forgoing the repayment of evil? Doing what is right in the eyes of everyone? Living at peace with all people? What about me? Where does living this way get me? What about my rights, my proper respect, my convictions?

   Beloved, if we would follow Jesus it might mean placing even our moral outrage on the altar. It might mean taking up a cross made not of wood but of unanswered wrongs and even enemies who have been fed at our table. It may be a matter of soul searching for us whether we really believe that by doing such things we overcome evil with good.
   But if Jesus Christ conquered sin and death through a cross and a grave, isn’t it likely that our own victory may have a similar shape? If we are people of wonderful gifts and renewed minds, it’s so that we can live a different kind of life altogether. There are purported Christians with large platforms who simply will not seek to live this kind of life and who are leading others away from it. They are in love with power and revenge. And I don’t know if I completely blame them, because living the way we’re instructed here in Romans 12 is hard. It is too hard for them to live out.
   But it is the way of Jesus. It’s the path of our master and Lord. And because he is alive, even this path of forgiveness, gentleness, and quiet righteousness is a path to true victory in and by Him.

   Please join me this week in praying for:

Those who are traveling this weekend.
Our neighbors suffering loss in Florida and South Carolina.
Those who are grieving.
Your enemies; people who do not love you or treat you lovingly.
Our associate pastor search team.
Those in positions of public trust at the federal, state, and local levels.
Those who respond to emergencies in our wildlands, on our roadways, 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

0 Comments

9/30/2021 0 Comments

Desiring God's fellowship

Beloved of God,

    I sure hope you are planning on spending some time with us this weekend as we have some special opportunities for prayer, fellowship, education, and invitation to serve.
    First, we will be hosting an evening of prayer in the church building from 5pm to 9pm on Saturday. This come and go event is especially aimed at making space to pray for yourself, for each other, and over our various ministries here at WRBC.
    Second, we will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper together on Sunday. In the spirit of fellowship, we will also be having a brunch immediately after the service as a time to (re)connect with one another over a meal. If you would like to bring a breakfast dish to share, please let us know what you’re planning to bring here.
    Third, our Mission and Outreach team is going to be sharing about what they have been up to, our partnerships with other ministries, and opportunities to follow the Church’s call to mission. I hope you’ll stick around after brunch to hear from them, and learn more about Mission at WRBC.

    Our Scripture reading for Sunday is Psalm 26, which needs a bit of attention. I think there is always a temptation to read Scripture as if we are the “good guys”. I’m a little suspicious of that sort of confidence, because it’s usually the folks who are most confident of their righteousness who tend to cause the most harm.
    Psalm 26 has elements of this in it. “I have always been mindful of your unfailing love and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness,” says the Psalmist in Ps 26:3. But at the heart of this psalm is a desire to be declared innocent, in order to draw near to a holy God.
6     I wash my hands in innocence,
        and go about your altar, LORD,
7     proclaiming aloud your praise
        and telling of all your wonderful deeds.
8     LORD, I love the house where you live,
        the place where your glory dwells.
It’s not “innocence” or “righteousness” alone that the Psalmist is after. It’s fellowship with God. We seek to live a life of righteousness or of innocence, not because it makes it easier to judge our neighbors. We do it because it allows us to approach our God more fully and faithfully; to know God more deeply. It is God’s own holiness that compels us toward a righteous life. We follow God into holiness for God’s sake, not our own. Most amazing of all, in Jesus we find a holiness that we can live into which we never would have found by ourselves.

Please join me this week in praying for:

An end to this pandemic.
Doctors, nurses, PA’s, paramedics, and others working to keep us all well.
Those in positions of public trust at the federal, state, and local level.
Those among us dealing with hurts or sickness of mind, body, or spirit.
In praise for the rain this week has brought.
First responders who attend to emergencies on our highways, in our wildlands, in our towns and even our homes.
This congregation as we enter the final stretch of the year, plan budgets, take votes, and prepare for Advent and Christmas.
Neighbors in our community who have never come to faith.
Neighbors in our community who have left their faith behind because of deep wounds.
Each other (please contact [email protected] if you’d like to be added to our prayer list).