Sunday messages from Faith Church Burlington
This Sunday we explore our third Core Practice, "We give our gifts for ministry," using Romans 12:1-8. What gifts of time, talents, and treasures do you have? How has using those gifts at Faith Church recently or in the past shaped you into the disciple you are now, 24-7? What would be the impact of seeing all members share their gifts in our Faith community, and how might we do better at discovering and engaging those gifts?
This week we continue exploring: "Together--Again!--on a Journey: Why Church??" Our focus will be Faith's second core practice, Inspiring Worship to God, explored through the lens of Psalm 131. This psalm is one of the songs of ascents, Psalms 120-134, sung by the people of Israel as they travelled up to Jerusalem three times each year for worship festivals. If you can, make time to read all 15 of these short psalms before Sunday. I will be asking, What is the relationship between our worship and the mission God has given us?
God invites the Church to participate in his Mission of Reconciliation, both deed ("ministry") and word ("message"). The missional movement reminds us: "It's not that God has a mission for his Church. It's that God has a Church for his mission." God's mission of reconciliation comes first. God calls the Church to participate in that mission. We can describe it many ways (see Matt 28:18-20, Acts 1:8, Luke 4:18-19, 1 Peter 2:9-10, and others). What we do as Faith Church should help us as members of God's Big-C Church to participate in God's mission. Our "Service Sundays" 2x per year help in this. Why? Not because they take the place of the restoration / reconciliation / witnessing that the Church is called to each day. No, rather because they model and inspire this sort of work. So, as we go out and serve, let's consider how our activities might be broadened into daily acts of service. Or how our activities today remind us of other ways we can participate in God's mission of reconciliation and restoration and healing.
This week we look at the importance of loving relationships. The church's relationships go beyond what's available in the world. They offer TALC: Tangible assistance, Accountability, Listening and prayer, and Connection.
Pastor Cara DeHaan
God promises to bring beauty from all things, including weeping. Let's make space for weeping as a normal human response to loss and a critical task of being Jesus' disciple.
Eph 2:10 says that we are God's "handiwork" (or masterpiece or workmanship). God is shaping us, as a potter shapes clay. How is he shaping us? Into what? And for what purpose? And... how does Faith participate in this shaping for all in our congregation? Jesus' parable illustrates how God as Loving Father shapes both sons by word and action; the familiar parable also indicates how Jesus shapes his disciples and his opponents with his stories.
What sort of invitations do we receive? Who receives them? Jesus invites all, but his invitation is countercultural: for the weary and worn, not the bright and talented; for resting, not fixing or doing; for interdependence with Jesus, not independence.
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