pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: community


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Immeasurably More

As we gather together in worship we get a glimpse of the community of faith in unity.  We come together in Word, in prayer, in song, in spirit, and in praise.  We come together on a regular basis to celebrate the Lord’s Supper and to find forgiveness as a people of faith.  In worship we are rooted together.

We are all equal before God and nowhere is that more evident than in worship.  In those seats in the sacred space young and old, rich and poor come together.  We unite as one regardless of social, economic, or ethnic background.  All come together to offer our praise and thanksgiving to God.  In world we are blended together.

It is in worship that we experience God’s power, authority, grace, love, forgiveness, and presence.  Out time in worship is a time when we are made new and refreshed to return to our lives in the world.  It is also a tie when we are equipped and empowered to go forth into the world to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others.

During worship we come to see through Word, prayer, sacrament, and song that our God is indeed great.  We come to see that He can and will do immeasurably more than we can ask for or imagine.  We come to feel His power within us and we are filled with His desire to share His glory with people through all the generations.  His is a presence experienced in community – community with each other and with God.  May all find Him in community with others this day.

Scripture reference: Ephesians 3: 20-21


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So Others May Simply Live

We often struggle with the question of “How much?”  It is a question that goes both ways.  How much do I keep for myself, storing it up in the bank?  How much should I give to the church and other charitable organizations?  It is a fine line that is difficult to define or explain.

Could one pay their bills and give the rest of what one has left away at the end of each month?  I suppose one could but it would cause problems when one needs new tires or when a child hits a growth spurt and needs new clothes.  But on the other extreme one does not need millions in the bank either.  In reality, most of us live between these extremes.

Another reality is that most of us live with much more than we need.  We live in abundance.  We live with an excess of food, cars, televisions, clothes, bedrooms in our homes, and on and on and on.  Can we learn to live with enough so that others may simply live?

To do so requires trust and living in community.  We must trust God and each other.  We need to learn to live relying on God to provide and trusting that others will come along side us when we need them to.  We must learn to live in true community, being sensitive to and responsive to the needs of others in our communities.  We must be OK with saying ‘no’ when it is appropriate or when we have nothing to give but still be willing to offer empathy or to help another to other resources.  May we learn to live with less so that others may simply live.

Scripture reference: 2 Corinthians 8: 7-15


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In Community

Loss can be hard to bear.  David pours out his heart ad h grieves for Saul and Jonathan.  Even though Saul had been difficult and at times antagonistic, David still offers up his grief over Sail’s death.  David was very close to Jonathan, Saul’s son, and yet in this eulogy it sounds as if he loved them equally.  In this sense it is a fairly common eulogy: it focuses on the positives of the deceased.

In our culture today the time immediately after the death seems to be the “acceptable” time to mourn.  Once the funeral is over society gives the impression that it is time to move on.  When sadness creeps back upon us at random times or because something reminded us of our loved one, we seek to find a private place so that we avoid the awkward or uncomfortable created by our sudden outpouring of emotions.

This is just the opposite of what it should be.  God created us for community.  In today’s writing from 2nd Samuel, David creates a shared way for the people to mourn.  He acknowledges the sense of community that God calls us to so that we may find the strength and support we need.  He calls us to be open and honest with our grief so that the healing process can lead us to a better place emotionally and spiritually.   David names and admits his grief and sorrow.  In doing so he offers others and us the permission to be open and honest with our emotions.  In community we can find strength and support.  There we offer it as well.

Scripture reference: 2 Samuel 1:1and 17-27


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Christ Alone

Television, alcohol, work, Facebook, drugs, internet, books, hobbies, texting, shopping.  The list could go on and on.  Transparency, honesty, vulnerability, commitment, trust, openness.  The list could go on and on.  These two lists are related.  The first list contains some of the ways we try to replace genuine community.  The second list is both our fears of and the reasons to be in an authentic faith community.

Being together in an authentic faith community allows us to feel connection to God and to each other.  In community we can experience hope, love,mercy, forgiveness.  In community our faith comes alive.  From this strength gained in community, we can see the Word of Life alive in our world.

We can see Christ alive in many ways.  We can taste it in the meal lovingly prepared for a family in need.  We can hear it in the laughter of a small child who has found joy in a gift.  We can touch it as we accept the hand extended in friendship or in the hand reaching out for forgiveness.

To be fully alive in Christ and to see Him actively engaged in our world. we must at times et aside the lures and cares of the world to invest both in our personal faith and in the community of faith.  We must be willing to risk ourselves as we enter into genuine community with one another as the body of Christ.  We must be willing at times to give or serve when we really do not feel like it or think it an inconvenience.  But the more we choose to be alive in Christ, the greater our joy and love becomes.  Jesus Christ overcame the world with love.  This too is the path we are called to walk.  Christ alone is the way, the truth, and the life.

Scripture reference: 1 John 1: 1-4


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The Caring Community

The goal of a church is to be a caring and loving community.  As the body of Christ, we are called to do what we can for one another and to be there in times of need.  In the days just after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the church was a small family.  There was a great sense of unity; the well-being of all was a central focus.  The sense of caring extended to giving to those in need, even selling land or houses to have the money to care for the community.

As a church body we find unity in Christ.  It is through His love for us that we are able to love one another.  As we seek to love neighbor as self we come to see others as more alike us than different from us.  At times one gives away care and at other times one receives care.  Relationships are developed and Christian love flourishes.

The example of the early church is still our model today.  No church is perfect but all should be striving to meet the Biblical example we have here in Acts 4.  God blesses us with what we have so that we can be that caring, loving community that every church is called to be.  In time the tithe came to replace the selling of land and houses.  But we cannot allow the tithe to become the means by which individuals offer care in the faith community.  Individual, personal relationships are still the core.

The basis of all churches and its strength is still found in the individual members.  What the people in the pews know about each other and their needs will always far exceed what the pastor and staff could ever know.  At times the staff certainly has a role in caring for the body, but the care and love are most complete when all of the parts of the body of Christ are caring for all of the other members of the body.  In your church, what is your role?  How are you a part of caring for the rest of the community of faith?

Scripture reference: Acts 4: 32-35


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Together

As we move toward Holy Week, we must have a sense that we need to be prepared to walk with Jesus through the trials of the last week of His life.  At times on that journey, the forces of evil were in full force.  It is at times physically painful, at times emotionally painful and at times it is even spiritually painful.

Psalm 118: 24 reads, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  This verse can apply to each day in the week ahead.  Every morning when we begin our day, we can use this verse to garner strength for whatever may come personally and for being present in the events of the week as we walk with Jesus.  Every day God has made.  All things of that day too.  It is a mater of attitude to give each day to God.

It is also a matter of company.  The ‘let us rejoice’ is plural.  We are all in this together. All Christians should walk through Holy Week together with Jesus.  Whether your community is your small group, your church, or the group that reads this today, there is power in practicing our faith together.  There is unity and there is strength.

Holy Weeks is a week of highs and lows.  At times the forces of evil seem to rule the day and at times God is clearly triumphant.  It is as important to celebrate the highs together as well as to walk through the tough stuff together.  May our faith draw us together as we prepare to journey with Jesus through Holy Week.

Scripture reference: Psalm 118: 19-24

 


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Go Forth

When asked, Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love God with all our heart, soul, mind,  and strength.  He quickly added a second that was like the first: love neighbor as self.  These two are alike in two ways.  First, they both involve love, arguably the highest human emotion.  Second, they both involve a two-way relationship.  God’s love for us is unfathomable yet Jesus calls us to love Him back as close to this as we can.  In essence, with every fiber of our being.  In the second, our neighbor are also called to love us back.

Jeremiah 31 speaks of a time when God’s ways and laws do not need to be taught anymore because they will be written on all of our hearts. In our church communities we start to see what this looks like.  In these microcosms people know God and strive to obey His teachings.  People who gather together for worship, fellowship, and so on are known by God and are connected together through this relationship.  Once each is in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then their relationship with each other is changed.  All are loved equally by God.  Loving each other in the same way is the basis for this new community.

But… clearly not all are part of these loving communities.  In fact, the majority of people live their lives outside of a church family, outside of a relationship with Jesus.  I believe that if asked, Jesus’ third greatest commandment would be the great commission: go forth and make disciples (Matthew 28:19).  Jesus didn’t say to always stay in our churches.  He didn’t say to closely guard our little communities.  He said go forth.  Into the world.  The great love of and for God compels us to share it with others.  Is not the highest form of loving neighbor to share what is most important to us?  Go forth.

Scripture reference: Jeremiah 31: 33-34


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Thankful for Each

In 1st Thessalonians, Paul begins the letter by thanking them for their faith and the community that exists between them.  For Paul it is all about the relationships – the ones between the people and God, the one between them and Paul himself, and the ones the people share with each other.  Paul is thankful for both the people and the many relationships that they have.

I too am thankful for the people of my church and the relationships that exist.  The relationships are what bind us together.  Through their willingness to be present and to offer what they can, we see the value of the community and the relationships that undergird it.  I can think of many specific people who offer themselves on Sundays – as singers, players, greeters, servers, reading, praying.  I can think of others who offer of themselves as teachers, shepherds, drivers, cleaners, leaders of areas of ministry.  I can think of many who volunteer at the day center for the homeless and needy – making a difference in people’s lives as they form relationships and offer what they can.

Each of these folks have a relationship with each other, with the body as a whole, and with God.  Every single one matters and all are essential.  Who in your community of faith are you thankful for?  What relationships do you value?

Prayers of blessing upon each one and upon their continuing, growing relationships with each other and with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Prayers also that He remain the cornerstone and foundation today and forevermore!!

Scripture reference: 1 Thessalonians 1: 1-10


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The Relationship

In Exodus 33 God decides to take a little break from the Israelites.  He tells Moses that an angel will accompany them instead.  But Moses does not like the plan.  Its kinda like having Michael Jordan on your team and him telling you he’s sending his four-year-old niece instead next game.

For Moses, it is about that personal relationship he has with God and also about the corporate relationship the people have with God.  The relationship is with God, not an angel.  To Moses, no substitute will do.  An angel instead?  No thanks.

Put in the same situation, we should react the same way.  Today we view God as three ‘parts’ of one person – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Our personal faith is tied to God.  This relationship is the one thing that determines how we live our life.  Jesus told us that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Our faith grows as our relationships with God deepens and we in turn become a greater part of the community as well.

As a community of faith, we are also bound up in this same relationship.  How we live as a community of faith is determined by our relationship with God as well.  And in the community of faith we find support, encouragements, correction, and learning.   We honor Jesus’ second command most often as a community – to love neighbor as self.  As a body of believers we are intertwined and interconnected not only with each other, but also with the greater world outside our church walls.

Scripture reference: Exodus 33: 12-23


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Natural Connection

Do people of faith always feel connected to God and to other Christians?  Do we always feel like we are part of the family?  At times I think we all feel disconnected from God and from our community of faith.  We are never truly disconnected, but at times we feel like it.

As life tosses us about we can wonder if God is present in the midst of the storm.  We do not see Jesus walking on the water towards us.  As emotions of sadness or loneliness sink in, we question if He is there.  We do not see His hand reaching out to pull us up out of the turmoil.  As we pass through difficult seasons in life, we sometimes look around but fail to recognize Him.  We do not see Jesus in the people God sends our way.  Yet we feel apart from God only in our own minds – God and His love are always present.

In these trials, how do we maintain contact with God and our community of faith?  It starts long before the storm, before the sad emotions, before the season.  If we spend time reading, praying, studying, we build up that “reserve” that will carry us through the trials.  The more we know God, the more natural that connection becomes.  If we spend time in fellowship and in caring groups within our faith community, then we are known and we know others in ways that will sustain us in the trials.  Just as we can learn to sense when another needs us to walk alongside them, others too will come to sense when we need that as well.  We train for the race so that we can run it with perseverance, with strength, and with God’s presence.

In Psalm 31, verse 3 we read: “You are my rock and my fortress; for Your name’s sake You lead me and guide me.”  When we know Him as rock and fortress, trials are so much easier to walk through.

Scripture reference: Romans 11:1-2a