Posts Tagged ‘sermon’
Origins: humanity, the art and insight
Sermon on January 10 was about humanity. Philip was our artist. He is a senior at the high school and works with Circle of Friends. He’s a very soft-spoken young man.
I think there are two opposite and incorrect extremes in understanding humanity. The first is seeing us as the center of the universe, the focal point. Refusing to acknowledge that we are broken in some way. In essence, making ourselves our own god.
But I think the opposite extreme is also wrong – thinking that mankind is so totally depraved and wrong of being of any value at all. The mere fact we are made in the image of God gives every human value and dignity, regardless of station in life.
We are beautiful, deep, broken, repairable, redeemable creations.
There are some subtleties in these paintings that if you are in a hurry, you will miss. The first is how every color in the palette is used to make Adam and Eve. Philip said, “I really don’t know what color they were so I used them all.”
The second thing to notice is the serpent. He’s there. He’s not overbearing, he’s not dominant. He’s subtle, like a whisper. Can you find him? I love this depiction of the serpent. He’s not offensive or overbearing, you can miss him. But once you recognize him for what he really is, you’ll never miss him again.
why church? next series..
Here’s a sneak peak at our next series….which starts on November 1.
Oneness or Isolation
Some quotes from Sunday’s service…
From Lynn’s reading:
My husband does not deserve my resentment, but my respect and my love. He may never come to church, I don’t know, but I am content to leave the future up to God.
God never meant for me to handle this in my own power anyway and trusting in Him is the only way I can take my marriage from the hard truth to the throne of amazing grace.
Lynn is an artist with words. Her vulnerability allows us to not only join her on her own journey of healing but it forces us to look closer at own attitudes – which is always a good thing. I’m challenged every time I hear a word from her. I’m thankful to God for her.
Every marriage is moving to one of two places – oneness or isolation. Marriage is never static.
The 50/50 plan of marriage never works. What’s 50% in a marriage anyway? I need the 100/100 plan.
There is no human that can satisfy you completely, make you complete. Only God can do that.
I’m both excited and frustrated with what is coming up this next week. Excited in that it’s a Q & A, Amy will be with me helping me answer the questions. It will be the first time we’ve ever done anything like that…it could be awesome…or it could totally go wheels off. Excited – we’ve already got some great questions to pick through.
Frustrated – there is a part of me that is going….man, there is still a lot more left that we could explore and unpack. Frustrated – not every marriage story has a happy ending and I hurt for those in the middle of the wreckage.
Off to prep for Sunday…
Sermon Planning
Yesterday morning I sat down with two other ministry leaders to plan out our year in sermon series. I have a love-hate relationship with this process. I love the freedom it gives us down the road. That’s right – freedom. Planning this far in advance, frees the team up to do more than you can possibly imagine. It gives them think/plan time. Once this gets typed up and communicated, it’s going to help all of our ministries understand where we are going this year and how they can help drive us forward.
The hate part…it’s work. I don’t want to get ahead of God but on the other hand, I’m learning that He’s wired me to run this way. Plus we hold it loosely. It’s hard, gut-wrenching work and it can test a team to the brink – if you value having a team work on it. And I do. I’ve been here 4 months. Not a lot of time to build up the trust tank. But it is what it is…and at some point you’ve just got to risk it.
I’ll share later what exactly came out of the time but as I look back yesterday what was so valuable to me was the time we spent in prayer…seeking God’s face. Here are some of the snippets…
Father, I’m humbled that You’ve entrusted us with the feeding of your people. Give us wisdom in this task.
Spirit of God, work and lead beyond our expertise. Overcome our failings and shortcomings as leaders.
We are driven people in this room. Slow us down. To listen to your whispers.
Prevent anything from getting on the calendar that isn’t of you, from you.
We got a lot done yesterday. But the best thing was a team silent, pleading, listening, asking, knocking, seeking God. If we hadn’t got anything else done, it would have been worth the time.
Finishing A Series
Wrap up my first sermon series this weekend. I think we finally got the audio working on our website – www.whillschurch.org.
This series had brewing in my head for a long time. Trying to change our understanding of church from institution to movement. The church as a movement, a conspiracy of subterfuge is easy to see in scripture, almost impossible to see as current example.
Preaching sermons about it is also easy. Actually pulling it off? Remains to be seen. The good vibe of the first month will be followed by many questions we get to deal with the rest of the year.
Is what we are doing for the purpose of advancing God’s story or Western Hills? Would the community around us miss us if we dissappeared? Are we really trying to be more like Jesus or just more likable?
Are we more connected to Jesus or the church? Do we even know how to connect and stay connected to Jesus?
So many more questions than answers…