This week we get the opportunity to hear from our church’s Clerk of Session Lawrie Gardner who is also a longtime Sunday School teacher, Choir member, Youth Group volunteer and more! She brings a lifetime of sincere faith and a passionate desire to convey God’s word. Pastor Jessie will be present for other portions of the service.
Today we come to the final week of this short series, and we continue to consider how things that feel scary or threatening could actually lead us to growth and even salvation as a human community. This last week we focus on how (good) trouble and protest can be used in the fight for justice. They all too easily get demonized as riots; the people urged to just get back in line and their turn will come. Yet we Christians descend from a leader who Himself stirred the pot, staged protests like the Palm Sunday parade and got into good trouble! As we remember this heritage, we will consider ways that perhaps we can move our world towards what God intends (or make way for those who do).
This week in our series, we consider how things that we largely are taught to be negative (limitations and failure) can actually save us; they can increase our humility, our creativity, and our acknowledgement of our interdependence within community. They can help to mitigate some of our harshest divisions because they can lead us into an open mind, admitting where we may not be right about everything. How can people of faith model an honest assessment of their limitations and a playful spirit of experimentation that may include success and failure? Perhaps if we can build our comfort with these things, we can rebuild a culture of dialogue, cooperation and REAL unity!
Today in Church is Rally Sunday where we “rally the troops” and restart many of our programs like Sunday School, Youth Group, our musical programs and more! It is also a day when we welcome four new members to our church family. What a celebration!
We continue on in this Fall sermon series called “Holy Disunity”, considering today how argument and separation can actually be used for our good; perhaps they can sometimes even save our relationships? Maybe our problem is not the fact that we have conflict, but how we address that conflict. What are our goals? What values drive HOW we argue? Do we know when to take a time out? Can we trust God to move in the hearts and minds of our so-called opponents (who also maybe happen to be people we love)? Do we trust God to move in our OWN hearts and minds? We do not need to be afraid of these things. We can grow stronger by working them through with God’s help!
Today we jump into our first sermon series for Fall! The description for the series is below and today we begin with thinking about the value of difference (does it always have to be something that drives us apart) and the value of tension (sometimes friction and agitation is necessary for movement in a new direction).
FALL SERMON SERIES (9/1-9/22):
Holy Disunity: How What Separates Us Can Save Us
These days, there’s no dirtier word than “divisive,” especially in religious and political circles. Claiming a controversial opinion, talking about our differences, even sharing our doubts can be seen as threatening to the goal of unity. But what if, in a world created with such astounding diversity, unity shouldn’t be our goal?
What if our primary calling instead is to seek authentic relationship with God, ourselves, one another, and the world around us? And what if that means actively engaging those with whom we disagree. Our religious, political, social, and cultural differences can create doubt and tension, but disunity also provides surprising gifts of perspective and grace.
This series is informed and inspired by the book of the same name by PCUSA Pastor and writer Layton Williams.
