Imagine going through life never depending on anything or anyone. There are times when that certainly sounds attractive, but it doesn’t last long. We need people, we need some predictability, and we need some sense of direction. Without these three elements, we live lives that are lonely, chaotic and pointless.
We build our lives on covenants, spoken and unspoken, of what we believe, what we will respect and what we expect from others. Spiritually we have covenants as well. Atheists have spiritual covenants too! They may not believe in God, but this believe is a belief they agree to and order their lives accordingly.
Covenants go something like this “Since I hold this to be true…Then I will order my priorities and my choices accordingly.” Anything else is to lose integrity and to be speaking jibberish, it is the life of hypocrisy. We agree to one thing, do one thing, act one way, but then turn around and do the opposite.
Covenants determine who we are. Covenants are not always determined by what we say, but always by what we do.
For the past several weeks we have been talking about how the church is a community of covenant relationships, dependent upon one another, and committed to the mission of Christ. This Sunday we talk a look at the greatest hope in our lives and in our world. The Church. Despite all its’ flaws, warts and misdeeds, the Church is the Body of Christ in the world, saving, redeeming and rebuilding lives and shaping the future. To ignore the church is to ignore Christ, to give up on the message of Grace and to surrender to apathy and despair.
I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to give up.
Join the conversation this Sunday’s message follows.
Sermon Notes 11.06.13 Communion of the Saints
Worship 11.06.13 Beyond Cynicism
Leading Causes of Life Connections 9.9.13L
Leading Causes of Life Connections 9.9.13E
We reach out to people and welcome them into the church
I was thinking the other day about how incredibly important the Law is to Jewish identity and their relationship to God. Through the Law, God was calling to Himself a people He wanted as His very own. Since the Law is about defining a new kind of relationship with God perhaps we can think of it in terms of a young couple about to get married. What’s going through their minds as they dream of the future? How might the Law help a couple plan their new life together? What would it mean for them and the health of their relationship? Perhaps from this little exercise we can begin to understand what God want in a relationship rather than see them as just a list of do’s and don’ts. Let me know what you think.