Transformation is vastly different than behavior modification. Behaviour is a natural outgrowth of transformation. So much of religion insisists on observable change and rejects people until they are sufficiently spiritually encultured. At CLC we walk with the wounded as we all are made whole.
This is the sermon from November 19, 2023.
To come and sit in a Sunday service, when all is well, and listen to a well-manicured service and sermon, is no real test. It is in the ragged and rugged experinces of life that we discover what really inhabits our hearts. Praise that comes from the prison is more powerful than anything that can ever come from a platform in a church. The story of God’s people is one of the coexistence of joy-filled praise and an adversity filled life. This is where faith gets real.
A former mentor used the term, “Spit-in-your-face” culture in in reference to a time when Facebook and rampant conspiracy theories were not a thing. Today they are and the damage done by our inability or unwillingness to understand one another, is inestimable. This is a sermon on dealing with controversy.
Some people are never satisfied. Achievements and acquisitions fail to meet aspirations and fuel that insatiable desire for more. The problem is that more is never enough. Others are too easily satisfied and lack motivation. The middle ground may be the best. The sermon today references the story of Abraham’s calling and traces his faith to his own father, a man who dared to move forward without a clear picture of what lay before him. Abraham, in answering God’s call, finished a journey that his father had begun. For all of us, God’s story continues to be written. It is bigger than any one of us, individually. Today, perhaps more than ever, it is important that we don’t stop short of what God has for us.
We get to know some people quickly and deeply. Other relationship are paced more slowly. Generally if we are to truly understand another person it requires two essential ingredients. Time and proximity. Jesus built a relationship with hsi disciples in this way. For 3 1/2 years they were together, 24/7. At the end he told them he was leaving “for their good”. And then their relationship with Christ took on a new trajectory. They knew the heart of God. The Holy Spirit revealed Jesus to them as they never knew him in flesh and blood. The sermon is a look at the difference between a casual relatioship with Christ and an intimate one.
