Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 25th, 2009 No Comments »
Sitting at the table on the stage at the front of the sanctuary with the worship leader and song leader, and sipping tea with them, Pastor Barbara Moyer Lehman used a conversational tone to talk about what it means to offer mutual care in the context of a community of communities. 1Thessalonians 5:12-22 was the text that she referenced, but she also called upon those sitting with her and on the congregation, to explore mutual care. The challenge at the end of the sermon was to reach out and get to know some new people and practice caring for each other.
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Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 18th, 2009 No Comments »
Reading the Bible is like looking through a family photo album. It reminds us of who we are and where we come from. This is the image that Pastor Phil Kniss began his sermon with. Sometimes, when looking at old pictures we need help to understand what the picture is about. As we read the Bible we also need help in interpreting and understanding what it is that we are reading. Pastor Phil highlighted this as an essential task of the church, to read and understand and apply what is in the Bible. The best Biblical interpretation occurs where brothers and sisters come together to wrestle with understanding Scripture and referencing their interpretation with interpretations of the larger church. The two Scripture passages used in our service today, Nehemiah 8:1-12, and Luke 4:14-21, deal with this idea of God’s people hearing, understanding, and then applying God’s word.
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Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 11th, 2009 No Comments »
We bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ through a wide variety of acts. One aspect often overlooked is the compelling witness of living together in Christian community. The challenge may lie in opening our lives to allow others a glimpse of HOW we live in Christian community. Pastor Phil Kniss challenged the congregation to practice hospitality and let go of our obsession with privacy.
Both Jeremiah 29:1, 4-8a and Luke 10:1-12 describe communities that went out of their way to practice and accept hospitality in the settings in which they lived. How can our life together as a community of Jesus followers be witnessed by people outside of the community? Can we create a third space, neither in church nor in our own smaller, closely knit communities, where others will feel welcomed to observe and perhaps join us?
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Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 4th, 2009 No Comments »
What might it mean for the church if we understand ourselves to be a community of smaller communities engaged in the mission of God in the world? This is the question that Pastor Phil Kniss posed on Sunday morning. If worship of God is at the center of our calling as Christians, how do we engage that worship in the context of our small groups? Why is communion only a part of our large group gatherings? In looking at the early church as described in Acts 2:42-47 and 1 Corinthians 10:15-17, Pastor Phil notes that these were groups that gathered around tables to worship, learn, and eat together. Perhaps we need to re-imagine our gatherings in small groups and use those times to worship and even to consider our eating together as a form of communion.
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