Sunday, May 07, 2006
First Service Afterthoughts
Today felt natural, felt vintage in the way we were all together once again. It’s been over a year since speaking in a Sunday service. I wasn’t sure if I’d remember everything I’d prepared in my sermon, everything I’d been practicing in my basement from 6:30–8:00 a.m. Down here whispering so I wouldn’t wake Jill Jr. and Sr., whispering it because I wanted to remember every word, to work hard and get it right for you. And, of course, the way it goes when God is involved, you never say it the same way you’ve whispered it in the basement between drinks of morning coffee. Because most of the time, which is the best time, God speaks something different, something you could never plan for, something more.
I want our church to be a place where you can encounter God—a sacred place. We all need this, even when we can’t really say what it is we want. It’s just a hunger. Something we can’t find any other place. We need a place to connect to a higher love, a greater power to overcome our problems. And I was serious about us asking God what He wants, instead of telling God what we expect from Him because we believe we are righteous enough and have earned the right to be comfortable and numb.
Instead of telling God what we need or expect, let’s live this week based on one question that we must ask again and again—“God, what do you want from me?”
For some we may experience an uneasy silence, and this is okay. But don’t stop asking. Stay at it, because we don’t want to fall back into a pattern of selfishness where we expect manna from heaven, because, darn it, that’s what God is for and that’s why I’m here—to be made comfortable and kept happy at His expense. There’s more than this. And below is my prayer for you this week. It’s a passage out of Colossians. Take a moment and read over it. You could even plug in the name of a loved one, the way I did in parenthesis, and pray for them.
“We have not stopped praying for (Vintage Faith) you and asking God to fill (the church) you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that (Vintage Faith) you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that (Vintage Faith) you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified (Vintage Faith) you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:9-14).
I want our church to be a place where you can encounter God—a sacred place. We all need this, even when we can’t really say what it is we want. It’s just a hunger. Something we can’t find any other place. We need a place to connect to a higher love, a greater power to overcome our problems. And I was serious about us asking God what He wants, instead of telling God what we expect from Him because we believe we are righteous enough and have earned the right to be comfortable and numb.
Instead of telling God what we need or expect, let’s live this week based on one question that we must ask again and again—“God, what do you want from me?”
For some we may experience an uneasy silence, and this is okay. But don’t stop asking. Stay at it, because we don’t want to fall back into a pattern of selfishness where we expect manna from heaven, because, darn it, that’s what God is for and that’s why I’m here—to be made comfortable and kept happy at His expense. There’s more than this. And below is my prayer for you this week. It’s a passage out of Colossians. Take a moment and read over it. You could even plug in the name of a loved one, the way I did in parenthesis, and pray for them.
“We have not stopped praying for (Vintage Faith) you and asking God to fill (the church) you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that (Vintage Faith) you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that (Vintage Faith) you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified (Vintage Faith) you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:9-14).
