The message of Christmas is that the Saviour born to the world came to rule and reign in justice. His rule means victory over sickness and death, and freedom from oppression and injustice. And He invites us as co-labourers to join Him as He does this. This past Sunday Beula gave us practical ways we can do this as she preached from the well-known scripture Matt 18:18. We can understand this scripture in a new light
As Christmas passes and we survey the new year, in our reflections as Christians looking ahead, we often ask, “What do I want to do in the church this year?” Buckminster Fuller, the creator of the geodesic dome for Expo 67 and a solid Christian, suggested that a better question would be, “What does God want done?” In posing that question we move from the finite into the infinite. It causes us to sit with it, marinate with it, meditate on it, before hazarding an answer.
At church last Sunday I was given a book of sermons published in 1901. What a wonderful gift! I will read it and look for some gems in it, but more than that, I sense a message in the gift. Many years ago, I was taught that often God speaks to us through the gifts we are given, that we should pay close attention to them, particularly to those that may seem unusual.
In the church that I grew up in, most Sundays our pastor would have an object lesson for the children before dismissing them. My dad would often say that he got more from the children’s lesson than the long-winded sermons! Jesus communicated in parables: object lessons. Prophets would often act out the messages that they were to give. (Think of Ezekiel laying on his side for 430 days, and Agabus binding Paul’s hands.) This past Sunday, the Lord had a message for our church and brought an object lesson to us. We saw acted out what the Lord is doing.
I love basketball. I played in high school. I still play a couple times a week. A few weeks back I had a very rewarding game. Our team won on an easy layup by my teammate. I had set a screen for him that made him open, so that he could score easily. Setting a screen is positioning oneself to block a teammate’s defender, so that the teammate can then easily make it to the basket or be open for a shot without the defender being close to him.
