Finding Christ after Isaac

Last week, I mentioned to you the guiding principles that we will be following this year as we live out our lives as a congregation - the idea that there are three things by which we live our our calling as Christians and as members of this congregation. Thinking about Worship, Discipleship, and Mission, we were reminded that simply coming on Sunday mornings and being satisfied with that as our 'God Time' for the week at best simply gives us an incomplete understanding of what Christians do.

In the aftermath of Isaac, we were/have been given the opportunity to serve in mission right here in our own backyard, and, to the best we could, we reached out to serve in our own ways.  Whether as part of one of our congregational teams or simply helping your neighbors and friends clean, you were participating in assisting others by the grace of God.  Mission does involve helping those in need, however, what makes mission separate from simply doing good deeds that anyone can do is the sharing of the grace of God in the midst of service.  This does not mean that we must arm-twist people into Christianity as part of giving them a helping hand; however, we are derelict if we do not make it apparent that we do what we do as part of our calling from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Your church leadership is making preparations for our annual Charge Conference session, which will be held on October 4, 2012, at 6:00pm.  Our new District Superintendent, Rev. Hadley Edwards, will be on hand to preside and to give us a chance to let him know us as we get to know him.  Unlike previous charge conferences where the discussion was about reports and other business matters, this year's will revolve around a central idea: What are we doing to facilitate intimacy with Jesus Christ?

I will be writing more about this over the next few weeks leading up to Charge Conference, but I want to make sure that we all understand that part of being intimate with Christ is serving those in need.  If nothing else, the gospel is QUITE clear that when we give to those in need, we give unto him.  From Matthew 25:37-40...

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' 

And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' 

See You Sunday!

Lamar