Invitation to Worship             Tricia Waldron

Response   “May our faith enfold us so completely that we choose to live Christ-centered lives.”          

Pastor Leigh and I had a conversation recently where we discussed Jesus as a role model. We were talking about how we don’t feel the need to have people profess every bit of the biblical story, what we desire is for folks to see Jesus life and stories as a guide.

The first – and I might say the best step, is to see Jesus as a human, an interpreter, a wise guy – Someone with charisma.

With that step, its possible someday to see Jesus as someone to emulate. that’s when we might be able to respond: “May our faith enfold us so completely that we choose to live Christ-centered lives.” 

Faith definitely folds in here. We have faith in electricity,  car engines, the sun, caffeine, we believe these things will “do their job for us, over and over, as often as we need. They are reliable, dependable…

Is this how we feel about our faith in Christ?

The question is:  Do we have hope in Christ  or  Do we have faith that Christ will sustain us, over and over again?

Living a Christ-centered life means looking to Christ first, to always be there for us.

               yes, before our morning coffee!

Once we have faith, we often find we want more- and more,   and more…

Faith feeds us, it nourishes our souls, It keeps us going when we have tough times and celebrates with us in the good times, surrounding us with joy,

Until we respond:   “May our faith enfold us so completely that we choose to live Christ-centered lives.”     

Our Luke scripture today has a strong warning for us:

‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced….’”

It is up to us to decide who to listen to.AND the scripture implies we need to do it here and now – or we’ll be looking back, wistfully – at our choices someday.

It is up to us where we place our faith, what we put first in life.

We learned in recent sermons that many scriptures lose their cultural relevance over time, we talked about finding a lost sheep as an example of something we don’t need to do anymore, but holding money as a high – perhaps our #1 goal –  is still relevant today.

So we’re still discovering & naming our priorities, as we look at how our faith affects our life choices.  

Where will you put your faith?

Let’s prayerfully respond: “May our faith enfold us so completely that we choose to live Christ-centered lives.”     

Faith Intro 9.29.19