Today’s Response: ”God’s love is a comfort.
God’s love is a challenge.”
Imagine God came to you and gave you some words.
Wouldn’t your first response be “I can’t,
I ummmm, I don’t do the public-speaking thing!” ?
Yep, that’s what I did.
And l that’s just what you will hear in the Old Testament scripture today.
I have had a Jeremiah moment,
Several in fact.
Now that I know the feeling,
The discomfort of realizing that stepping out in faith is challenging,
I don’t argue with it, well, not as much!
I certainly did (and do) argue sometimes with the things I know I should ~ even MUST ~ do.
Sometimes I wish I could stay in the comfort zone
Skipping the challenge altogether –
But I know that we need both…
So today we respond: God’s love is a comfort.
God’s love is a challenge.
One of our hymns today talks of God
“Knowing our past defeats.”
It’s pretty amazing to me that God keeps giving me more chances.
“Hope for the hopeless” … yeah, A million times over.
We’ll certainly have all kinds of experiences in our human lives.
When I am uncomfortable, stumbling around, defeated, or hopeless,
I need the God of comfort –
I need to know there are BIG arms wrapped around me…
When God asks me for something
I think I can’t do and I realize its “of God” – A God-request –
I yearn for a rapture blanket – right out of the warming oven –
The God of challenge usually comes with some measure of comfort.
In fact, when I let God lead I get both comfort and challenge.
There’s comfort in knowing God is leading and there’s a challenge to keep up!
In order to do God’s work in the world, We’ll certainly have both comfort and challenge.
I dare say, we require both to fully understand our individual response to God’s nudging.
Together we respond: God’s love is a comfort.
God’s love is a challenge.
When I think about God’s love,
I know that I’ve won the lottery –
It’s a never-ending source of love coming at me all the time –
What I think I’ve learned is that feeling good about my life
And my ministries Isn’t about comfort
and not really about challenge either –
The most important thing ~~~The critical thing ~~~ is the LOVE…
Which gives us both! The challenge and the comfort.
We are here to love, which gives us everything we need –
Today we respond: God’s love is a comfort.
God’s love is a challenge.
Spark Moment:
On behalf of the Lay Leadership Team
I had the honor to be the first to review the sparks
Found on our blessing tree after last Sunday’s worship service.
The first ornament I looked at had 9 numbers on it.
I stopped right there and gave thanks to God for leading us to the huge team effort which became Spark Sunday 2016.
It is an exciting thing – For the ministry team leaders to feel the love – To have your support, to know you care enough about what they care about to take action!
There’s still time to spark – no smoldering allowed !
The list from last week is back in the bulletin – and we have some more ornaments – Perhaps it just took your spark a while to ignite?
— Some people wrote in a new spark!
— go ahead, be fearless!!!
If you want to talk about a new possibility…
We’re here to listen.
When you give up some of your precious time to serve along side someone else, You form a small group, a ministry of its own, and it blesses everyone it touches.
Last week 40 people set off 114 sparks–
which Pastor Kristabeth blessed,
so we are expecting flames. !!!
A very wise woman once said “I’ll be calling you!” And we will be in touch – But don’t wait! If you are ready, eager for ignition,
Make a date to chat with Tricia or Liz or a ministry team leader to talk about the things that sparked your interest.
~ and please, remember to touch base again after you’ve taken on the new ministry to tell us about how you are pleasantly surprised at how the new spark has enriched your life.
