Two People Went To Church...

Here's the audio of yesterday's sermon "Two People Went To Church..." based on Luke 18:9-14.

Who? Me?

Here's the audio of Sunday's sermon "Who? Me?" based on Luke 16:19-31.

Urgent!

Here's the audio of yesterday's sermon, "Urgent," based on Luke 16:1-9.

A Common Vocation

One of the challenges we face as people of faith is not disconnecting faith from life. In Christianity Beyond Belief: Following Jesus for the Sake of Others, Todd Hunter observes the tendency we have of associating the notion of vocation solely with whatever it is we do with our lives, especially our career or job. In my experience Christians often seem to have been left with the impression that whatever they do in their various everyday roles has little or nothing to do with their faith. The ability to live out faith is thus restricted to one's private devotional life or one's participation in the activities of the community of faith. While these are certainly appropriate ways of living out one's faith, I think these words from Hunter are a helpful reminder that we can live out faith by doing whatever we do all in the name of the Lord Jesus:

Vocation or calling is about much more than what we do. It is one person--God--calling to another person--me. Cooperating with God, growing in him for the sake of others, is our singular vocation, no matter what we do to get a paycheck. We are principally called to God and his purposes. Fix this in your imagination--following Jesus is our special function--and the rest will fall into place. It becomes our self-conscious identity. We can live this vision out as school teachers, police officers, business partners, actors, managers or construction workers. Life suddenly pops with meaning, power and adventure. This--cooperating with God--is why we were created. (53)

In your roles as teachers or accountants, truck drivers or doctors, stay-at-home parents or retirees, how does your faith give meaning to your ordinary routines and activities?

Mistaken

Here's today's bulletin article:

Every one of us spends a great deal of time and energy worrying about identity. For many of us one of the more frequent questions we ask ourselves is, “How will it look if…?” Or perhaps the question is, “What will he or she or they think about me if…?” We worry about the clothes we wear, the kind of vehicle we drive, the place we live, what we read, what we watch, and how each of these affects our identity and others’ perceptions of us.

None of these are bad questions in and of themselves. In fact, many of them can be quite helpful in guiding our reflection on the image we project to others. Moreover, the questions flow out of a healthy recognition that the universe does not orbit around us. It is possible, however, that questions originating in an awareness we are not the center of the universe can give way to constant worry about appearances that becomes very self-centered.

While there are times it is appropriate to ask questions about how others perceive us, I wonder if a better question wouldn’t be “Do people see Jesus when they see me?” This transforms our self-centered questions into Jesus-centered questions.

One of my favorite singer-songwriters, Warren Barfield, expresses this sentiment in a positive manner in his song, "Mistaken":

“‘Til everyone I talk to hears his voice, and everything I touch feels the warmth of His hand. ‘Til everyone I meet sees Jesus in me. This is all I want to be. I want to be mistaken for Jesus.

“May He touch with my hands, see through my eyes. May he speak through my lips, live through my life.

“I want to be mistaken for Jesus.”

I hope and pray that whatever we do, wherever we go, with whomever we interact, we’ll be mistaken for Jesus.

Here's a video from YouTube of Warren singing the entire song.