Living Water
So, those water activities were fun and the shower thing was a hit! After we celebrated some of the fun things, Pastor Amy talked about the real Living Water.
37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." John 7: 37-38
I should have been reminded of this verse BEFORE church. As I was running around trying to coordinate different things, I realized we didn’t have 2 pieces to the shower, so I immediately thought it was my son Edward’s fault. I’m usually pretty easygoing with my kids, but suddenly, it appeared that the shower thing was going to be a dud and I would look like a real loser. I couldn’t believe when I heard the words that came out of my mouth – “Edward, I could kill you.” I don’t know why I said that, but I have an idea it is because I was more concerned about my reputation than in loving others at that second. Jesus said, “Whoever
believes in me, streams of living water will flow from within Him.” Part of believing in Him is doing what He says, and He says to love others. I think at that moment, my fear over the outcome had become an obstacle to my relationship with God & others. Thankfully, I realized I had made a mistake and Edward graciously forgave his old mother. Never forget where the Living Water comes from.
Circles
We have been talking about the development of the early church in the book of Acts and today, Pastor Amy tied that in to some of the history of how MCC is developing and the vision she & Henry have. The Church, of course, is about way more than Programs which alone lack depth and meaning. It must allow room for God to move in different ways in people's lives. Pastor Amy told us today about the picture (or Venn Diagram) she & Henry keep in mind as Monroe Community Church is developing. It showed the 3 circles, "In", "Up", and "Out", all overlapping.
"In" is what is done to develop the lives of the Church's members. "Out" is what we do to spread the Gospel to the rest of the world, and "Up" is worship or focus on God which is what we're all about. As you can imagine, the activities we engage in can fall within the overlapping areas.
I think it's hard to say which is the strongest circle in our church. There are good things happening in each circle! But it seems to me that the "In" circle is where it all starts, and if this isn't being constantly fed, the other areas would shrink. So we should in various ways continue to be strengthened by God's Word. What do you think?
Paul's Groundhog Day
I liked how Pastor Amy pointed out the importance to us of the repetition of the stories of Paul's Missionary journeys in Acts because I always had a hard time concentrating on these stories. The early church had something important to do and they proceeded to do it. If it seems repetitious, that's because they had 4 tasks they had to repeat over and over wherever they needed to spread the Message.
1. Choose people to send to other cities.
2. Tell the story of Jesus.
3. Keep on doing it even if you're persecuted.
4. Take care of the church that already is.
This last one is important as we approach the coming River Fest when we go out and share the Message on the Grand River this summer. If there were ugly divisions and fighting in our church, the message we share would not be very powerful. If the Message of Jesus that we share is true, we should see signs of unity in our church where we claim to believe His Message.
So how can we best take care of one another in our church community? I think one good way is to offer encouragement for the things we see that are good and then most of all, to pray. What other things should we do?
