Living the Message

Today, Jason DeVries talked about how the church of so many cultures can be united as one. Though we are many cultures, we are all focused on the cross of Jesus. We all share in the similar experience of having the Holy Spirit live in us. During His last supper with the disciples, Jesus prayed,

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

One in this prayer comes from the Greek hen which refers to essence or nature, relationship or culture. We are one, not because of external features but because we are saved by grace through faith. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God". Eph 2:8 The purpose of this unity is to show the world that God is one. By showing that we are unified despite our diversity, we show the world that God is love.

Today, Pastor Amy read from John 4. In this chapter, there was some reason why Jesus had to go through Samaria even though it was difficult for a Jew to do so. Here He told the Samaritan woman, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

Pastor Amy asked where Samaria is today. She talked about the role and history of the Dutch Reformed Church in apartheid in South Africa. For more information, see this article by Eunice McGarrahan. Even in our county, it has been said that the most segregated hour is Sunday morning. Jesus has not created the barriers we see in worship - we have. He calls for true worshippers to worship in spirit and in truth.

Question of the Week: Where have you seen God's redeeming grace heal divisions in the church?

Today Pastor Amy read Ephesians 4:17-5:25 emphasizing 4:22-23, "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds." She contined with the theme of Cross Culture and the key verse, Romans 12:2, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will."

Our attitudes about race need to go beyond political or social constructs. It needs to be a matter of our heart! Living as children of Light will expose our wrong ideas.

Question of the Week: What attitude of your mind is the Holy Spirit helping you change?

Today Pastor Henry introduced a new Sunday series called The Cross Culture. He began by showing a Youtube video of little black children choosing between playing with a white doll or a black doll. Almost all of the black children chose the white doll because it was "good." They did not choose the black doll because it was "bad." I found that shocking. Then we were shown pictures of men and women from various ethnic backgrounds and in various ethnic clothes and we were to form an opinion of that person based on their looks. That turned out to be revealing as well. How do we perceive others and on what basis?

The word transformed found in Romans 12 comes from the Greek word meaning "metamorphosis". The larva of a cocoon goes through the process of metamorphosis to become a butterfly. Romans 12 reveals that there is a process for believers in which we let the cross transform our minds. When our minds are transformed by the cross, by Jesus' death and resurrection, then our attitudes and actions are changed.

The Message reads, "Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

Question: How has culture impacted your views and beliefs about other people?

Living most of my life surrounded by white, middle class people mostly of Dutch Reformed descent has influenced how I perceived people. I know there was racial bias. I was uncomfortable with people from other cultures and race, but as Philip Yancy writes "Grace happens." Through the transforming process of the cross I find myself seeing little difference between people who are after all created in the image of God.

Pastor Henry pointed out how little genetic difference there is between races of humans and how much more genetic difference there is among the Emperor Penguins. Ironic.