Response to Service

Greetings all,

Wanted to say that Sunday Service was very uplifting and nourishing for me. Thanks Holy Spirit, for opening my heart, ears and eyes. Thanks Nat for putting your heart into it.

One small update on the teaching/worship coordination front. I wanted to report that I have talked with both Bill Cobey, the Teaching team chair, and with Mark Acuff and communicated that we were praying for them, and that it seemd to make alot of sense for the two groups to be in closer dialogue.

I also communicated that we are starting off our group by collectively thinking about some fundamental questions, before we get into some more practical concerns. I gave the example of asking the basic question "Who is God". I reasoned if we are to worship God in spirit and truth we really need to continue deepening and expanding our knowledge and appreciation of God's complex nature. Being more articulate and precise in our understanding will really help inform "how we worship". I suggested that teaching can really help in this goal.

I elaborated:

If God is a Holy God our response should be one of reverence
If God is a Forgiving God our response should be one of sorrow and repentance
If God is a Redeeming God our response should be one of Joy and Celebration
Others?....

It was interesting to me that Bill and his team have also been trying to take the pulse of the congregation and came up with a similar observation; that we are really good at the celebration part but that there is a desire to also be finding ways to express reverence and repentance on a more regular basis.

Please all continue to pray for unity between Teaching and Worship.

As a parting thought, A song that was sung on Sunday made me think about the importance of worshiping with deep knowledge of the Truth, and how teaching and worship are so inextricably linked. Wambui sang a beautiful song that for the most part provided much encouragement to me about the faithfulness and unfailing love of Jesus. There was one line, however, that simply did not ring true, and I thought..."we need teaching". The line stating that "(Jesus) will follow me wherever I go" to me is not a completely accurate description of how God responds to us. I may be wrong here but it is my understanding that we have the choice to walk away from God, and go to places that He cannot go, because of His holy nature. There we get to taste death. The example of the Prodigal Son comes to mind. The Father waited and searched from the hill, but did not go into the pig pen with His beloved but rebellious Son. The relationship was redeemed when the prodigal Son repented and turned back to the Father. Grace abounded upon the Son's return.

Churches seem to fall somewhere in a spectrum of being Grace focussed, sometimes to a fault and comprimising truth, and overlooking some of the harder truths that Jesus communicated, and Law focussed, being more legalistic in nature and minimizing grace. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit blesses our Church with discernment, so we can Woship God in spirit and truth.

Love you all.

P.S. The Teaching team I believe calls themselves an "Advisory Committee". I am going to suggest, to facilitate unity, we call ourselves something similar. Nat could you ask Mark about their title?

Debbie...thanks for following through on the interviews. I will be eager to hear your conclusions. In addition to deliberate interviews I would also encourage keeping track of some of the more informal dialogues, where folks don't know they are being "interviewed". I have some good feedback.