Serve With Love

Terry White welcomed us and then invited us to join in pre-service discussions about faith and life. Among other things we received a reminder that the second Sunday in August we will be eating at Cressman's for church.

As we turned to worship Terry read from Psalm 150. We then sang a mix of hymns and worship songs

After taking an offering and spending time in prayer we received the message for today.

Serve With Love

Terry began by reacting to the worship and prayer time, expressing that it's a blessing to experience unity, as a body of believers or as families. He then gave an update on things that are happening with regard to the sale of his house and the transition from what was to what will be.

Through the month of June Pastor White has been sharing a series of messages based on the acronym BLESS. The message today features the letter S, for Serve.

One of the best ways to live is to live as servants. But our natural inclination is to serve ourselves, not others.

Terry cited the TV show Survivor and how many things we do and choose are for the benefit of others or for the benefit of ourselves. The more that is at stake, the more we see what is in their hearts and ours.

Today's text was John 13:1-18, the story of Jesus watching the disciples' feet.

Terry points out how God doesn't ask us to do things that God wouldn't do. In this case we see Jesus humbling Himself, serving, modeling servanthood.

The key verse here is verse 14: "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet."

We're called to serve, and sometimes we do and it feels good. But there are times and situations where it feels like we are doing all the work. Resentment sets in and we wonder thoughts like are we being enablers for bad behavior?

A life of service is a powerful witness.

Terry read from Rich Mullins, paraphrased here: God has called us to be lovers...  Most of us give up ourselves as long as our investments pay off. We even resent those who we pretended to love.

We are called to be the hands, feet and voice of Christ to the world. This is our calling, our responsibility. Matthew 25:31-45. Service is the heart of the Gospel.

We also read Philippians 2:1-8. There's a reason it feels good to do good. It's because we're aligning ourselves with who God is and His purpose for us. It feels right.

We closed with the song Take My Life & Let It Be.... Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.

Eat Together

Chuck Vanderscheuren welcomed us and then invited announcements before we began a time of worship.

Announcements
~Thursday June 29 there will be a baby shower for Alicia Benson and Jacoby, 10:00 a.m.
~New Dimensions W.L Group, Wednesday 6:30
~Faith in Fabrics Kickoff, Friday and Saturday September 9 & 10
~VBS was awesome this year with over fifty kids every day and ample numbers of volunteers.

Chuck read a passage from Jeremiah about the prophet's visit to the potter's house, in which God showed Jeremiah this truth:: "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand."

After a time of singing from the blue hymnal an offering was taken with the VBS young people singing a song they learned this week. "I was made for this, built  for a purpose," a truly important message in our post-modern age with its cynical messages that say life has no real meaning or purpose.

Darlene led us in prayer this morning, beginning by reminding us that God is always there for us, even when we don't feel it.

Eat Together

Terry began by sharing the uplift he received from watching everyone serving during VBS this week, the ways they shared and showed their gifts and abilities. It was another way of getting to know our church family better, seeing more than just our faces on Sunday mornings.

The current sermon series is called BLESS, an international evangelism initiative. The Acronym goes like this:

BEGIN with prayer
LISTEN with care
EAT together
SERVE with love
SHARE your story

Eating together is one of the special times in our holidays, a time in which we connect, tell stories, listen to stories. It's a time we share with our families. It's a moment of intimacy and of hospitality.

Pastor Terry turned to Luke 19:5-10 and the story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a tax collector, one of the most hated people in the community. Yet Jesus, who saw him, said he would welcome the opportunity to go to his house and dine with him.

We then turned to Acts 2:42-47. Notice how the common things of eating together is listed in the midst of these other "spiritual" activities they share, prayer and teaching.

Eating together is a way we connect.

He then asked us what Hospitality was. Words like caring, friends, welcoming, inviting and sharing were shared.

"One of my favorite authors is Henri Nouwen who said hospitality is the ability to invite people into your home and life without making them keep all their stuff outside." Being able to have them in your home as they are, including the baggage they bring. We need to let them bring who they are into our presence, not make them drop that at the door.

Intimacy is the ability to be close with someone else. We've sexualized it so much that we can hardly talk about it anymore.

Fear is the great enemy of intimacy. The aim of intimacy is freedom so that we're able to have interactions in which we can be ourselves.

* * * *

We love God because He loved us first. That love teaches us that we're accepted as we are. And we're invited to extend that same kind of "as you are" love toward others.