Faith Revolution

“God made so many different kinds of people.  Why would he allow only one way to serve him?”

~Martin Buber

What a great day today as the church gathered together to worship, fellowship and love God and one another!  As I looked at all the faces that represent all the people that I have come to know and love here in Cambridge Springs, I thanked God for the diversity of His grace that He has showered upon those people.

I ask you, is the church an institution or the living body of Christ?  Instution requires structure; structure that will preserve and defend the institution.  The institution must endure.  An instution does not have a face.

I saw faces today.  Those faces were reflecting the face of Jesus.

Bodies don’t endure so much as they grow.  Cells divide and replace themselves at varying rates depending on their function in the body.  Proper nutrition and care are vital.  Change is constant.

Bodies function.  Institutions stand.

When I look at our church, I see faces.  To the chagrin of some, I suppose, I do not see a building, by-laws or a bank account.  I do not see an institution.  I see faces:  beautiful, God-created, God-graced faces.

From Bloomberg.com this morning:

Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) — The Democratic-controlled Congress, acknowledging that it isn’t equipped to lead the way to a solution for the financial crisis and can’t agree on a path to follow, is likely to just get out of the way.

Ah, yes.  Government the way it ought to be.  Here’s a novel idea: let’s ask and depend on God to get us through the difficult times

You can read the entire article here:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aVPBaUbYV_qQ

Read Kim’s.  In particular, read this post.  It’s better that anything that I could write tonight.

http://kimberly63.blogspot.com/2008/09/about-ronnie.html

Those are your rights if you are white, black, hispanic, homosexual, transgendered, female, illegal immigrant or most any other label that can attached to a person in a politically correct manner…most any label.  But it doesn’t apply to you if you are not going to be born as healthy or smart as a “normal” person. 

My sister wrote a short article on her blog this evening that triggered a little bit of righteousness indignation within me. 

I am not going to write my current thoughts (at least for now) lest my more liberal, socialist “progressive” friends flame me…like that really bothers me.  I am just going to let a columnist from the Washington Post speak for me tonight. 

Read the column by clicking here.

Job 31:15 NIV   Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

I was reading and pondering tomorrow’s message to the congregation tonight and for the last hour or so I have been stuck on this verse:

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  2 Corinthians 4:6, NKJV

Paul got it.  He really did.  Of course, we should give the Holy Spirit credit here.  While his readers would have understood what he was saying, we have a more difficult time discerning.  Considering our recent political discussions, here’s something to consider based on this verse looking at the dominant cultures of that day:

In Hebrew society, light was the epitome of cultural supremacy.  In Greek society it was knowledge and in Roman society it was glory.

Paul was saying that for the Christian culture, everything that we could hope or dream of as a society: light, knowledge, glory; was shone in our hearts and can be found in the face of Jesus Christ.

In our nation today the peak of society is power and wealth.

Ladies and gentlemen, our nation doesn’t need the right president.  We need the right God.