Services every Sunday at 7:00 P.M.
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Services every Sunday at 7:00 P.M.
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"The Beginning" - 9/5/2010 This Sunday in the calendar year usually marks a time of new beginnings. The summer is ended with the celebration of Labor Day and we turn to different activities, we're more focused on our direction in life. The children started back early to school this year and are beginning meeting new teachers, finding old friends, and approaching the world of new studies. One only needs to walk or drive through Oakland and you realize that the college students are back. There are people every where, no parking places, and a sense that learning is about to begin. I would invite us tonight to think about anything new that we might want to begin in our personal lives. To think about how we may want our spiritual lives to take on a new focus. Is there something new that you want to begin in your personal life? I have a
friend in her fifties that decided a few years ago this month to go back to
college. It is amazing to see the changes that have taken place in her life. She
spends hours studying, she has met this whole new group of people, mostly
younger folks, who she meets for coffee, and most importantly her sense of
herself and that she has a new direction and purpose in life is so very
different. I talked with another person who said he was going to get back in
counseling and spend some time looking at the parts of his life that he wants to
be different. As surely as the leaves will begin changing shortly our lives are
always in a constant state of change. Taking a look at what we want to begin
this fall can give us direction as we follow God's will for This is also a great time to look at our spiritual lives and see what we want to begin or change. Are there things you want to learn about and study? Do you want to become more structured in your daily prayer life? Do you want to make the commitment to attend worship every Sunday? These are just some of the questions we can begin to ask ourselves as we look forward to growth in our spiritual lives. Each day we need to nurture God's life that lives in us. We need to always be working on our relationship with God, learning to trust God with the daily activities of our lives, learning to rely on God and trust that God is not only with us, but has purpose for each and every one of us. The other part of our spiritual lives that needs attention is how we live out the faith that has been entrusted to us. Do our words and actions reflect the God that we love and serve? Do we reach out to others as we care for the people that God sends our way? Our spiritual life is comprised of our relationship with God and how we then put our faith into our daily interactions with others. The "What Would Jesus Do" question is still very helpful in how we approach the people who God sends into our lives. Each interaction with another person gives us the opportunity to make a difference in our world. So for our first assignment in the new semester lets begin by spending time
in prayer and reflection looking at our personal lives and things we may want to
begin or change. Is there somewhere you particularly want to grow so that you
might more fully live out God's purpose in your life? And secondly take a good
look at your spiritual life. Does you prayer life need some improvement or do
you want to do more Bible study or spiritual reading? Do you feel you have more
to offer other people than you are now sharing? May God bless each of us and our
community of faith as we go into this new chapter in our lives. |
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