We have some powerful moments in the Sunday School class I teach on Sunday mornings. The class is formed for beginning Christians. The idea is to give folks who have never had any experience with the Christian faith a place to begin. From the beginning the attitude in the class has been, we’ll start wherever you are. That’s why I begin by showing folks how to look up a particular passage in the Bible; it is why I talk about the difference between the Old and New Testaments; and why every religious term or idea gets broken down so that it can be understood.
Right now the content of the class is around a series of questions from a book by David Heller entitled Talking to Your Child About God. Another pastor gave me these questions and I’ve been asking everyone to think about the question during the week and then share their thinking. Last week the question was: List five of your most deeply felt beliefs about God. Wow did that get us going! Soon we were into all of those feelings we have about God. How God is loving. How God sometimes seems like a spiritual cop, posed to arrest us.
How often do we really take the time to think through our faith and beliefs? How often do we have a bunch of vaguely formed thoughts that we’ve never really gotten clear about? One class member stated that in listing her beliefs she realized they contradicted one another! That’s not too unusual an experience; most of us are probably just like her. I know that I am. I sometimes really disturb folks when they ask me a question and I reply quite honestly. Well I’ve been thinking about that question lately, and here’s where I am about it today. That’s not exactly an answer for all of time, but it’s honest.
Personally I think God likes the honesty of a questioning and open mind. It’s when we think we’ve got God figured out and begin to close our minds that we really get ourselves into trouble and into judging others. And I all honesty I can’t believe that this One who understands the whole of the universe and all creation, can be understood or figured out by mere human thought.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Love Boat Challenge
Okay, time for some nostalgia! How many of you remember that popular series on ABC from the mid-70’s to mid 80’s called “The Love Boat?” I bet most of you do because even if you were too young to see the original episodes it’s been in syndication forever. And I’m betting a bunch of you are already humming the Love Boat theme. How did that go? Let me help you out
Love, exciting and new Come Aboard. We're expecting you. Love, life's sweetest reward. Let it flow, it floats back to you. Love Boat soon will be making another run The Love Boat promises something for everyone Set a course for adventure, Your mind on a new romance. Love won't hurt anymore It's an open smile on a friendly shore. Yes LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It's LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!
That’s not all of the song, but you’re remembering it now! Remember Captain Stubing? Your Ships Doctor played by Bernie Kopell? And then there was Gopher, played by Fred Gandy who went on to be a Congressman from Iowa. And of course “Your Cruise Director” Julie McCoy played by Lauren Tewes. Every week there’d be some guest stars on the show as well. The list was endless; every week a group of recognizable stars would be on the show playing some character or other. What drove the series besides all that star power was that every one of those characters would have a “love problem” of some sort that would get “solved” by the crew by the end of the episode. Do you remember that? How things always ended well?
So after all that nostalgia here comes the payoff and the point. If you think about it, other folks, right along with all of us, come to Cherokee quietly hoping Cherokee will be a Love Boat. Stick with me here! Folks come to Cherokee hoping to find love, hoping to find an answer to some life problem. And we have the answer—okay we don’t, but God does, and so every week our “job” as both passengers and crew on the Love Boat called Cherokee, is to point folks toward God and the love that makes all things new again.
Now you are ready for the Love Boat Challenges!
First, as a crew member on Love Boat Cherokee I challenge you to love someone everyday this week before Valentine’s Day. Make a conscious effort. Find someone who could use a little extra love, and do something that says, “You are loved.” It could be anything, from doing something special for your spouse, to making a phone call to someone you know is going through a hard time. One day it might be giving some extra dollars to help out in Haiti. Just open your mind and heart each day, and let God’s loving Spirit direct you.
Second, I challenge you to invite a friend aboard Love Boat Cherokee. Invite them to join you for worship at Cherokee on Valentines Day. We’ll make it fun. I may even figure out a way so that we can all sing the Love Boat song! And of course I’ll be talking about love in a sermon entitled The Loving Heart. I’ll see you on Valentine Sunday. In the meantime, I’m on a “cruise” to Albuquerque to love that new grandchild of ours.
Love, exciting and new Come Aboard. We're expecting you. Love, life's sweetest reward. Let it flow, it floats back to you. Love Boat soon will be making another run The Love Boat promises something for everyone Set a course for adventure, Your mind on a new romance. Love won't hurt anymore It's an open smile on a friendly shore. Yes LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE! It's LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!
That’s not all of the song, but you’re remembering it now! Remember Captain Stubing? Your Ships Doctor played by Bernie Kopell? And then there was Gopher, played by Fred Gandy who went on to be a Congressman from Iowa. And of course “Your Cruise Director” Julie McCoy played by Lauren Tewes. Every week there’d be some guest stars on the show as well. The list was endless; every week a group of recognizable stars would be on the show playing some character or other. What drove the series besides all that star power was that every one of those characters would have a “love problem” of some sort that would get “solved” by the crew by the end of the episode. Do you remember that? How things always ended well?
So after all that nostalgia here comes the payoff and the point. If you think about it, other folks, right along with all of us, come to Cherokee quietly hoping Cherokee will be a Love Boat. Stick with me here! Folks come to Cherokee hoping to find love, hoping to find an answer to some life problem. And we have the answer—okay we don’t, but God does, and so every week our “job” as both passengers and crew on the Love Boat called Cherokee, is to point folks toward God and the love that makes all things new again.
Now you are ready for the Love Boat Challenges!
First, as a crew member on Love Boat Cherokee I challenge you to love someone everyday this week before Valentine’s Day. Make a conscious effort. Find someone who could use a little extra love, and do something that says, “You are loved.” It could be anything, from doing something special for your spouse, to making a phone call to someone you know is going through a hard time. One day it might be giving some extra dollars to help out in Haiti. Just open your mind and heart each day, and let God’s loving Spirit direct you.
Second, I challenge you to invite a friend aboard Love Boat Cherokee. Invite them to join you for worship at Cherokee on Valentines Day. We’ll make it fun. I may even figure out a way so that we can all sing the Love Boat song! And of course I’ll be talking about love in a sermon entitled The Loving Heart. I’ll see you on Valentine Sunday. In the meantime, I’m on a “cruise” to Albuquerque to love that new grandchild of ours.
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