Rev. Deborah’s most recent sermon, “Bite Your Tongue”, is up. It is a continuation of our Anger Management series and challenges us to control our temper. Next week, she is preaching on righteous anger. It should be fun.
You can find past sermons, including a few that did not get posted to this site, at youtube.com/edcctv.
Like many of you, I struggle trying to find balance in life. Whether its work, family life, time for me, or time with God, I’m always having to make choices that reveal where my priorities are. Sometimes, it feels like I make the wrong choices. Other times, I make the right choices. It feels like I’m doing a high wire act over the Dallas skyline.
This has been especially true for me as I just sent my wife and kids off to Korea. When they are here, I can easily tune myself out when I am in their presence with tv, computer, or work issues. But now that they are gone and our apartment is so quiet, I regret tuning them out at all. I would give anything for them to be back, even with my kids’ uncanny ability to leave out toys in unlikely places so I can step on them and almost require medical attention.
In the moment of life, priorities can easily get mixed up. Yes, bringing home financial resources to provide for our family is so important, but is it important enough to risk missing out on events in their life that only come around once?
Is taking on a second job to pay off debt worth it if it means we end up working ourselves into exhaustion?
Can we find time in our lives to say “no” to our family so we can rest in quiet or have a conversation with a close friend over a cup of coffee?
If we commit to growing as followers of Jesus, how do we make spirituality a daily affair in the chaos and unpredictability of life?
These are not easy questions to answer, and yet we are all there in one way or another. Learning how to set boundaries and priorities may go a long way in determining the kind of balance we develop in our life. And it is so hard to do.
I don’t have all the answers, but I am inviting you to share in conversation with us through the month of June at the Table. We’ll be digging into these questions, looking at some great stories and passages in the Bible that challenge us, and listening to God and one another as we seek balance and wholeness. Maybe you know a friend or two who might be interested in this conversation.
Let’s practice this tightrope walk together.
See you in June!
Summer in Dallas is hot. Too hot for some. I agree, although it’s sort of been a welcome break for me since I moved back to this area after living in swampy Washington DC for a few years.
I’ve read about all those statistics out there, like how people are likelier to commit murder when it’s hot (at least in New York). But summer is also a great time to party, to live with joy, to celebrate with friends and family in the sun, by the lake, at the park, or wherever. So while the heat is taxing for a number of people, it’s also prime time for being active with friends and family.
Where do you stand? Do you dread Texas summers or find it the best time for you to do the things you love to do?
To carry us through our summer and into the fall, we are launching a sermon series intended to take our minds of the heat and on to the joy of life. Think of it as a way to turn this opportunity of celebration into a spiritual exercise in joy. Instead of grumbling about the rising temperatures, we invite you to laugh with us. And with God.
Does God laugh? There are plenty of theologians, preachers, and spiritual practitioners who think so. I happen to think so, but yeah, it sounds kind of goofy. Many of us have the idea of God as some sort of Zeus-like dude in heaven with lightning bolts in his fists, even though that may not be anywhere near the truth. It’s hard to imagine that kind of God laughing.
But a God who is present in our lives, especially when we least expect it, in moments of deep joy and sorrow – that God just might be able to laugh. Sure, God may not be human, but God knows what it is like to be human. That guy, Jesus, that lived powerfully in the Spirit of God, laughed a lot, and many claimed that he was God made flesh on earth.
Perhaps another clue comes from the Bible itself, which tells us a lot about God. That’s why Rev. Deborah has picked out a variety of passages that seem to suggest God has a pretty big sense of humor. We begin with Genesis 18, the story of Abram and Sarah this Sunday.
Come make this summer one of celebration, one of laughter, and one of new understanding of the God who walks with us through our lives.
This week at the Table, Rev. Deborah leads us in a new conversation about being the resurrected church.
I wrote in my newsletter article about what it means to be resurrected. It’s kind of hard to describe. It’s not simply being brought back from death to life – it’s more about transformation. Becoming something greater than the sum of the parts, in the words of one of my mentors.
Church really should be like that, most of the time. Individual people, each with their own perspectives, understandings, ideas, passions, and hangups, gather together and do more than they can do separate. Church is where you should get a taste of people power with that dash of divine power.
But it’s not always perfect. We are still people. We still can do the wrong thing. We can still get all twisted up and in the way of what God desires to do in and through us.
The Table is not a community that is concerned with perfection. We are not a worshipping community that wants everyone to fall in line. We want you to be you, whoever that is, whatever you face in your life. And together, we gather at God’s table to taste that resurrection life that is offered to us. Filled up with that good stuff, we use our hands and feet to change the world and find our own lives nourished into transformation.
In other words, come and walk with us as we explore what it might mean to be a resurrected church this week.
- Rev. Nathan
Photo credit: mommaof3beauties from morguefile.com
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