A dark dreary morning>>> How do you feel on this kind of day? Are you discouraged and down heartened because it is not sunny and warm for that special Sunday event that you have waited for all week or did you rise and go to worship to give thanks to God for all he has given to us and to show love and encouragement to your neighbour? Well if you entered worship feeling the first, I am sure you would have left the sanctuary feeing the latter! To me the whole message this morning was,what a beautiful link between the world and it's creator.
Rev. Andrew had such a wonderful story for our children, "God has entrusted to our care one of his greatest treasures, The World". How wonderful to have a tangible example for the children, holding onto the ball/world as an example that we are all to be stewarts in common of God's precious gift to us.
As I ponder the scriptures, hymns and the sermon, I clearly see two ways of digesting the content of the main points that spoke most clearly to me.
"Press on"
"Fight the good fight"
"Forget what lies behind and strain forward"
Clearly , these can be looked at as out and out commands/orders from our Heavenly Father. What a challenge it would be if that was the only way these points could be taken. I know many times this is how I have looked at them. These to me are the times when one is trying to "go it on your own" not looking to God for guidance or seeking to do his will. But Alas!! as Andrew has illistrated to us this morning, these are far from commands but rather kind, warm and loving invitations from God to travel on the pathway with him toward our eternal reward, that ultimate reward of spending eternity with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Press on, the way is not always easy but neither was the way that Jesus trod, High King of heaven, when the battle is done, grant to us heaven's joy.
The energy that one needs to draw on to be able to "Press on",was exemplified in the postlude (Toccata) which Tom shared with us. What a challenging piece of music for the composer, the performer and yes, the listener, Thank you Tom for living the message and sharing your enthusiasim with us.
How do we as a church press on in unity?
How do we get off of the tread mill of life and take time to be with God?
These are my thoughts, please share yours! God Bless
Grant
Sunday, August 22, 2010
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I always feel a little off when I miss Sunday service. Thanks for sharing the morning, Grant.
ReplyDeleteHow eloquently put, Grant! I felt a great uplifting of spirit, in that , no matter what the week shall bring, I will press on and not look back. God and Jesus are watching over us, and leading us onward to them.
ReplyDeleteTom's music, yes, was the 'icing on the cake'. Did you notice that during the Postlude, how so few got up to leave before he finished playing? Both Andrew and Tom inspired us, each in his own special and special way!
I am so looking forward to next Sunday, when we will continue with more lessons from Philippians. Make sure you take a look at the "Love, Truth Justice" window, second on your left as you enter from the north nathex: the words are taken from Philippians 4:8...