Sunday, April 10

I really liked the emphasis in the sermon this morning on abiding in Christ - on making Christ the thing around which we define ourselves. Putting Christ at the centre gives us strength and assurance. Christ is always with us, and because we are able to depend on him, we are able to live fully and to grow abundantly.

I also appreciated the connection Andrew made with the question put to those who joined the church today - will you make diligent use of the means of grace? It is up to God to speak, but, by defining ourselves around Christ and putting him at the centre, we give God opportunity through worship, reading and prayer.

On my run before church this morning, a song came on my iPod that has a wonderful line in it - "Every day, I wake up. I choose love. I choose light." Very inspirational and invigorating! I thought of that line during the sermon – while it seems pretty individualistic, I think that it could be seen as an affirmation of the choice we have made to put Christ at the centre. If every day we can wake up and choose to define ourselves around God's love and light, we will bear much fruit and our joy will be made full. :)

Laura