Fall Recharge

You are not a machine! Despite what society and culture might have us believe. You are not a machine. Nor is your value based solely on what you do. You are not the number of customers you serve a day or a week. You are not the number of files you process. Nor are you the number of calls you make or hands you shake. You are not a number. Your value is far beyond just that. Again, you are not a machine. Pause right here. Reread all of that again; and let it sink in!

I love how our Jewish siblings in faith number the 10 commandments. It starts with this: “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,ꜛ you shall have no other gods before me”  (Exodus 20:2-3). In the Hebrew this once sentence, that we break up into two verse, shares its weight between the two sides of the “ꜛ” I inserted. In the Hebrew this is not two verses but one! Which means, part of the first commandment is, “you shall have no other gods before me.” And yet, even before that is the proclamation of God’s work for us, “I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” As the verse reminds the recently freed Israelites, and us, that life of slavery: a value based on production; that is not what defines us any longer. You are loved, cared for, and embraced simply because the LORD God made you and has redeemed you. How could this breathe fresh life into you today?

Like our phones, computers, and other things in our lives we need a recharge! I know many of you appreciate Sunday mornings as a chance to plug back in. We fellowship. We worship. We are rejuvenated for the work God has planned for us. And could you use another recharge in the week? Remember, you are not a machine or the number on your own self charge! Instead, we are loved, graced, and embraced by God.

This Fall plug-in to some things here at church:
          

Join me either on Wednesday evenings at 5:30p (or Sunday Mornings at 9:10a) for Bible Basics! With all that is in the Bible, this study helps break down the Bible a little so we can turn to it more by: knowing how to navigate your Bible, understanding translation differences, what the Bible is like at a birds eye view, the differences in sections, and what's not in your Bible!
           Or
          

Wrestle with what it means for the church to move into the future. Join as we read and wrestle with the book, Who Stole My Church? By Gordon MacDonald. Based on his 50+ years in ministry, journey with his fictional congregation and himself pastor as a group of older members learns how they have been a step of God's work in a community and now have a choice of passing the mission of God's work to the next generation. Thursday mornings at 11am.
          

Both of these gathers are also not limited to in-person. If you are travelling or there is bad weather, join us using Zoom®. If you still cannot make those time/dates, contact us and we’ll work out a way to get you plugged in.

Let God recharge you this Fall. Let God plug you into the word. Let God call you forward in church history. And let God remind you with a loving gracious embrace that, ‘You are not a machine.’