Community Life Update
This Week in Worship: Between What I Want and What I Do
Faith on Tap TONIGHT! (6/24)
Family Movie Night: How to Train Your Dragon (7/12)
Vacation Bible School (7/21-7/25)
Kids in Community (7/28-8/1)
Adult Group, Sundays @ 10am
COMMUNITY LIFE
We are thrilled to announce that we have had two births in the life of our group! Congratulations to Ashley and Chris with the birth of their daughter, Sunnie Elizabeth Sanchez, as well as a huge congratulations to Steve and Megan Meduna with the birth of their son, Elliot Sam! We are so excited to welcome these two young ones to God's creation! Please e-mail Nancy at nancy@NHUnited.org if you would like to cook a meal for the families.
Sunnie Elizabeth Sanchez (6/18/14)
Elliot Sam Meduna (6/22/14)
MUSIC TRANSITION
If you were here on Sunday, you likely heard the sad news that Tyler is going to be transitioning out of his music leadership role in mid-August. Tyler also has a business called Bradley Mountain, which has really taken off in the past year, and is opening a lot of doors for him. He now feels called to work with that vocation full time. I rejoice in this creative vocation that Tyler has been given, and although we will miss him greatly, I know that God will use him in great ways! Let us all be sure to give Tyler our prayers and words of encouragement over these next 2 months.
Now as we continue to think, pray, and dream about what may be next for us, musically in worship, we would ask for your help. Please pray for us in our search and work. We are excited about what may be next for our Sacred Ordinary service!
I still remember the precise moment that I understood my sinfulness and my flawed nature. I was a child of no more than 7, and we had gone to the park for the afternoon. We had spent most of the day enjoying the sun, the peanut butter and honey sandwiches we’d brought to eat, and our time spent around the pond in the park where kids floated small boats they made out of sticks while pretending to be captains of the sea.
As the day began to wane and other children and their families began to pack up and leave for the day, I wandered back over to the pond just out of sight of my parents. All day long there had been several ducks and a swan that had gathered in the middle of the pond away from the activity, save for the few times that children had thrown the crusts of their sandwiches just close enough to lure them in for a look. This time, though, as I stood there alone, the swan (perhaps believing that I, too, had a piece of bread to be broken and shared) came close to me. And as it swam closer, I began to mimic that I had a piece of bread to be shared. But as the white swan neared me, I gathered several small pebbles from the edge of the water. Then, as it approached me with its quiet grace and perhaps no longer afraid because it was finally quiet and cool as the sun lowered on the horizon, I stood with the pebbles in my hand and threw them at the swan.
The swan, uninjured but clearly irritated, quickly swam off with a honk and a burst of speed courtesy of a few flaps of its great and wide wings. The truth is that all day long I had admired the swan with its size and beauty towering above the mottled ducks, only to strike out at it when it had chosen me to draw near to quietly. It had waited all day, but then finally approached one of the children who threw the bread in its direction… me. I was the one it came to, and I was also the one who had repaid its interest and cautious trust with an act of foolishness and scorn.
To this day, I still don’t know why I did such a thing.
As the swan went away, I felt something pour out of my heart. It was something that I had never felt or experienced… it was shame. Guilt. I remember being so confused that I had thrown the pebbles at something so beautiful. I glanced around in my regret wondering if anyone had seen, but I was still alone. Not only alone at the edge of that pond, but also alone in my choice, the consequences of that choice, and in the realization of what kind of a child I was who would choose to perform such an action. It seemed as though everything my parents had taught me and everything I might even value in the world was miles away from who I was. The sensation was the opposite of flying-it was like falling. Falling away from who I was supposed to be and what I knew I should do, and landing somewhere else.
At that moment (even without fully understanding it), I saw that I was in-between. I was not who I should be, but neither was I without some idea of who I should become. I was in between these two identities. Maybe this is the double-edge of realizing our sinful nature. It is, on one hand, the harsh knowledge that you are not what you are called to be, but also it comes with the knowledge of what you should be. It is knowing that we are still in-between.
Last Sunday, I began a sermon series called “Between Two Worlds," and it is a study on the book of the Bible that most understands and describes our reality of being in-between: The Book of Romans. This letter written by the Apostle Paul to the churches in Rome describes so well our current reality of being in-between so many things… Who we are called to be, the coming Kingdom of God, and the Church. The Book of Romans is an amazing book that is honest and candid about who we are, but it is also unflinchingly hopeful about who we will be. It’s a profound read, and I am excited to share it with you in worship. Each week we will talk about a different place that we find ourselves being in-between. If you’d like to read the Scripture for this week you can find it here. We’ll see you on Sunday!
Romans 7:15-25)
Romans 7:15 For I don’t know what I am doing. For I don’t practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do. 16 But if what I don’t desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good. 17 So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don’t find it doing that which is good. 19 For the good which I desire, I don’t do; but the evil which I don’t desire, that I practice. 20 But if what I don’t desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present. 22 For I delight in God’s law after the inward man, 23 but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God’s law, but with the flesh, the sin’s law.(World English Bible)
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John Wesley's Notes-Commentary:
Romans 7:15-25
Verse 16
[16] If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
It is good — This single word implies all the three that were used before, Romans 7:12, "holy, just, and good."
Verse 17
[17] Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
It is no more I that can properly be said to do it, but rather sin that dwelleth in me — That makes, as it were, another person, and tyrannizes over me.
Verse 18
[18] For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
In my flesh — The flesh here signifies the whole man as he is by nature.
Verse 21
[21] I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
I find then a law — An inward constraining power, flowing from the dictate of corrupt nature.
Verse 22
[22] For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
For I delight in the law of God — This is more than "I consent to," Romans 7:16. The day of liberty draws near.
The inward man — Called the mind, Romans 7:23,25.
Verse 23
[23] But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
But I see another law in my members — Another inward constraining power of evil inclinations and bodily appetites.
Warring against the law of my mind — The dictate of my mind, which delights in the law of God.
And captivating me — In spite of all my resistance
Verse 24
[24] O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Wretched man that I am — The struggle is now come to the height; and the man, finding there is no help in himself, begins almost unawares to pray, Who shall deliver me? He then seeks and looks for deliverance, till God in Christ appears to answer his question. The word which we translate deliver, implies force. And indeed without this there can be no deliverance.
The body of this death — That is, this body of death; this mass of sin, leading to death eternal, and cleaving as close to me as my body to my soul. We may observe, the deliverance is not wrought yet.
Verse 25
[25] I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord — That is, God will deliver me through Christ. But the apostle, as his frequent manner is, beautifully interweaves his assertion with thanksgiving;' the hymn of praise answering in a manner to the voice of sorrow, "Wretched man that I am!" So then - He here sums up the whole, and concludes what he began, Romans 7:7.
I myself — Or rather that I, the person whom I am personating, till this deliverance is wrought.
Serve the law of God with my mind — My reason and conscience declare for God.
But with my flesh the law of sin — But my corrupt passions and appetites still rebel. The man is now utterly weary of his bondage, and upon the brink of liberty.
Join us tonight (6/26) from 6:30 to 8:00 to hang out in Mike & Nancy's backyard at 4983 Mansfield Street, where we will be participating in a casual theological discussion over a pint of local beers and munchies. Feel free to bring something to share! Contact Pastor Brent at brent@nhunited.org for more details!
Mark your calendars for Saturday, July 12th, for our next family movie night, where we'll be featuring How to Train Your Dragon. And don't forget to join us the following Sunday for another exciting message in our Faith Flix series!
A GREEN VBS is an environmentally-focused Vacation Bible School program that inspires kids to grow in faith, have fun, and change the world as they practice stewardship of the earth! Kids ages 3 to 6th grade will explore and learn about God through crafts, games, singing, service projects, and Bible stories. Lunch will be provided! A special end of camp celebration for kids and their families will be held on Sunday, July 27th during the 10:30am worship service. Ice cream social to follow! Email office@nhunited.org for details.
Click here to get a registration form and learn more about our camps!
All children going into 1st-6th grades are welcome to our 4th annual day camp on the week of July 28th to August 1st, from 9am-1pm each day. This is a non-religious enrichment program filled with games, songs, crafts, cooking, and science experiments! Free lunch is included for this fun time! Email office@nhunited.org for details! Check out the pics below to see just a few of the fun activities we offer at our camps!
Click here to get a registration form and learn more!
Please join us for Adult Group this Sunday morning! Feel free to come by at 10am and meet in the parlor, next to the nursery, for doughnuts, coffee, prayer and the Scripture for the day.
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Our mailing address is:
Normal Heights United Methodist Church
4650 Mansfield Street
San Diego, Ca 92116 United States
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