Greeting from the epicenter of very exciting things happening with and through the people of First Church!
Construction will begin in the next couple of weeks on the new sanctuary! We have begun a focused effort for raising the money needed for the completion of the sanctuary! Incredible ministries of mercy continue to serve the homeless and the hungry! We have people in our church putting in many hours each week helping out with all kinds of tasks and projects! There are so many good and exciting things going on here at First Church! In the midst of all of this, I have been trying desperately to sit down and plan out my talk for our vision events that begin this Saturday. I definitely see the irony in being so busy I can’t find time to listen to God and plan how to communicate his vision for us. How often do you find yourself in a similar situation? How often do you find yourself so overwhelmed by everything you have to react to that you don’t feel like you have the time to stop and hear from God? If you’re like me, it can happen often. As I decided on my sermon scripture for this Sunday, I chose a passage I love to preach. I’m sure I’ve preached on it a few times over the years here. I’ll admit that I’m being a little selfish because this is the passage I really need to focus on and hear from this week.
“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”” (John 7:37–38, ESV)
Jesus declares this invitation for all who thirst as he stands in the middle of a huge crowd of religious people who are more than likely so caught up in the religious acts being done they don’t recognize God incarnate standing in their midst.
We all thirst! Physical thirst is our bodies way of telling us we need more water. Our spiritual thirst is our spirits way of telling us we need more Jesus.
As we continue to move into this incredibly busy season in the life of our church, let’s commit together to not get so distracted by the many things we are doing for the church that we miss Jesus himself in our midst calling us to himself. As we are satisfied by the “living water” Jesus provides, we then become vessels of the love of Jesus into the lives of others.
Grace and Peace,