From:
Date: January 16, 2021
Subject: It's January 16; Good Morning Union Special Sabbath Edition
“This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24
Here’s what we have to help your rejoicing:
And that, my friends, is God’s Sabbath blessing that I offer to you. including…
The Well- @ 10:40am in the Young Adult Room at the Church. Join us as we fellowship, worship, and spend time in God’s word.
CVC- 9:15 and Noon. Pastor Harold began a new series last Sabbath called “kaleo” and will be journeying for the next several weeks on the theme of righteousness in Jesus ALONE. Join us across the street or at one of the 6 other Adventist churches in the Lincoln area. Community is still a crucial part of the spiritual journey!
V2 @ 5:00 in the Atrium. Join us for 30 minutes as we bid farewell to the Sabbath with a few songs and a testimony from one of your peers. This week Leif Lastine is speaking, and Lauren Richert is providing special music.
Have a great Sabbath,
Pastor Rich
PS Adventist Peace Fellowship is celebrating MLK Day this weekend with a two-day Peace Summit, January 16 and 18, with presentations, panel discussions, discussion groups, and consideration of one text of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, "Three Evils of Society." Find out more at their website: https://www.adventistpeace.org/summit
Blog for the week:
Each Sabbath I like to share a story I saw on line, or that someone shared with me, that blessed me. Hope it does the same for you. This comes from a dear friend of mine.
Confession: as I come out of the holidays and back into routine, I am reminded that for me, check lists and to do’s are seductive. They make me feel better about me. They are tangible - I can see and feel and touch them, and show them off to others...”look how busy I am, or how much I’ve gotten done.” They are especially nice in COVID when work looks so different.
Yet the Way of Jesus is so different than all that: ministry on the way, time alone, time doing life with others, time in study, time in the wilderness, a party or two. Jesus was never in a hurry even though He knew He only had three years to change the world. I mean, the guy didn’t even rush to Lazarus’ side when Lazarus was sick.
So what? What lessons do I learn from the Way of Jesus for my 2021. Well I know this, it’s too easy for me to let my version of success put a wedge in my walk (my walk not my run) with Jesus.
Author John Mark Comer says it well, “We are more busy than bad, more distracted than nonspiritual, and more interested in the movie theater, the video game, the sports stadium, and the shopping mall, and the fantasy life they produce in us, than we are in church [and I define church as life and connection with others who believe and are following Jesus, not just a building you go to for worship]. Pathological busyness, distraction, and restlessness are major blocks today within our spiritual lives.”
And the next two lines, one he wrote and one said by his therapist, broke my heart just reading them...”We, for every kind of reason, good and bad, are distracting ourselves into spiritual oblivion.” And “People are just too busy to live emotionally healthy and spiritually rich and vibrant lives.”
So I don’t know what you need as you are entering into this new year, but I need to learn the Way much more closely. I need to resist the distractions that numb me to life. I need to not settle for mediocrity, but a vibrant and transformative life following the pace of the One who is the Way and the Truth and the Life. I pray I can. I pray the same for you.