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Here's our text for Sunday, January 26, 2008:
For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Last Saturday evening Mona and I and friends had the privilege of seeing and hearing an excellent jazz ensemble after a filling Pork and Sauerkraut dinner at St. Paul's UCC in Amityville. The music was jazz from around the world and all of it celebrated our one-ness as Children of God. One song in particular spoke to my heart. It was called Ubuntu.
I shared briefly at the conclusion of last Sunday's message the meaning of this South African Bantu/Zulu word. It means "A person is a person through other persons." Or, as in our text for this Sunday, above: In Christ we who are many form one body. None of us can "do it alone" and "No human is an island," or "Can't we all just get along?"
This past week we celebrated once more the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. At Hope we celebrated with a wonderfully prepared Heritage Luncheon for which our youth decorated the building with flags of many nations. I have to wonder if many of us realized upon viewing those flags just how equalizing they were. Each flag represented a people group on our planet. Each flag was the same size as another. The American Flag was not bigger, bolder, or brighter. And the flag that invisibly, yet very visibly, flew over all was Christ's flag.
We who are in one body often forget that we are, and need to be, IN one body. Not our own body only, but in the body of the Children of God, Jesus Christ.
This week we will talk about what it means to be IN Christ's body fully and wonderfully. We will discuss the meaning of calling versus career. We will learn to let the passions God has given us for life LOOSE upon the world for our own good and for the good of the universe.
Come along on this journey of adventure, if you can, at 9 or 10:45am this Sunday. You will be glad you did!
God's Peace,
Pastor Ken
NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, all Bible verses quoted in this website are from the New International Version (NIV). Any words from those verses that are in "red" are words spoken by Jesus.
Pastor Ken sends a Weekly Newsletter that includes his devotional message for the week and an update of the current happenings at Hope Church. If you would like to receive his newsletter, just click below and he'll add your email address to his list of subscribers.