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Senior Pastor: William Rice pastorrice@gloriadeitomah.com
September Newlsletter
We are a church. We are a group of people who gather because of one main event. Christ is risen! We claim that a man named Jesus was crucified, died on that cross, was laid in a tomb on a Friday before sundown, and then, early that next Sunday morning became alive. He didn’t faint. He was no in a comma. He was dead. When he lived again, he lived in that same body, but that body has also been transformed. It was no longer subject to the same process of aging and decay that we know. His resurrected body was an eternal body.
This resurrection was witnessed by a significant number of people. Everyone who encountered the risen Jesus experienced a changed life. How could you stay the same! Can you imagine what that was like for them? He was not a ghost. He was not a vision. He was living, really living. Imagine.
They knew as truth that their life could also be eternal. This was his promise to them. “Believe,” he said. You didn’t have to live a perfect life. Sin was forgiven. No matter your sins. This new life could be yours. How? “Repent and be baptized,” is what Peter said to the first converts. What was it like to gather as that first church? Can you imagine how excited they were?
We know that when they got together they learned from the apostles. They must have been hanging on every world that Peter and James and Thomas and the others shared with them. Wouldn’t you want to know every word that Jesus, the greatest rabbi ever, had taught? These were teachings that changed lives. These were teachings of truth, total truth, absolute truth. Here were insights into heaven, into God himself, from the Son who knew the Father intimately. Imagine.
They also remembered Jesus in his supper. They shared in the bread and in the wine. They shared this precious meal with each other. “On the night in which he was betrayed” the remembering began. It seemed like a defeat, but it was victory. Can you imagine how much they were encouraged and renewed when they tasted the bread and the wine?
When they left those gatherings and went back to their families and to their work, what would be on their minds? Would they be worried about the same things they were before? Would the petty behaviors of family and co-workers bother them as much or in the same way? What would they want to share with them? Imagine how would they love them!
We don’t just have to imagine. We can be that kind of church. We can gather with passion to know the truth. We can worship with the deepest and fullest thanksgiving for our salvation. We can overflow with love for those around us because we are convinced that God loves us.
Join us starting September 12th as we imagine and as we commit to making our imagination into reality.
Your Brother in Christ,
Bill
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Dear sisters and brothers of Gloria Dei:
If you remember my article last month, this might seem like De ja Vue all over again. I asked you to look ahead to this month and prepare to “Imagine” what Gloria Dei can be as a gathered community of God’s people. Well, we’re not going to do that this month. As the planning team looked at what they wanted to do, the universal conclusion was that we needed more time. Our prayer is that God’s Holy Spirit will move through us, will give us all a stirring vision for our minds and an energized heart so that Gloria Dei is a Spirit-filled community, changing lives for the sake of Jesus Christ.
So let’s start dreaming now. I suggest that we read through Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians. Consider every insight that Paul has received through the Holy Spirit that he shared with the church in Ephesus and now with all who are in the church today. Paul shares a vision of what the Lord wants his church and his people to be like. It is a vision we will always be moving towards rather than a goal we will attain, but that vision should always be our inspiration. Can we be a community where we all see ourselves as ministers of the Gospel? Can we be a community that bears with one another in love? Can we be a community that seeks in humility to understand the Lord’s will for us? Can we be a courageous witness to the world around us, even when that world wants to turn its back on Christ? Can we worship in the joy that comes from knowing that we have been guaranteed an eternal inheritance in Christ?
Here is a verse to think on, to be inspired and encouraged by:
God can do anything, you know - far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. (Ephesians 3:20 The Message)
September 12 & 15 Imagine Being His Church September 19 & 22 Imagine Our Worship September 26 & 29 Imagine Our Discipleship October 3 & 6 Imagine Our Mission October 10 & 13 Imagination to Reality
Your Brother in Christ,
Bill |
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08/06/2010 |
