20 January 2008 1 Ordinary Time (1 Kingdomtide)

Do I Really Matter to God?

focusPoints

Sometimes people get pretty down on themselves and need help. they sometimes make statements like:

* There is nothing I do well. I'll let someone else do it.
* I've really messed things up in my life and here is no way to repair the damage I've done.
* Everything I attempt fails. I'm a jinxed person.
* I am not useful or needed by anyone. I am just a goo for nothing.

What do you say to that person? If that is your belief, how do you get out of that "rut" or way of thinking

(Fookes: Stockwell UMC worship Message, 20 January 2008)?

forwardPoints

We really do matter to God--without a doubt! How can we be sure? Here are some biblical reasons for believing that you are special in God's sight:

1. You were God's idea before your mother conceived you. (Jeremiah 1:5)
2. You bear an amazing resemblance to God. (Genesis 1:26, Psalm 139:14)
3. God ransomed you at an enormous price. (I Corinthians 6:20)
4. Even the least of us is an enormous value to God (Luke 8:24b-48)

(Fookes: Stockwell UMC Worship Message, 20 January 2008)

fellowshipPoints

Gods idea--Congregations flourish when their members' being and doing are in sync. Ministry as formation taps into the arts of storytelling and story-listening to create a healthier partnership between congregation identify and action (Crainshaw 2007, 37).

Amazing resemblance--Are we restless prophets or patient priests? Embodying the gospel is sometimes resisting and sometimes crying for reality now (Crainshaw, 48)

Ransomed you--there is an artificial and nonproductive theology gap in daily life. the hospitality ministry reflects the ransom and should permeate Monday through Saturday by way of 3-mail and phone calls (Crainshaw, 54).

Enormous value--The play Tamara's staging in a house with a dozen rooms allows spectators to choose 479,001,600 story lines (Crainshaw, 63). In God's house are many dwelling places (John 14:2). health and wholeness comes as people anointed by God's creative spirit make room for the gospel story to unfold in the diverse story lines of people created in the image and sound of God (Crainshaw, 65).

findingPoints

God's idea--What are some ways our being and doing as a congregation are not in sync? Why do we not proactively recognize these? How can we on the vanguard to identify and deal with these? Should we?

Amazing resemblance--How do we know when we should be a restless prophet and a patient priest?

Ransomed you--How is our Monday-Saturday (and even Sunday) hospitality ministry? What is stopping us from doing what we want to be?

Enormous value--How can we make room for God's creative spirit so we have room for the gospel story to unfold in diverse way?

fatihPoints

Meditate on this question--Are we truly following Jesus or do we have a veneer of following Jesus under which lies individualism? Put in a corporate/communal/societal sense: Are we a Christian nation or are we a nation with a Christian veneer under which lies nationalism? when our voices and our leaders' voices aren't in sync with the gospel, they are in sync with other drivers.