Martha Grace Reece posed the following questions in her book "Unbinding Your Heart" and I presented them to my congregation on January 16 requesting they ask someone these questions. Now I am asking others to do the same as I prepare for my January 30th sermon on listening. Are we hearing what the people say? Are we listening?
1. ¨ What pops into your mind when you hear the word church?"
2. ¨ Has anyone ever invited you to their church? What did you think when they asked you? Did you go? How did it feel? If you didn’t go, why not?"
3. ¨ Have you ever had a sense of God or Jesus communicating with you? What was it like?"
4. ¨ If you had one question you could ask God and knew you would get an answer, what would it be?"
Monday, January 24, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
see more Hacked IRL - Truth in Sarcasm
I pray often for those who preach that God hates gays. I have seen them in person and on the Internet and will confess I get angry when I see them but in the end I pray for them. What greater tools of loving my neighbors do I have except my prayers and faith in God. I do not see confronting them as a solution.
I do see this billboard as a way to counteract thier expressions of hate and let others know there are Christians who do not agree with their point of view. A friend shared with me once that when they heard a hate group was going to be protesting a military funeral in their community they went in beforehand and using sidewalk chalk wrote out scriptures about love and loving each other at the location they knew the protestors would be located. That is a way of expressing my love for someone I do not agree with, without getting confrontational which in their case would not work anyway.
We need to continue counteracting this talk of God hating anyone in ways that do not give the haters more power. We just have to be creative and seek guidance from God who will lead us.
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