Morning After Monday

I'm dragging just a little bit this fine Monday morning, due to getting home at about 3 this morning from the U2 concert.  As Rita and I drove home (finally on the highway) we agreed - the show was better than we could have imagined, and the traffic getting out was worse than we could have imagined.  I would think they could figure out a better way to move people out of those parking lots at Gillette, but I guess not.  Put it this way:  we spent more time getting out of the parking lot than we spent listening to U2...

Once again, Sunday proved to be a great day in the life of New Life.  Even down one guitar and drums the music was still good, and I felt like the message connected with people.  Actually, I had several people come up to me after service and mention how the talk hit them right where they were, which is ironic only because I felt like I really struggled through the whole thing.  I guess it's just further proof that God sometimes works in spite of us!

We finished up a short, two week series on Grace and Tolerance, which I thought was a good chance just to touch on the foundations of what we believe about grace - that God extends his grace to us in the cross of Christ, and that he then expects us to extend that same grace to others.  I really wish we all (myself included of course) could grasp that concept of grace in our relationship to God and our relationship with others, because it would really revolutionize the reputation of the church in the world. 

Next week we'll be back to part 9 of our year-long, once a month, series on Redemption.  This time we'll be looking at one of my favorite books of Scripture as we spend the morning in 1 Corinthians chapter 1.  So, if you're reading this and planning to be with us next Sunday, take a couple minutes and read through chapter 1, paying special attention to the place where Paul (finally) mentions redemption at the very end of the chapter.  In October we're going to start a three week series on finding balance in our lives, which will hopefully lead us to some careful reflection about how our relationship to Christ should inform the spiritual, mental and even physical aspects of our lives.

I'm also planning to spend some time each day this week using this space to blog (finally, I know) some of my reflections from the August trip to Nicaragua.  Looking forward to unpacking my own mind here in this public space.

Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Comments

[julie]

I actually was able to share some of yesterdays message with a friend at work (not many believers there) and feel like you spoke to my heart and current situation... fabulous job!!!