On Sarah Palin

Well, that got your attention, didn't it?  She's all over the news: print, airwaves, internet.  I won't comment on her, however, because it would be inappropriate for me as a pastor, to either promote or criticise either party or candidate.  That's not to say that either promoting or criticizing doesn't have its place.  I'm a bit of a a news junky and read a wide array of opinions.  It's just that church is not the best place for those discussions.  Politics is the realm where we attempt to demonstrate that our approach is the best.  It's Rah Rah!  We have the answer!  Church is where we take a hard look at our own hearts and and ask ourselves, "What might be the weaknesses in all my so-called answers?" "What is driving me?" and "How does God inform or redeem these issues?"

What we do at church, though not removed from the real messy world, is more in the realm of looking at things that plague all of us as humans: not the problems and challenges of different political approaches.  Pride, grace, competition, anger, contentment, forgiveness: these apply to people of both parties and all persuasions.  The New Testament largely moves past political solutions toward internal realities where all true change starts (and then works its way out into how we live).  This week is a good example: the disciples come to Jesus with a question about who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus doesn't so much answer their question as he does reframe it with a new answer.  The greatest, he says, is the person who has forgotten about being the greatest.  Now, you see, that's  what I'm talkin' about.  Jesus moves right past the debateble issue, and gets to the heart of the matter instantly.  "Why" he says, "does it matter so much who's the greatest?"

Jesus goes for the jugular: the demand or desire we all have to be better at something than others.  We call it "excellence" sometimes, but it really means being able to beat others.  What Jesus has in mind is nothing short of a sort of conversion from people who need to be the best, to people who are small enough to find their identity in their restored relationships.  Jesus calls people like that "little ones" with allusion to a child-like humility.  What about you? Do you need to be "better?"  Must you win?  Or can you own the title: Little One?  Come Sunday to hear more about this rennovation that Jesus refers to.

On the news side...

1) This Sunday is our 4th Anniversay as a church!  We'll have a picnic and baptism at Oster's on Frost Rd after church.  Bring a lawn chair, side dish, and beverage.  The church will provide meat and buns.  If the weather is warm, kids are welcome to swim and there's a giant inflatable swimming platform.

2) Tonight we start classes at Streetsboro Middle School.  There's stuff for Kids and Youth as well as a Women's Bible Study in Ruth, a Crown Financial Class, and a book club on "The Man Who Was Thursday" by G.K. Chesterton.  You don't have to have the book to come!  Everything starts at 6:45 and goes to 8:15.

3) Aaron and Rachel Clow left this morning for Dallas to pick up their little adopted girl!  They are so excited and nervous.  You can find out more at keepingitrealwithrae.blogspot.com/

Dave