I had been mulling over a sermon series on the shared purpose of Christians. We all have the same purpose... how we live it out varies according to our gifts.
Our shared purpose includes: loving God passionately and our neighbor as ourselves in response to God's love for us (Matt 22). Being equipped for ministry in the world by our spiritual gifts (Eph 4) Being in ministry with the overlooked (Matthew 25). Caring for Creation (Gen. 1). All of this leads to making disciples through relationship (Matt 28).
During my mulling, Pam Downey, our youth director, came and shared a fabulous idea for an image. She wrote this:
I believe the Holy Spirit is a piece of us - kind of like a jigsaw puzzle - and if we could all just put it together we would see the picture laid out before us and maybe, just a little bit, blaspheming the Holy Spirit means removing yourself from the puzzle and therefore leaving it incomplete which means there are two parts that can't touch, and you've broken the chain.
But I've put that together with a Scrabble analogy as well - specifically if you take away one of the components of the game - specifically the letter E (letter E = 12 of the 100 game tiles - over 10%)
A) the game's not impossible - but you've made it far harder than it has to be
B) how many words are you now unable to make (ex. peace, hope, love, friend, health... culminating of course with Jesus)
The idea that the Kingdom comes clearer when the puzzle pieces God has given us in each of our lives are used for their intended purposes is a really cool image.
Then today I came across this quote about Martin Luther King Jr.
"For me, one of King's most salient teachings was his conviction that each of us holds some of the truth. He believed that our processes of listening and speaking to one another became the hallowed communication by which our lives are transformed, and be which we understand the power of love Jesus spoke of."
Dee Dee Risher, Reclaiming the Dreamer, The Other Side Magazine Jan/Feb 2003
It seems the Spirit is working to bring this altogether. So we are going to use a video project focusing upon each of the five themes to create a short video for each week in worship. Patrick Donnelly and Gina Troy will be using their gifts to make this happen.
I'm excited for worship! The series begins next week, January 11.
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