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Written by Paul Johansson
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Friday, 05 March 2010 09:53 |
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Central Family,
Through the vast majority of the history of the Christian movement, followers of Christ have taken sin very seriously. Christ followers did not want to offend God in thought, word or deed. The recognition and acknowledgement of "sin" was real, and repentance each day was the way to an abundant and joyful life. It seems that today, we do not think much about sin; or "sin" is something some other terrible person is involved in.
As we walk through Lent, how can we repent and reform our lives, if we do not feel the urgency and terrible verdict of the diagnosis: "All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) It seems that we have trivialized sin, or used it as a tool of manipulation. And yet sin is still the PRIMAL PROBLEM of life. Sin is a failure to do God's will, sin is thinking, saying and doing what we ought not to think, say or do. I am not talking about a cumbersome list of "should's and should not's." To the contrary, God has a plan and purpose for each of our lives. God's design for us is greater than we can even imagine. To often we settle for less, or get out of sync with God's design, we hurt (even if we think we are having a great time), and God grieves.
Sin is addictive: thought becomes act, act becomes habit, and habit becomes necessity. Sin is blindness to God, becoming self absorbed and entrapped in a culture that undermines God's plan and ultimately leads to destruction. To acknowledge sin is to be humbled, to recognize our helplessness and powerlessness. This acknowledgment of our weakness is the opening of the door to God's cleansing forgiveness and new life in the Spirit.
Sin is sneaky: our very attempt to avoid sin and be "good people" can be exceedingly sinful. This past week I read an excellent article by Dr. Kalas. He writes, "I remember simple holiness. I met it in my childhood: a series of things that were forbidden. Some of these rules cut into my social life in my high-school years, but they were actually pretty easy to manage. You didn't really need a particularly profound change with in order to obey these rules. They didn't go very deep, and they were quite manageable.
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Lent Reflections - Repentance |
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Written by Paul Johansson
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Saturday, 27 February 2010 06:49 |
Central Family,
Lent is a season of repentance - but shouldn't repentance happen every day of our lives?
One of the realities of our culture is that we have lost a sense of sin - we often explain behaviors in such a way that we do not really come face to face with our sin. We have lowered the bar on what we believe God expects - or we don't have a keen sense that God cares what we do, think, feel or say!
But God does care; God does have standards, and they are quite high. For instance Jesus was opposed to adultery, but raised the bar higher when he said that lust (the engine that drives advertising) in the human heart is adultery and contrary to what God wants for ourselves; Jesus said murder is not good - but raised the bar higher when he revealed the truth that basic anger is murder that kills not only the object of our anger but our own souls. And we could go on and on to show how Jesus took sin very seriously - why it cost him his own life!
Back to repentance! God invites us to repent. One might be tempted to ask; What do I need to repent of? This is precisely the question that needs to be asked. First and foremost we need to find out what God expects and requires of us through study of God's Word, worship and honest prayer. Once we read the Scriptures, worship the Holy God and honestly pray we recognize the chasm or gulf between the life we have arranged for ourselves and the dream God has for us, WE REPENT! Our ongoing mission as Christ's body is to view Scripture as something to model life after!
Repentance is not groveling in guilt, beating ourselves up and feeling justified in our remorse and sorrow; we can do that on our own without God. "In Christ, there is no condemnation" (Romans 8:1) To repent is to make a 180 degree turn, simply to turn around and return home to the Lord God. To repent is to have a change of mind. We begin to think as God thinks; we see our lives from God's perspective. Behaviors change, we are cleansed from inside out, and we discover new life in Christ.
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Written by Sonja Dixon
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Monday, 22 September 2008 12:25 |
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A note of thanks to the Central community for their incredible response to the Lions Park Apartment Fire. So many of you were involved right from the very beginning – making calls to local businesses for lodging, food and water, providing comfort to the residents, providing childcare for the apartment children, throwing birthday parties for Christopher and for Sherman Wells, hauling the donated food, personal hygiene products and clothing – just to name a few. You continue to be the hands and feet of Christ as you are offering temporary housing, donating now over $12,000 to help rebuild lives, offering services like childcare and grief counseling, and we could go on and on. As you consider how you can help please consider the following: - food donations should go directly to CAER (as residents find permanent housing the task of replenishing basic food needs will be huge)
- clothing donations are no longer needed for the immediate time but the Salvation Army and Goodwill are accepting clothing contributions
- available rental housing is limited in Elk River so if you have something to offer please contact Cheryll Edinger with the Elk River Police Dept.
- financial donations are the biggest need as people rebuild their lives.
Please make contributions to Central or the Bank of Elk River or the Red Cross (all gifts should cite in the memo “Elk River Fire Victims”). There are a couple of immediate opportunities to show encouragement and support to our neighbors. Please consider: - October 10th, immediately following the Elk River High School football game, there will be a benefit concert in the Alliance Church Parking Lot. Lee Ege is coordinating this effort. Please contact him or sign up at the welcome center to assist.
- Pray
- Garage sale @ Alliance- Fund raiser for “Fire Families” Hours - The hours for the sale will be 10am to 6 pm Thursday and Friday, and 10am to 2 pm Saturday. Oct.2nd-4th Colleen Burrs is coordinating the sale and needs help with set-up and tear down. Contact -cburrs@bakkenbuilding.com Colleen Burrs (#763-439-7481) is in the process of organizing volunteers for the "Garage Sale", to be held at the Alliance Church. The remainder of the items that were donated will be sold and the proceeds will go to the relief fund that is being facilitate through HopeFilled Hands.
- Counseling: The next group grief counseling session is scheduled for Sunday, October 5, at 7:00pm, in room 211 of Central Lutheran Church. These sections will continue through October. Any sessions after October will be determined from the need expressed. Marcia Moen # 763-441-0724.
Please consider this opportunity to be equipped to better serve as the ears of Christ and talk to Roseanne Maas to register. |
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“Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.” (1 Samuel 16:13) What happens when the Spirit of the Lord comes upon a person? Scripture paints many experiences and provides numerous examples of people who are guided, filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. One of the predominant images is that we are ministers! When the Holy Spirit comes upon us we discover and discern our ministry. What does this mean in our every day life? It certainly means that we begin to understand our work as ministry. Consider the example of Bill Merriman. Bill is a mail carrier in Cleveland, Ohio. A few years ago the newspaper did a feature on Bill because someone had noticed that he did more than simply bring the day’s mail.
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