Staying Connected!

Central Family,

Are you staying connected?

Today was an awesome day to be walking around Central’s building. Just consider a few of the ways that hundreds of people were connected to Central today:

• Our new Middle School Director, Kaycee Robertson, took 32 people to Valley Fair for a full day of fellowship and fun. Ryan Braley, our Director of Student Ministries met them in the Parking Lot and sent them off with a lot of love.
• Our Connections Director, Alison Noble was overseeing 75 – 100 persons who came for the weekly food distribution in the Lobby.
• About 20 seniors prepared the August Reveal mailing in the Lobby as all the rooms in the building were being used for different programs.
• A group of women gathered for a weekly Power of a Praying Woman Bible Study.
• Eighty four youth and adults lead 248 children in Vacation Bible School and Music Camp. Our Children’s Ministry staff under the direction of Jill Pouliot has done an awesome job. And thanks to the two and fifty adults who are prayer partners for VBS.
• Tonight is the Restoring Your Heart seminar that is presented by the Caring Ministry team led by Rosanne Maas.

And this is just a sampling of the ways that people are connected to Central! WOW! Exciting stuff – I guess I always thought that things were supposed to slow down in the summer. NOT TRUE at Central. This Sunday you will want to make sure you are part of worship as the Vacation Bible School and Music Camp students help lead the worship. In addition we will be blessed to install Kaycee Robertson as our new Middle School Director. In the lobby we will have a reception with cake!

Back to the question, ARE YOU STAYING CONNECTED? This Sunday we will read John 12:1-8, the story of Mary anointing Jesus with costly perfume

. You need to read the story to appreciate the drama involved but there are at least two very specific ways for you and me to stay connected to Jesus:

1. “Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair.” When is the last time you knelt before Jesus and offered him your costly gifts? When a family member has been resurrected no human gift seems too costly to offer to Jesus the Lord! Mary’s love for Jesus knew no limits. Love never calculates! To love Jesus is to be lost in wonder, love and praise. Without any reservation or hesitation we kneel before Jesus and give him our best. Or as Oswald Chambers declares, “My utmost for his highest.”
2. “Jesus said, ‘Leaver her alone, She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.” Judas had just complained about Mary wasting her resources. In a self–righteous way Judas says this money could have been given to the poor. He didn’t care for the poor – to the contrary as the treasurer he wanted the money. The point, however, is that many Christ-followers have abused and misinterpreted this text. We use this verse to legitimize our indifference to the poor. Comments like, “Jesus said you will always the poor so we don’t need to try to bring an end to poverty.” NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH! When Jesus said, “You always have the poor,” he reminded the people of the covenant in Deuteronomy. You can read Deuteronomy 15 for yourself. What is to characterize our relationship to the poor? An open heart and an open hand. In other words the poor stand amongst us as the very presence of Jesus. Did not Jesus say, “even as you do it to the least of these you do it to me.?” So if you want to stay connected to Jesus open your heart to the poor and open your hands to the poor. To the degree we serve the least of these in our society we stay connected to Jesus!

So back to the question, “Are you staying connected?” Are you kneeling before Jesus and giving him your best? In order to do that we need to learn how to kneel before the least of these and give them our most costly resources.

Thanks to so many of you for your prayers for all the things going on at Central this week!

Paul Johansson
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P.S. Only seven more Sundays of outdoor worship at Lions Park at 9:30. Come and worship the Lord and enjoy the sunshine!