It really was a great sermon today, a classic: one that we could relate to on so many levels. What does God want for me? Me...God wants something for me?? It seems like I'm the one always asking for something. But we learned today that in Numbers 6:24-27 that God has something in mind He wants me to receive. And he instructs Moses to tell the priests to minister to the people this way:
The Lord bless you and keep you
the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.
So more than God wanting me to be happy, successful, sinless, rich, generous, skinny, good looking....the real deal is His face shining upon me. It's about me basking in that glow. So far so good.
But you know in any great sermon there's a hook, and boy did I get hooked. I was near the back, center section, basking in the glow of God's great love for me and thinking maybe God doesn't even mind that I am enjoying this Starbucks caffeine fix during the sermon; when bam... the big hook. This is the day we need to show God gratitude for His shining countenance by signing up to serve the church and share the blessing. We can't just come to church to be blessed, inspired, and connected. We should come to church to be a blessing to others.
So there it was, the big bulletin board with service categories and, just like being in line for communion, we were all to take a sticky note, write our name, email, and phone number on it and put it in the area where we would like to serve. And just as my plan to escape this hook was hatched, Mark read my mind and said 'No, you cannot write someone elses name on your sticky note and put it up there, we want to know what YOU are going to do'. Yikes.
OK, I am now the music historian. A few simple notes on the music, its' history, relevance to the sermon, maybe something about the song writer. So I will assemble my thoughts here, and share the songs that move me, ignore the boring ones, whine about the ones I don't get (why does the songwriter call us good people "creatures here below"? sounds like we all have water bowls and leashes at home) and who knows maybe along the way I will bless someone. If not, at least I will fulfill one more task I got roped into. Nice hook, Mark!
