This fall on Sunday mornings we will be focusing on how we go about building healthy community in our life together here at Pilgrim Covenant Church.  Even though the fellowship aspect of PCC is something we seem to have a natural affinity for, there are always opportunities to grow deeper in this dimension of our church life.  The truth is that we almost always think we are doing better at community than we actually are.

 Jesus spent his entire earthly ministry pouring his time and energy into the small community of his twelve disciples.  He was seeking to teach them many things about God’s kingdom, but he was also trying to prepare them to carry on in community after he was gone.  He wanted them to be able to become the core community of his Church which was to be born on Pentecost with the pouring out of his Holy Spirit upon that initial body of believers.

 It is interesting that the times we see Jesus getting the most frustrated were times when the disciples just didn’t seem to be “getting it.”  How difficult it must have been for the Lord to patiently live and work with his disciples day in and day out, hoping that someday the message would get through to them. 

 At their last Passover meal together, Jesus pulled out all the stops and personally demonstrated for them the essence of community that he desperately wanted them to learn.  Before the meal, Jesus transformed himself into a menial servant and went to work washing the feet of the twelve guests – his disciples.

 After he finished he sat down with them and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing?  You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’ and you are right, because it is true.  And since I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.  I have given you an example to follow.  Do as I have done to you.” (John13:12-15)

 True community begins with this humble example of Jesus.  True community begins with a willingness to serve one another in love just as Christ loved us and gave his life for the redemption of the world. 

 My friends, we still have much to learn about community because we still have much to learn about serving one another in love.  My prayer is that the Lord will teach us and form in us a courageous desire to go deeper in our life together.  To be his people in our world.

We have a saying in the recovery community that goes… “if you’re not going forward in your recovery, you’re sliding backward.” I think this is very true and applies to the Christian community as well. As Christians, we are followers or disciples of Jesus.  The word “disciple” means learner. As followers of Christ we are called to be life-long learners of Jesus. We always seek to be growing in our faith and in our relationship with Christ. This is what disciples do.  

As we enter a new church year together – along with all the increased activity that the autumn season brings – I must ask you a question. What are you doing to grow in your faith? How are you going to be learning from Jesus in the next year?  

Far too often, we give in to the inertia of the status quo… especially when the demands in other areas of our lives increase. In other words, we simply become content with the way things are with our faith. My opinion is that it is just not right that we think about our spiritual lives as being a peripheral concern… they are a primary concern. Spiritual growth needs to be a priority in all our lives and in Pilgrim Covenant Church. We need to keep growing deeper in our faith.

“How do I start?”  You may ask. Well…  I’m so glad you asked, because I have a great way for you to begin something new this fall to jumpstart your efforts to grow spiritually.

On September 16th an opportunity to “move forward” begins. For 10 weeks on Tuesday evenings there will be a bible study led by yours truly at the church parsonage. The study will begin at 7:00 p.m. and will conclude at 8:30 p.m. At this point I am thinking about diving into the books of Ephesians and James. 
 
If you have never been part of a group bible study (or haven’t been for a long time), I beg of you to please consider taking advantage of this opportunity to experience how God shows up in remarkable ways as we read scripture and learn together. Who knows… maybe two or three home bible studies will be created as a result of this fall effort. That is my prayer.

This is an open bible study. Anyone may come on any given Tuesday night September 16th through November 18th. Everyone is invited!  

So I leave you with my original question: Are you going forward, or are you  sliding backward?

I believe that movement toward each of these goals begins as we tend to first things first.  The “first things” I have in mind begin with our personal relationship with God.  So many of these good things that we crave in the depths of our souls have their foundation in our connection and our life with God.

This fall I will be bringing a series of messages entitled “Connecting with God” focusing on more effectively connecting with the source of our lives.  We will be invited to grow in our faith by exploring ways we can connect with God through prayer, worship, scripture, creation, and service.

This is how Richard Foster describes the invitation to embark upon this journey in his book entitled “Prayer”:

“God is inviting you and me to come home, to come home to where we belong, to come home to that for which we were created.  His arms are stretched out wide to receive us.  His heart is enlarged to take us in.  For too long we have been in a far country: a country of noise and hurry and crowds, a country of climb and push and shove, a country of frustration and fear and intimidation.  And he welcomes us home: home to serenity and peace and joy, home to friendship and fellowship and openness, home to intimacy and acceptance and affirmation.

We do not need to be shy.  He invites us into the living room of his heart, where we can put on old slippers and share freely.  He invites us into the kitchen of his friendship, where chatter and batter mix in good fun.  He invites us into the dining room of his strength, where we can feast to our heart’s delight.  He invites us into the study of his wisdom, where we can learn and grow and stretch… and ask all the questions we want.  He invites us into the workshop of his creativity, where we can be co-laborers with him, working together to determine the outcomes of events.  He invites us into the bedroom of his rest, where new peace is found and where we can be vulnerable and free.  It is also the place of deepest intimacy, where we know and are known to the fullest.”

-Pastor Dennis Anderson