{Note: I know, the NFL Season actually starts up on Thursday night with that ridiculous ratings grab of a first game. But is okay, the analogy still holds. Several of our program pieces have already started up in advance of Kick Off Sunday too!}
You'll also notice a second theme emerging from the Whiteboard this week. I try my hardest during worship to keep us firmly rooted in a single theme. Each Sunday the hymns we sing, the prayers we pray, the sermon I preach, and the scriptures we read are all carefully planned in order to propel us in the direction of that single theme. It makes things complicated and messy when we have more than one focus during worship. But occassionally it is unavoidable. And this Sunday is one such occassion.
This coming Sunday will not only serve as our Kick Off Sunday at First Christian Church, but it also marks 10 years to the day since the attacks on this country that took place on September 11, 2001. It is the reason that I broke tradition with the Whiteboard this week and actually included the date of the worship service as well. We will spend some time in worship reflecting on 9/11. There will be a moment of silence and an extended time of prayer. We'll also spend time in worship focusing ourselves on where God is calling us in the coming year and the specific programs that we have in the life of the church that are starting back up after a long summer's hiatus. We'll draw on Pete's question about forgiveness and the Parable of the Unforgiving Slave from Matthew 18:21-35.
There aren't easy segues to tie these two pieces together and so we aren't going to try and force them together into a single uneasy theme, but rather recognize that there is a lot going on in our world, in our church, in our lives, and that sometimes we are pulled in multiple directions at once. Through it all, may God be glorified and may we feel the presence of Christ and the leading of the Spirit as we gather for a time of worship.
I'll see you on Sunday!
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