Friday, July 27, 2012

Looking Toward Sunday




July 29, 2012 - "Cleaning House" Sermon Series
Week 2 - Cleaning Out Our Spiritual House

"Making Room"


This Sunday we continue a sermon series called "Cleaning House" that asks us to consider a bit of spiritual, emotional, and material “housecleaning”.  What unwanted, broken, outdated, or harmful stuff have we been accumulating that would best be given a good clean sweep?  

This week we'll focus on cleaning out our spiritual house.  Our scripture reading for the day is Mark 2:18-28.  (You can read it here.)  It's Jesus' response to the religious leaders' criticism that he and his disciples aren't observing religious conventions. Jesus compares the Pharisees' insistence about following prescribed religious practices to putting new wine in old wineskins. Old wineskins lack the elasticity to accommodate the fermentation and expansion of new wine. Likewise, the Pharisees' can't or won't stretch old ways of practicing their faith to accommodate Jesus' new way.

Are there places in our spiritual lives where holding onto old ways, old ideas, or old practices keep us from new awareness, deeper spiritual formation, and a more profound experience of the Divine? Perhaps routine spiritual practices have become stale and ineffective for growth. Perhaps the comfort of familiar hymns, prayers, and ways of worshiping has caused resistance to encountering God in a new way. Perhaps our understanding of God has become too static or rigid to allow for fresh insight and understanding. Join us as we explore what "old wineskins" may need to be discarded in order to make room for the "new wine" of a more dynamic, intimate, and transformative relationship with God. 

See you on Sunday!






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