Sermon Ponderings: When God Chooses His Team

I’ll be preaching from Ephesians 1:1-14 this Sunday (August 3) and continue to be drawn to the themes of grace and chosen-ness which Paul says are the good fortune (“spiritual blessings”) of those of us in Christ. Remember those days in elementary school and junior high when the PE teacher would have two exceptionally athletic kids choose teams. They would each start with the jocks, picking less and less able athletes in turn. Finally, those last remaining souls, their heads hung low in shame and feelings of worthlessness, were chosen only because the PE coach required it. Otherwise, no one wanted them on the team. They were slow, uncoordinated or mentally challenged. I remember seeing this process unfold and, in my own adolescent way, felt like the whole process was unhealthy and damaging.

But as I read Paul I imagine a line of people stretching before God and God looking up and down the line and choosing based not on status, wealth, or even intellect or raw talent. Instead he chooses “according to the good pleasure of his will.” And we find that his good pleasure is to accept us as his children “unto the adoption of Jesus Christ” (v. 5). God looks at us and says, “Be my children,” regardless of our past or present condition. In life we have all felt what it is like to be at the end of the pickings. We all have moments when we feel inadequate, not up to the task, left out or even unwanted. But, “to the praise of the glory of [God’s] grace,” Jesus, because of his act of love and sacrifice on the cross, “hath made us accepted in the beloved” (v. 6).

Those are my ponderings leading up to this Sunday at Greenhill United Methodist Church. Please give me your thoughts and meditations on this passage, as we prepare our hearts and minds to hear God’s Word in worship.

Greenhill's Upcoming Spiritual Formation Journey 2008-2009

This fall members of Greenhill United Methodist Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky will begin what I hope will be a transformative spiritual formation journey. The journey is one that is essential for us to begin. A casual read of the powerful stories in Scripture of Jesus' teachings, life, death and resurrection and the deeds of the early New Testament Church, lead one to wonder why the Church today does not look like Christ. Why do its members not look like Christ? Have we made the conscious decision to follow Christ but then failed to enter into the disciplines required to change our habits, our thoughts, our life-style so that they conform to Christ and the life that he lived? The spiritual formation journey will take those who embark upon it into a period of examen, a period of learning about what the spiritual life is, and a period of practicing the disciplines that lead us into the powerful, joyful life in the Spirit that Christ lived and Christ promised for us.

The books and authors that we will use in our periods of examen, learning and practice are the following:

September – October
“Exploring the Way: An Introduction to the Spiritual Journey” by Marjorie Thompson
November – December
“As If the Heart Mattered: A Wesleyan Spirituality” by Gregory Clapper
January – February
“Rediscovering Our Spiritual Gifts” by Charles Bryant (includes a spiritual gifts inventory)
March
Lenten Spiritual Formation
April - June
“The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives” by Dallas Willard

The books are great reading for the journey, and we will study them in depth. I encourage all members and attenders at Greenhill and anyone else interested in a deeper, more authentic walk with Christ to join us in this transformative journey. As Dallas Willard has said, "Salvation is not an event; Salvation is a life." Let us start living a life of salvation.