Click here to play the recording
Here is the message. I worked with the Bible passage from James 1:2-5 and sought to draw out our work of character in pressing on when especially when bad things happen. I am going to try once again to get the message to actually work in playing- if it doesn’t please note that I will place a blog entry up when the podcast playback function is working.Monthly Archives: October 2008
Perseverance seems to not be over…
Well, I am not planning on preaching about it this coming weekend but there is another twist to the blog- the portion that serves up our podcasts, the audio recordings of our messages, has decided not to feed them any more. It came to my attention this weekend when someone said they were trying to listen to the messages (imagine that- they were doing what I had encouraged and told them was possible!). I thought that maybe it was a browser problem- just a heads up, it is NOT a browser problem. So I spent a couple of hours trouble shooting and reading about the WordPress plugin that serves podcasts to figure what must be done. Of course, the one thing I thought I had together was not together at all- UGH. So if you’re reading this, you cannot at this moment hear the online podcasts through the website- you can download them by browsing the following folder on the website: http://sjalexandria.org/mp3/ Thanks for your patience in this and I hope to get it all worked out soon…
Perseverance: never give up, never surrender?
What do you think about when you hear the word perseverance. I think about the struggle it sometimes is to make it through the day, to complete the tasks that need doing. I think that at times we must press on even when we don’t really want to. I think of delayed gratification and sometimes no gratification at all. I remember that God never promised me an easy road.
Maybe the whole Bible is a story of God’s perseverance (and yes, love), of God’s pressing on even when it appears giving up would be the more prudent course. God hangs in there with us and doesn’t give up. But another questions comes to mind: is there a time when hanging in there is no longer the best course? Maybe not for God but what about for us? Should I give up sometimes? Is there a time when I am merely hanging on because I am stubborn? How do I know when that is, if ever? Life is really messy and I want answers that are easier to find, not so elusive.
I am beginning to ask where this message is meant to take us as a community. Are there things we have too easily given up on and things we need to press on in completing? What is the Word for us this week? What word of challenge, of healing, of hope do we need from God?
2008 October 5- Integrity
Click here to play the recording
I was not as satisfied with my scripture tie in (Proverbs 4:25-27) this week. It was a good jumping off place and foundation to what the Biblical meaning of integrity is, to make straight, upright, righteousness. I felt I did not build enough on that foundation piece. However, this message was the opportunity to explore what it means to have integrity, to have foundational principles and to then live them out in everyday life. Take a listen to my approach to this fourth sermon in the Character Series.Finding Balance!?!
How many times will I find myself writing about this idea of balance? Quite frankly, immediately after I titled the post I felt a sense of dread and regret. It seems to me I am constantly wanting to find a balance in my life between all the competing tasks and people I want to fit in but realizing that there is not time in a day to do and connect with everyone and everything. Sometimes that leaves me very frustrated.
Recently, my Wii Fitness board has begun to teach me an important lesson about balance. (If you don’t have a Wii Fit or have no idea what I’m talking about, I’ll digress long enough to say the Wii is a game system for your television set and the Fit part is a board that works with the Wii to let a person exercise and weigh themselves, to get “fit.”) Everyday I religiously get on the Wii Fitness Board and weigh myself and then proceed to exercise and do Wii yoga (you can laugh if you wish). One day I may have exceptional balance (my Wii fitness trainer tells me so!) and the very next day she’ll tell me I’m a little shaky and that I need to work on my core muscles; she’s animated so she never loses her balance that I’ve seen. My life seems the same- one day I get the important things done and make contact with the people with whom I was hoping to connect. The next day there are more things and people than I can possibly fit.
I wonder if finding balance in life is a worthless pursuit because I’m not animated (not in the cartoon-sense anyway). There will always be more than I can do in a lifetime waiting for me to do them, more people to meet and hang with than I can see. Life is NOT about finding balance but making choices and setting priorities about those choices. Life is interesting in part because there is so much calling out to be done and seen and enjoyed. Life is challenging in part because we have to choose or things will happen apart from our choosing anyway.
I’m going to try to focus on setting the best priorities for my life and time and leave worrying about balance to my Wii Fitness Trainer!