Hello spiritual travelers. Last Sunday I mentioned the compass that I received in a dream about a way to simplify what we are trying to do together to grow in our faith. Now that I am at North Bethesda, I remembered Twila Paris singing a song about True North, so I went and looked for the lyrics. I will quote from them some here. The words of the song talk about our efforts and our getting lost or confused or distracted on our journey and needing a point to aim for, or a reference point to keep from getting too lost. Hence in the navigation world, the true north.
What occurred to me in my dream was the compass points as it related to being a True "North" Bethesda UMC and finding a great deal of similarity between compass points and the invitation that God gives us when we look at the beginning of the church back in the days following Jesus ascension back to heaven. Those points can be found in Acts 2: 42-47 which I will share here.
"The believers devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. A sense of awe came over everyone. God performed many wonders and signs through the apostles. All the believers were united and shared everything. they would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them. Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity. They praised God and demonstrated God's goodness to everyone. The Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved." (Common English Bible)
So in response to Twila's song about our challenges "we lost our bearings, following our own mind we left conviction behind. Fear of the future ..hiding the hope that would last. How did we ever wander so far and where do we go from here?" True North. With the help of God, seen in the beauty of the world God created, we would be drawn back to the main focus of True North.
The Compass has 4 main points, N. E. S. W. and I began to put the two together, or my dream did. W would stand for Worship God, it's in the discovery of the creation (in the song and in St. Paul's writing) that we recover our sense of Awe and worshipping God enables us to show our gratitude and to seek God's help.
N would stand for Nourish the Soul, in the Acts passage, they devoted themselves to the apostle's teachings, nourishing our souls is the study, meditation, learning of God's help for our lives that will truly guide us in how we ought to live in this world we find ourselves in. We can provide places for nourishment in Sunday School and Bible Study and groups for learning.
E would stand for Embrace your Neighbor, and this is so important. The second great Commandment that Jesus emphasized after the "W" and Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, is the "E" love your neighbor as yourself. Love both the neighbor in the church and the neighbor outside the church. So much of scripture teaches us to live with one another, like the Acts verse, all the believers were united. In the early church it was pretty tricky since it included both Jews and Gentiles who were loving God and learning to love one another.
S would stand for Share and Serve. We will make a difference in our lives and in our world when we share our praise in worship, share our minds in study and encouraging each other, when we share our love for one another, supporting and helping each other any way we can. The essential message of Jesus is about serving as well. We remember he said we would be servants to one another, just as he was, when he washed the disciples feet. "I have given you an example to follow" he said. (John 13)
Share gives us a chance to show our gratitude to God for the help and guidance in the midst of the storms of life. Share is giving back to God a portion of our financial resources, so we can help others to find the help of God. Share is giving to God our energy, our prayers, our skills and experiences to help others. The points of the compass W N E S = Worship God, Nourish your Soul, Embrace your Neighbor, and Share & Serve, will help us to focus on doing what God asks of us. And it can be a logo or focal point we can easily remember. One of our NB members is helping to design the logo for us. We will be able to use it lot's of places like bumper stickers, Golf & T-shirts, Decals, seat cushions, coffee mugs and cups, the possibilities are endless.
The main point is to help us remember who we are, needing a compass to head in the right direction. And the compass points will help us remember to work on a balanced spiritual life. We need to Worship, we need to nourish our souls, we need to love our neighbors, we need to share and serve. Most of us are good at one of these, or maybe two of them. To be a truly well balanced and healthy spiritual person, we need all four of them. Let's ask God to help us improve in the areas we need the help. Maybe more worship time, maybe more study times, maybe more fellowship time, maybe more generosity to accomplish what the church needs. All part of an exciting adventure with God's leading and pointing in the right direction.
Come and join the journey. Come and grow in your faith. Come and help us to make a difference in the lives of others, for Jesus' sake. It will be awesome.
Blessings
Pastor Jeff
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