Sunday, October 08, 2006
Preaching Today
I'm preaching this morning in Ouakam as I do from time to time.
As I sat to prepare, I started as usual with a list of possible topics. Two topics were on my list of ideas. One was a thought that God has been bringing up in a lot of my reading, both in the scriptures and on the web. What you believe determines how you live. All believing, all religions, do not produce the same results because the objects of belief do not have the same character. This is contrary to a certain Senegalese attitude (and American, of course) that says that all men of faith are the same, that all good religions are the same. Reality contradicts this and so does Jesus.
But perhaps I'll do that a different time. Today I'm fearfully taking on the topic of death. Antoinette's loss of her sister and other recent losses of loved ones in the congregation make it very relevant. Passing past the corpse on Monday at the viewing was a visceral experience for me. It did all that the Lord intends in sending premature death into the world. I thought deeply of my own mortality and how limited my knowledge of things is and where my hope lay. Seeing death got my attention in a way that little else does in life!
So I'm daring to broach the subject with my brothers and sisters this morning, hoping that I don't offend or misspeak or teach falsehood, but that I help and point all to Jesus.
As I sat to prepare, I started as usual with a list of possible topics. Two topics were on my list of ideas. One was a thought that God has been bringing up in a lot of my reading, both in the scriptures and on the web. What you believe determines how you live. All believing, all religions, do not produce the same results because the objects of belief do not have the same character. This is contrary to a certain Senegalese attitude (and American, of course) that says that all men of faith are the same, that all good religions are the same. Reality contradicts this and so does Jesus.
But perhaps I'll do that a different time. Today I'm fearfully taking on the topic of death. Antoinette's loss of her sister and other recent losses of loved ones in the congregation make it very relevant. Passing past the corpse on Monday at the viewing was a visceral experience for me. It did all that the Lord intends in sending premature death into the world. I thought deeply of my own mortality and how limited my knowledge of things is and where my hope lay. Seeing death got my attention in a way that little else does in life!
So I'm daring to broach the subject with my brothers and sisters this morning, hoping that I don't offend or misspeak or teach falsehood, but that I help and point all to Jesus.
