Sunday in Retrospect

I have found it difficult, at moments, sifting through the inexhaustible truths of the Beatitudes of our Lord.  Anything that includes the teachings, sayings and demands of our Lord should be handled with care.  Today, I preached on the 5th Beatitude of Christ, which deals with the merciful both extending and receiving mercy.  Here's my outline:

God’s Word on Mercy
Matthew 5:7

I. The Position of the Merciful

A. The Comparisons of the Merciful

Compared to forgiveness.

Compared to love.

Compared to grace.

Compared to justice.

B. The Characteristics of the Merciful

The ATTITUDE of mercy.

The ACT of mercy.

II. The Promise of the Merciful

This has been, and I think will continue to be, the most difficult of the Beatitudes.  This is not to say it was a preaching flop.  God really spoke to us through the message.  But the subject matter, the purpose to which Christ spoke of this form of mercy, the diabolical problems with the very notion of mercy within the cultural context (then and now), and the scriptural directives of mercy that are quite clear and concise.  Strangely, I agree with John F. MacArthus and can honestly say this Beatitude is the most important of them all, for a number of reasons.  I'll state just one - the entire story of redemption hinges on the very idea of mercy.

Today we also had 5th Sunday dinner at the church.  Our kitchen crew is one of the best!  Today we had grilled Ribeye steaks with all of the trimmings.  Members were asked (by you know whom) to bring desert. It was awesome.  While I am not a big steak eater, the food was great; and it always makes me happy knowing my wife is having steak, as well.  Dee LOVES steak!

After eating together, we worshipped together once again.  We had two for baptism, a time of reflection around the word (I only preached 15 minutes from I John 1:9 and a portion of Isaiah 53!), and then we communed together around the Lord's table.

Service was great. Will NEVER do that again!  We will, of course, have dinner.  But....i have made both a decision that may have been wise, but also foolish, if there is such a thing.  Mt. Salem is a 140 year old congregation, who is steeped in tradition.  This is a fact, not an opinion.  From singing directly for the hymnals to Baptist Training Union Sunday evening to Sunday School banners.  You name that 'Baptist Way', we have everyone beat!  In some ways, this has been quite beneficial for me.  In worship...it has pushed me out of my box with regard to my fear of singing and expressing emotion.  In my setting, the pastor (up until now) IS THE worship leader. Period!  It has also grown me in the area of my patience.  Mind you, our primary (and only) musician is a sweet woman who is 80 years of age, and has been the musician at our church for over 50 years.  This is, in no way, a criticism. But the fact of my being a 33 year old preacher, coming from a subuurban church in Houston, with 75% being young adults...go figure!  And while God has worked on my patience, I've had time to learn my share of hymns and spirituals.  I assure, after almost 2 years....I can hang with pthe best of them!  So those some of the advantages (among so many other examples).  But one tradition I am about to kill (yes, I said kill) is the notion that Lord's supper must be done at night.  I get the origin, how this started; but I can't wrap my head around the logic.  Jesus did it at night. I get that.  It is called Lord's SUPPER, by many. I get that too!  But any deep or casual study of scripture will leave to conclude that Communion at night is nor has ever been a staunch requirement given by our Lord. So....for the last almost 2 years, I have either done Communion at night, or....once before when we had the dinner after church.  Basically, it has been at night.  It is about time to simply make the change .  Communion will need to be in the morning on first Sundays.  As wih any pastor, I can already see in my head a visual of those who will not like my decision. However, as with any decision I make regarding change, I will teach it for the scripture first.  I am certain I will win the argument!

So, from now on - if we do have dinner after church again (probably on the next 5th Sunday, in September), we will have communion first.  After dinner, everyone can go home,  including me and my family.

Olympics got off to a great start.  The men's basketball team won today against France.  Dwight Howard still isn't traded.  At this point, I'm tired of hearing about him, think he is overrated to begin with, think Andrew Bynum needs to stay in LA, and Howsrd needs to be a man and honor his contract in Orlando and stay until next year.

I'm looking forward to a very interesting week.  That's ALL I'll say about that!