Thankful to God For…
December 1, 2009
As recipients of God’s mercy in Christ we all have countless blessings for which we will give thanks to God eternally. Since my space here is finite, let me share three particular blessings for which I am deeply thankful this Thanksgiving season.
1. I am thankful to God for Aaron Dotterer’s leadership and the direction of the House ministry
Last week Aaron wrote an article that introduced us to the way the student ministry is “reformatting for the future” (if you have not read the article I encourage you to do so). This transition emerges from a long season of prayer and planning, and Aaron has done a tremendous job of leading the students into a new format-Missional Communities-that should be sustainable for their upcoming phases of life. The more I hear Aaron and others talk about this way of living “in Christ together,” the more I am excited about this direction.
One a broader scale, I am thankful for how I see the formation of these Missional Communities putting hands and feet on what we learned this year in 1 Corinthians-primarily the centrality of the gospel to our relationships and the imperative of giving ourselves wholly to Jesus’ mission of making disciples. I anticipate hearing stories in the months to come of what God continues to do in our students’ lives and want to learn from them as they hold fast to the gospel in community.
2. I am thankful to God for his redeeming work in our neighborhood
God’s work in our neighborhood continues to grow in fruitfulness and intensity. Recently a few of the young ladies in our church began a Bible study with some of the pre-teen girls in the neighborhood called “Lies Young Women Believe.” This could not be a more crucial topic at a more crucial time for these girls who are facing very adult realities and decisions though they are not yet teenagers.
Another cause for great thanksgiving is a young man from our neighborhood who professed faith in Christ on Sunday. I will let him share his own story in the weeks to come, but this is further evidence that God’s kingdom is spreading in our neighborhood.
At the same time, the Tuesday night workers need our continuing prayers as the challenges of loving neighbors from broken communities and broken families intensify. Pray for wisdom, protection, and the triumph of God’s love in the gospel as our brothers and sisters reach out to those God has called us to serve.
3. I am thankful to God for Jesus, the Prophet, Priest, and King.
Each advent we use different portions of scripture to reenter Israel’s anticipation for her Messiah which found its fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth. The previous four years we have used the opening portion of the four gospels toward this end, and this year we are going to depart from that pattern by looking at the three great offices in Israel’s life that begged for fulfillment: prophet, priest, and king. Jesus transcended all expectation for what the greatest prophet, the greatest priest, and the greatest king might look like, and my hope is that we can use these weeks to enter into the ancient yearnings for this fulfillment and rejoice together in all that Jesus is.
Thankful to God for these and a multitude of blessings,
Pastor Chris