Good Friday morning Church Requel!
And the hits just keep rolling!!! Last week I wrote to you all and told you that the band was going to sing an original song from Wendy in Alabama. (Wasn't "Mercy House" stellar? I have been humming it to myself all week.) This Sunday Vanessa from England will sing her original song, "Blue Planet." How cool is that??? (Click here to set a reminder on YouTube!) https://youtu.be/LDZd4QOgW7I
I love Vanessa's lyrics. I won't give the whole thing away (you still need to come or tune in, right?) but check out this first verse. It's amazing!
"We live on a blue planet that circles round a ball of fire next to a moon that moves our sea, yet we don't believe in miracles. Oh why oh why don't we? What a shame for humanity."
I don't know about you, but I am loving all this creativity in our worship! We are so very fortunate to enjoy the talents of so many different creatives from so many places. For the first time in over a year, I met with other pastors for lunch yesterday. We all talked about how the Pandemic had affected our churches. How delighted I was to report the miracle that has occurred within our small congregation!
Yes I used the word, miracle, because how else would you describe it? I am a business student by training and profession (before being a pastor!). If I were asked what the likelihood of survival would be for a small church with an older population that couldn't meet together for a year because of a global pandemic, I would have confidently answered, "NOT GOOD!"
Yet God is good and He has been very good to us - sustaining us, and even growing us... and allowing a creativity in our worship experience that we have never seen before. Yay God!
Sermon: "Grasping The Miracle." Vanessa's song inspired me to think deeply this week about the miracles in our lives. I chose to preach from Ephesians 3:14-21 this coming Sunday morning. I thought I would share with you a little of my preparations for this sermon. I won't be talking about this during the sermon itself (too much "in the sermon weeds" if you know what I mean). So this goes out only to those who choose to read it. I hope for you few, that this could be helpful.
In seminary I learned about the chiastic structure of many passages in the Bible. Not all of them are this way. Yet for those who know what to look for, it can be surprising to find how many there are. And it can really help out those of us who are gospel communicators to know the best way to structure our sermons.
So what is a "chiasm"? The letter "chi" in the Greek language looks like our X. So the idea of a chiasm is a literary technique where like-minded statements are repeated in reverse order around a central statement. When using a chiasm, the sentence in the middle is supported by the sentences all around. I know this sounds confusing, but it was one of my greatest joys to learn about at Ashland Theological Seminary.
Take the story of Noah, for example, in Genesis 6-9. I had only known one way to read and understand it before... as a story with a beginning and an end (and a flood in the middle!) But when one applies their chiastic lens, one sees something beautiful and powerful in the writing. Check out this sidebar on the Noah narrative to see what I mean. (You can click on the picture to see a much larger version.)
When looked at from this perspective, we find the key to the entire story. It's not that mankind was evil. It's not that God brought a flood to Earth. The great message of the story is Genesis 8:1 - That God remembered Noah! Noah found mercy in God!
The rest of the passage wraps around that core statement like the many layers of an onion. If the Bible student looks closely, he or she will see parallels both before and after the central core of the Bible passage.
This is very different than the way most of us think and write. When I was in school I was taught to write my thesis statement, and then 3 supporting statements, and then a conclusion to remind us of the thesis again. Indeed, most of our sermon communicators preach the exact same way. Have you ever heard of the three-point sermon?
This Sunday for those who watch closely, you'll find that our first 3 points take verses from opposite ends of our Bible passage. There is no accident in this. For as I read this week's passage, I found the most meaningful part of the Bible's message in the middle, in Ephesians 3:18-19a, which reads like this:
"(That you) may have power, together with all God's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge."
I hope I have intrigued you and given you a desire to read the entire passage of Ephesians 3:14-21. If you were going to outline this Sunday's talk, how would you do it? If you want to get a sneak preview, you can always go to your Bible app and open up "Events". You'll find my entire sermon already parked there waiting for you to read. http://bible.com/events/48686130
Other Plans for Sunday. Here are the songs we plan to sing this Sunday morning: "Battle Belongs" by Phil Wickham (a brand new one for us); "How He Loves" by David Crowder; "Christ Our Glory" by Sovereign Grace (another brand new one for us); "Grateful" by Elevation Worship; and "Revival Anthem" by Rend Collective.
Don Causley will read our Scripture for the day. Brian Betts will lead our communion service. Yours Truly will lead the prayer service. Brandi Walker will lead our worship with our offerings.
Looks like it's going to be an awesome Sunday. I hope you plan to join us - either in person in Mansfield, Ohio - or on the stream with YouTube or our page on Facebook. Why not tell a friend or family member? They could join in wherever they are located!
Love you all much! Pastor Mark
