“You shall not steal.”
Scripture
for the meditation – Isaiah 53:2-6:
“He
grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He
had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that
we should desire him.
He
was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him
not.
Surely
he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him
stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But
he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We
all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and
the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
The church is attractive with unusual
stained glass. From the architecture, I would guess this was formerly a
Methodist church.
We were warmly greeted by most of the
people. I couldn’t find any signage but did get directions to the restrooms.
I found crosses to focus on and some
enjoyable children to watch before the service.
Communion was different: a meditation was
delivered in lieu of the Words of Institution, the elements were served
silently and the congregation partook as they were served.
The sermon was part of a series on the
Ten Commandments. The pastor started his message with basic baby steps, but as
he preached he did a good job of leading the congregation to form the
conclusions to understand the message. The sermon developed naturally with a
conversational approach by the pastor. The congregation reached the right end, and,
I think, felt they were part of the preaching. An interesting means of
developing the message of “You shall not steal” and what it really means to
God.
This church is set in the midst of a
residential area and was a friendly group where numerous people introduced
themselves and welcomed us.
I would humbly suggest that some
signage would be helpful for visitors.
Worship began with three hymns in
succession, the third as an introduction to Communion. There was also a meditation
built around Isaiah 56:2-6, quoted above.
During Communion an announcement on
the screen invited anyone unable to attend worship but wishing to receive the
sacrament to call the church office and an elder or deacon would bring it to
them at home.
The message was based on the Eighth
Commandment found in Deuteronomy 5:19: “You shall not steal.” The teaching was well
constructed and delivered. The pastor made a distinction between envy and
jealousy: “Jealousy is when someone else has something and you wish you had it…you
are discontent. Envy is when someone else has something and you don’t want them
to have it. Envy is rooted in disrespect of someone’s life.” He also pointed
out that one cannot love their neighbor and steal from him.
I’ve heard few other pastors lay it
on the line so directly, and I appreciated his approach to teaching as well as
his invitations for questions following the message.
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