iHOPE

Is Work a Four-Letter Word?

Work is a necessary evil to be avoided.

Mark Twain

  It is Labor Day Weekend and it's a good time to step back and look at the work of our lives.  Is work a 'necessary evil', or is there something more to it?

  What do you do for a living?  Is it the same thing as your job?  What happens if you are unemployed- or retired?  Does your work count if you aren't getting a paycheck?

  On this Labor Day Weekend I'm going to take a look at this topic. Do we 'live to work' or do we 'Work to live'?  What is the work of your life? 

See you Sunday!

Bonhoeffer Revisited

  Many people talked about the power of Sunday's service. Brigitte's story was stunning. The music was rich and varied. The life of Bonhoeffer was as sobering as it was inspiring.

  Some have asked about the name of the movie from which I showed the clip. The title is simple:  "Bonhoeffer". I saw it first through Netflix (I think it can even be streamed instantly online), but I wouldn't be surprised if the library had a copy.

  The book I mentioned was, "The Cost of Discipleship". Be careful.  It should have a warning label on the cover that says, "WARNING: This book may cause great discomfort and could be hazardous to your complacency."  Don't say I didn't warn you.

I used several quotes from Bonhoeffer.  The one the front of the bulletin was from a letter to a friend, while in prison in 1944.  Here it is again:

I discovered later, and am still discovering right up to this moment,that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith.  By this-worldliness I mean living unreservedly in life’s duties, problems, successes, failures.  In so doing we throw ourselves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously not our own suffering but those of God in the world.  That, I think, is faith.

 

When History Gets Personal

  This Sunday is the third and final part of our summer series, Moving Pictures: Reel People.

   The movie is, Bonhoeffer, and it tells the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran minister who lived during WWII. Unlike most of the people in Germany at this time, he actively resisted the Nazi government and actually participated in an attempt to assasinate Hitler.

  Maybe you already knew that.  But did you know we have someone in our congregation with a personal tie to Bonhoeffer and Hitler's Germany- someone who had relatives killed by the Nazis and actually spent time in a concentration camp?

  Sometimes, history can seem a little dry- just lots of dates, events and people's names. When history gets personal, when you have a personal link to those events and people, then history comes alive. 

  So do the questions behind the events; questions like, How can I know the Will of God?  That is what we are going to explore in worship this Sunday.

  This Sunday, history is going to get very personal.

Love Wins- Have You Read It?

There are a growing number of us who have become acutely aware that Jesus’s story has been hijacked by a number of other stories, stories Jesus isn’t interested in telling, because they have nothing to do with what he came to do. The plot has been lost, and it’s time to reclaim it.

  That is how Rob Bell  introduces his book, Love Wins:  Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.

  Some people love it.  Some people hate. Rob has been accused of heresy for his views. Others have praised him for recovering the gospel. Most are somewhere in the middle. It definitely is a book worth reading!

  Love Wins is the second selection for the Pastor's Book Club this summer. We meet on Thursday, August 25th at 7:00 to discuss it.  We'll meet in the Castle Rock Room. Whether you have finished it or not, I hope you'll come and be part of the discussion.