Those are significant numbers of people and of course the numbers don’t tell the whole story.
From the time of our first worship service together on November 3, 2002 at the North Lake Park Community School cafeteria, we have said, “Spring of Life is a place you can come as you are.” So we all come with our habits, hurts and hang ups. We come with different levels of understanding about the God and the Bible. We come rich and poor, gay and straight, divorced and married, young and old, black, yellow, brown and white, faithful and unfaithful, confused and assured, anxious and at peace, sad and joyful. We come as we are to Spring of Life.
In time, we added to that by saying, “ . . . and become who God created you to be.”
Our conviction is that the God who has revealed himself fully through Jesus Christ is on a mission to remake the world. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the “first fruit” of God’s new creation. The forces and powers of evil at work in the world have lost their ultimate power. The victory over them has already been determined by Jesus’ victory over death through his crucifixion and resurrection.
The gift of God to us through Jesus is that we now have the power to live our lives in ways that make sense in light of God’s good news of Re-creation. We have the power to extend ourselves in vulnerable hospitality to strangers. We have the power to forgive our enemies rather than nurse grudges and seek revenge. We have the power to take responsibility for our brokenness and sin by saying, “I am sorry” - making amends with those we have harmed. We have the power to pay attention to the cries of the poor and powerless, and use our power as allies for the vulnerable and voiceless. We have the power to use our resources rightly, acting as good stewards of what God has entrusted to us, rather than being consumed by the consumerism of our culture. We have the power to recognize, understand and appreciate the differences that exist among us as we seek to become the beloved community that God created us to be. We have the power to hear God’s call in our lives individually and collectively and take the next step on the way with Jesus.
This is the vision of who God created us to be and who Spring of Life is becoming by God’s grace.
We bring what we have – all that we are – to God and God takes that raw material and weaves it into a beautiful tapestry.
Last week as Carolyn, Julia and I stuffed envelopes with financial commitment cards to send to people at Spring of Life, I recalled the many things God is doing through this community of faith. I leave you with this celebration of what God is making out of the people at Spring of Life!
Spring of Life is a church where people . . .
• Provide meals, hospitality and love to families at Ronald McDonald House
• Give us space to remember that God invites people of every nation, tribe and tongue to worship together
• Give encouragement to parents of teenagers
• Pray for our loved ones who are sick and comfort us when we grieve
• Help us to die with hope for resurrection and new creation.
• Help us find ways to serve God with the gifts and talent he gave us
• Pray for our children when they get into trouble
• Clothe the naked, feed the hungry and house the homeless
• Teach us who God is through Bible study and challenge us to live according to His will.
• Celebrate our marriage and support us in our married life
• Welcome us when we feel alone
• Help us guard against crippling debt and loving money and stuff more than God.
• Help us recognize understand and appreciate our differences politically – finding unity through Christ rather than our national identities
• Listen to our confession of sin and remind us that we are forgiven and free from guilt and shame
• Give us a sanctuary space when life is uncertain and chaotic
• Strengthen and heal our marriage when we are hurting
• Help us heal through a divorce that we didn’t want
• Show us the value of having relationships with people of all ages
• Support us when we are caring for a loved one who is ill
• Keep faith when we cannot make sense of why things happen the way they do.
• Show us the value of doing hard things that are right and good rather than taking the easy way out.
• Encourage us to take risks by stepping out of our comfort zone to serve God
• Welcome us into a life of following Jesus through the sacrament of Baptism.
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