2019 August Tapestry

Page 1

The First Baptist Church of Redlands

T A PE S T R Y

August 2019

Wo v e n To g e t h e r I n L o v e : C o l o s s i a n s 2 : 2

Issue No. 8

Telling Stories A Message from Pastor Shawn So when someone asks, “What is the gospel?” the best response is, “Let me tell you a story.” You might start with Abraham, Isaiah, or Luke. You might start with the Samaritan woman at the well. You might start with a story about your grandmother or a rural church camp or a dining room table surrounded by Woody’s chairs. At some point, you will get to Jesus, and Jesus will change everything. (Rachel Held Evans, Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again, p. 151)

This summer we are telling stories: stories about different people that we find in the Christian Scriptures. We are doing this as a summer sermon series on Sunday mornings. In each case we are introduced to them. Sometimes we share details about them that we never noticed before. Sometimes we clear up some misconceptions. Our goal is to discover how that person connected with God and what we can learn from

their lives. So far, we have met Lydia the business woman in Philippi, Philip the evangelist, Mary Magdalene the Apostle to the Apostles, Philemon and Onesimus, and Athenians Dionysius and Damaris. In August and September, we will meet Cleopas and Companion, the Women of Romans 16, Nicodemus, some People in conflict and some Mothers of some church leaders. As a bonus, we are presenting “movies” before each sermon to creatively introduce the characters. I hope that each of these people will come alive for us in a such a way that we are inspired and instructed in our relationship with Jesus. I hope that as we look at these various people that we will be inspired to look at our own stories: where we are in our journey with God? How did we get here? Where do we want to go? What do we need to do to get there? Hopefully, as Rachel says above, “At some point, you will get to Jesus, and Jesus will change everything.” I also hope that our meetings with

various people in the Bible will not be limited to Sunday morning. I hope that each of us will take the time to meet people in the Bible in our own personal study of the Scriptures. As you meet a character you might want to use a journal to write and reflect on how you relate or connect to that character. If you want to get creative, write an entry in your journal as if you were that character telling their story…or that character writing a letter to you to tell you what they want you to know. Or find someone who will join you in meeting different people in Scriptures and get together, either in person, on the phone or electronically and share with each other what you observe and wonder. When we take the initiative to do “more” than just listen to the sermon, it makes more of an impact on us. AND we will see how Jesus changes everything! In Christ, Pastor Shawn


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.