TOUCHPOINT The Marble Magazine One West 29th Street, New York, NY 10001-4596 212-686-2770 MarbleChurch.org
SEPTEMBER 2017
Thoughts about Christ
During my summer sabbatical, I spent a lot of time in prayerful discernment about where I want us to go together as a community of faith this year. And, I kept coming back to our starting point, which is always Jesus. As scripture says, He “is the alpha and the omega” for us (Revelation 22:13), the beginning and the end of who and what we are as Christians. So, throughout this program year I want to focus with you on Christology (which literally means “thoughts about Christ”). It’s important We will not do this in any exclusionary manner, because in our as if to say there is no world, too often other pathway to God. We “Christianity” will simply confess that is wrongly as Christians, Jesus is our pathway. And as such, we associated with need to seriously consider fundamentalism, what that means. exclusivity, Obviously there will be political occasions when we will partisanship, deal primarily with passagjudgmentalism… es from Hebrew Scripture. Jesus was a rabbi. The Torah was His Bible (as it is ours), and thus we cannot study Him without studying it. Also, we will look into Acts and the Epistles, observations about Jesus written by first-century Christians who knew Him personally (or who were close with others who did). So, we won’t limit our study of scripture this program year to the four gospels. We will spend a lot of time in those gospels,
but the truth is that all scripture ultimately helps us identify, understand, and deepen our relationship with The Messiah. Why is this important? It’s important because in our world, too often “Christianity” is wrongly associated with fundamentalism, exclusivity, Dr. Michael Brown political partisanship, judgmentalism, and all sorts of phobias directed toward persons who are misunderstood and thus discounted. None of that has any point of contact with who Jesus was, how He related to others, what He taught, or the principles He lived for and died for. The world needs a corrected understanding of Christianity, and that cannot occur without a proper understanding of Jesus. So, I invite you this program year to become “Jesus students,” which ultimately enhances what it means to be “Christians” (“those who are like Christ”). Let me also take a moment to welcome on board Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton and Daryl Paul Lobban whose ministries will have Christ-like impact and influence on our church family. Please read what they have written for this issue of Touchpoint. Be sure to meet and welcome them, and please keep them (and all of us on staff) in your prayers.
SEPTEMBER 2017 SUNDAY WORSHIP, 11AM
SEPTEMBER 3
SEPTEMBER 17
Dr. Michael B. Brown Senior Minister preaching
WEDNESDAY WORSHIP
Matthew 15:21-28
Hebrews 4:14-16
Every Week
Faith in the Face of Silence The Humanity of Jesus 6:15PM Daryl Paul Lobban
SEPTEMBER 10
The Case for Honesty Matthew 5:33-37
SEPTEMBER 24
Jesus: A Friend to Those Whom We Don’t Like Luke 5:27-32