God doesn't call the qualified; He qualifies the called.

I saw this on a bumper sticker once and it really stuck with me.

Look at any person in the Bible who does something amazing.

Before God, that person is just like us.
Has an ordinary life.
Has struggles.
Fails.
Screws up sometimes.
Enjoys the same types of things.
Before God, that person is not that amazing.

God takes that person, just like us, and does something amazing with them.

But what does he give them???

Just read the scripture that we'll be discussing on Saturday.
John 14:15-31

Jesus talks about what God can give and how to get it.
"Keep my commandments" and you will get:
-God to live in you (no more loneliness)
-God will be revealed to you
-Rejoicing
-Peace
-Love
etc.

The songs for Saturday are Be Glorified, Indescribable, Heart of Worship,
and Grace Like Rain.

The first two describe how awesome God is for giving these things to us, for allowing us to be alive and able to choose freely to follow his commandments or not. For me, that is important because these gifts from God we get if we follow the commandments become more special and mean more to us if we make a choice. If we get to see what life is like without those gifts, then we appreciate them when we experience how much better life is with them.

Real rejoicing.
Real peace.
Real love.

The world offers substitutes, but it is like living your life in front of the TV. You sit there and watch other people live life and have experiences, yet even though you may learn things about life through what you watch, you are not experiencing anything yourself.

What value is there in that?

You don't know how great it feels to be truly joyful or truly content or truly in love if you have only experienced the temporary highs of the worldly offerings.
Likewise, you could take for granted how special those pure, Godly gifts are
if you don't know what it is to be without them.

That is the blessing and curse of choice.

"Grace Like Rain" is a version of "Amazing Grace" that proclaims how wonderful life is now that the gift of Grace is in the life of the author.

"Heart of Worship" describes how one church stripped away everything that was not essential to worship and found a deeper relationship with God.

Choices.
It is continually a challenge to make the right choice,
but that is why we are given tools, advice, and people to help us along the way.

May your Advent season be full of joy,

Virginia Yates

Incorruptible

Faith Renaissance.
The rebirth of something old.

We will get a wonderful chance this weekend to discuss faith through scenes of the play
Incorruptible by Michael Hollinger
performed by the drama team from Wesley Theological Seminary.

"Welcome to Priseaux, France, circa 1250 A.D.; the river flooded again last week. The Chandler's shop just burned to the ground. Nobody has heard of the wheelbarrow yet. And Saint Foy, the patron saint of the monastery, hasn't worked a miracle in 13 years. In other words, the Dark Ages still look pretty dark. All eyes turn to the Pope, whose promised visit will surely encourage other pilgrims to make the trek and restore the abbey to its former glory. That is, until a rival church claims to possess the relics of Saint Foy -- and their bones are working miracles. All seems lost until the destitute monks take a lesson from a larcenous one-eyed minstrel, who teaches them an outrageous new way to repay old debts."



This dark comedy about the monks in the dark ages will surely spark wonderful topics of
conversation about the church, rituals, materialism, and most importantly, faith.

So come to the service, spend your own time in prayer, grab some coffee, and get ready for a night of laughs, discussion, and faith.