In Acts 17, Paul entered the city of Athens and began a conversation with a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers. At the Aeropagus, Paul reasoned with them about his faith in Jesus. Unlike Paul’s typical Jewish audience in a synagogue, these philosophers had no religious framework for a Jewish Messiah. So to illustrate his Christian message, Paul used their decidedly non-Christian art.
Paul pointed to an altar constructed for “an unknown god” saying, “Let me tell you about that God…” Paul quoted a poem from a Stoic named Aratus and a hymn from Epimenides of Crete. The quotation from the 7th Century B.C. hymn read, “In him we live and move and have our being.” Paul says that those words—originally written about the Greek god Zeus—are true about the One True God.
Paul redeems the concept—the idea, the art—for Christ.
That’s a little like what we do each year in our series God & the Movies. Join us this weekend as we fire up the popcorn machine and continue our annual movies series. In this series, we will look at some of Hollywood’s films to see how God tells his story through their stories. Bring a friend and come ready to hear from God.
NOTE: Because of copyright restrictions, we are unable to reproduce these messages on CD or post them on the Internet. Sorry for the inconvenience!
A few weeks ago at our weekend services, we studied Matthew 5:13-16 in which Jesus challenged us to be “salt” and “light” in a dark world that needs to be purified and preserved from decay. God is at work around us all the time, and he often chooses to work through us to bring healing to the world. He’s called us to be his agents of change in the world. He’s called us to change from being part of the problem to become part of the solution. In a sense, you could say that God has called us to be the answer to some of our own prayers.
So I thought today I’d share with you a prayer attributed to Francis of Assisi, a monk from the twelfth century. I encourage you to make his prayer your prayer this week.
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.” – Francis of Assisi
This weekend we heard the story of Olympic Gold Medalist Chad Hedrick. For 10 years, Chad was the overall world champion of inline skating. In 2002 he exchanged pavement for ice when he became a speed skater, quickly winning the All-Around World Championship in Norway. At the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino, he won three medals: the gold in the 5000m, a silver in the 10,000m and a bronze in the 1500m—becoming only the third Winter Olympian to win 3 medals in a single Olympic Games.
Chad and his family have been a part of our Capital family for the last year. I invited him to share the story of his spiritual journey with our community before he departed for the Vancouver Games. If you missed the video or the live interview, you can view it below.
As most of you know, on Tuesday a magnitude 7 earthquake struck the island of Haiti, creating one of the greatest natural disasters of our lifetime. There are several factors that make this disaster so terrible. The epicenter of the quake occurred in a densely populated area, where poverty levels were high, and the quality of building construction wasn’t. At present, the Red Cross estimates that 50,000 people have been killed. More than a million people are now without homes. Access for aid workers is difficult, because Haiti is an island, and the port was destroyed. Lines of communication have been seriously disrupted. And on top of everything, many of the responders are also victims—people who have lost their homes and their loved ones
Most of you are asking: WHAT CAN I DO? Our government and first responders discourage us from going. At this stage in the process, we need leave these efforts to the professionals, because most of us would just get in the way and become an additional resource drain.
But there are two things we can do as followers of Jesus: We can PRAY. We can GIVE.
At all three of our weekend services, we will receive an offering for our partner on the ground in Haiti—the Convoy of Hope. The Convoy of Hope is a humanitarian organization with resources leveraged around the world to help those in need. Their ministry in Haiti feeds 7000 children each day, and I’m thankful that their warehouse was restocked just before the earthquake. This enabled them to establish a command center just outside the capital city of Port-Au-Prince within 24 hours of the disaster.
But they need help. They need our prayers. They need our money. Right now. When you come to church this weekend, please come prepared to give generously for our friends who really need our help.
www.convoyofhope.org
Here’s a link from MSNBC with a reference to our partners:
