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I have been thinking about Pastor Bert’s sermon this past Sunday, and I realize he is very right — there is something very different from communities of this world and a community of God.  Most communities in this world have an object of focus.  But the latter has a focus on a personal God — THE personal God.  God is that unique focal point Whom we can engage and the relationship by which we can develop.  I think I too easily fail to embrace this reality.

Bert’s comment about asking another “Can we pray?” is actually quite profound  (BTW, if you missed the sermon, it is well worth listening too).  As long as I have been a Christian, I have had such a hard time praying out loud.  It is even worst when I have to pray for somebody else.  I always think I am not all that eloquent and am not holy enough.  I am afraid I will not say the right things or misrepresent God or misunderstand the person I am praying for.

Yet I guess the point of a community of God is to focus on God.  As the chorus to the song Jesus, Lover of my Soul goes:

It’s all about You, Jesus
And all this is for You
For Your glory and Your fame
It’s not about me
As if You should do things my way
You alone are God and I surrender
To Your ways

It’s not about my inabilities or feeling of inadequacies.  It is about helping to lift others before God.  Like the Deut 10:16 verse from the sermon, it is about having a circumcised heart (a vicious and painful process) and not being stubborn with our ways.

This was a continuation of our series for this year. You can find the entire series at the BCEC Sermon Page or listen to last week’s sermon directly – Exploring Community: United Hearts.

Posted in 2011 Love Beyond and tagged .