For the past 6 months I have been the “guest speaker” at a rural church in Logan County.\u00a0 Stephenson Chapel has been good to us and Beth and I have enjoyed our time there.\u00a0 Even though there are some cultural differences (most of the church works on the farms and 80% of the families are related to each other and have been there for decades), they have granted me an amazing amount of flexibility.\u00a0 I have benefited from being able to take some of the thoughts floating in my head from Seminary and give them flesh and coherence.\u00a0 At first I just modified some sermons I had previously preached, but as time went on I began developing my own sermons series from scratch.\u00a0 Knowing you only have a limited time, it is challenging to decide what is the most important things to focus on.<\/p>\n
My first series was a merger of Rob Bell’s New Exodus<\/a> material and Sandra Richter’s approach to understanding the Old Testament.<\/a> This series focused on the major flow Israel and God’s constant desire to use his people to bring about a reconciled world.\u00a0 From there, we transitioned into Lent where we looked at how Jesus fulfilled and continued this trajectory of redemption.\u00a0 We ended by looking at what Jesus focused on when addressing believers and looked at wealth, possessions, worry, hate, etc.\u00a0 Through all this my intention was to paint a picture from Genesis to Revelation of how God expects his people to join him bringing about a restored earth.\u00a0 I always had in mind the picture from Revelation 21-22:<\/p>\n 1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away<\/strong><\/em>.”<\/p>\n …<\/p>\n 1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nation<\/strong><\/em>s. 3No longer will there be any curse<\/strong><\/em>. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n When I first began to work through my faith, I never understood Christianity in any other way than a personal relationship with God that resulted in eternal life when I died.\u00a0 The more I have worked through the Christian Narrative, the more I have realized following Jesus is just the entryway into a life of reconciliation that places Christians as the primary agents of restoration.\u00a0 It was my goal in laying out the sermons at Stephenson Chapel so that this fuller understanding of Christianity was taught.\u00a0 I don’t know if I succeeded or not, but it was helpful for me in my own faith to work through it.<\/p>\n Well last Sunday was my final day at Stephenson, and part of the motivation to write this post was my own reflection on the message I left them with.\u00a0 Even as Beth and I were driving back to BG, I was thinking through these ideas.\u00a0 It was during that drive that John Lennon’s song “Imagine came on.\u00a0 I have included the video and lyrics below:
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