August 13, 2013
Greetings to All. It is wonderful to be home. After a good week as the speaker at the Pacific Redwoods Family Camp of Journeys Farthest Out (I hope we can get a representative group from LABC to attend this camp in years to come), a good week catching up at home and going to A’s games and a good week at a family reunion with Karen’s family in Oregon I am refreshed and looking forward to the next chapters of our life together.
The Scripture for Sunday, August 18 is Hebrews 11:29 -12:2. In this text, which is part of the extended sermon extolling the significance of Jesus the Christ which is the book of Hebrews, the author considers the nature and significance of faith itself.
Having defined faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” the author gives examples from history in which faith functions as the courage to endure. Jesus is included as the ultimate example of such faith. He is described as the, “pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”
This celebration of the faith of Jesus leads to the questions at the heart of my sermon this week, “What was the faith of Jesus?” and “How does his faith inform our faith?’
We will look at several stories from the life of Jesus that give us insight into the nature of his faith. Those stories are:
- His proclamation that “the Kingdom of God is at hand.”
- His instruction to “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.”
- His healing of a leper and his direction to the man to present himself to the priests of the Temple as healed.
Prayers of the Congregation
These are the prayers from the Pastoral Prayer on August 11. Prayers for:
- The family of Beverly Cooper as they mourn her death
- Joan Thatcher – recovering from knee surgery
- Steve and Carol Leichter
- Kim Williams
- Jeanne Robinson as she mourns the death of her beloved dog
- Michelle Sampson – health concerns
Prayers with:
- Margaret Alexander for Renaldo LaChaux on the death of his brother
- Alean Saunder-Coffey for Luis Joaquin on the death of his father
- Katrina Lau for her father
- Kay Baxter for Stacey, Jamie and herself
Also:
- I just received an email from Helen Harrison requesting prayer for the Espaniola family on the death of their one year old son
- Pastor Tanner as she participates in the Senate meetings of the American Baptist Ministers Council
- Sheila Sims, surgery on August 22
- Nboudu Ghonda for his mother
- Robert Wilkins as he preaches at Resurrection Community Church in Berkeley the next two Sundays
Announcement
The Memorial Service for Beverly Cooper will be held in the LABC Sanctuary on Saturday, August 24 at 3:00 p.m..
Soup and Study and Wednesday Prayer and Bible Study resume next week.