Ben on March 7th, 2010

Matthew 5:13.  ”“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its salti­ness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for any­thing, except to be thrown out and tram­pled by men.”

Some­how we were only able to record the first half of this mes­sage.  I hope to post  a video some­time this week which will com­plete this message.

At the heart of this mes­sage is dis­cov­er­ing what it means to fol­low Jesus and seek­ing to learn what Jesus meant when he told his dis­ci­ples that they were to be the salt of the earth.

Ben on March 2nd, 2010

Salt & LightBring the Fla­vor,
Get Your Gleam On

Be sure to sign up for the one of the fol­low­ing Mis­sional opportunities:

@ ABBA’S COFFEE HOUSE:

We need peo­ple to lov­ingly serve drinks and snacks and help with clean up from 8 pm till about 10:30 pm on Fri­day, March 20, 2010.  Though the pri­mary pur­pose is help­ing with serv­ing the stu­dents who attend these con­certs, there is sec­ondary and even more impor­tant oppor­tu­nity.  An oppor­tu­nity to lis­ten to their sto­ries and to believe that ‘Small things done with great love change the world.’

@ Dubois Nurs­ing Home (two opportunities)

10AM Help our friends at Dubois Nurs­ing Home as they play bingo.  Once again though our main pur­pose is to be there to help and serve; there is another even more impor­tant oppor­tu­nity.  An oppor­tu­nity to lis­ten to their sto­ries, to let them know that they are loved believ­ing that ‘Small things done with great love change the world.’

2PM Par­tic­i­pate in a Bean Bag tour­na­ment.  Though we may get to play a game or two our main pur­pose is to help and serve oth­ers as they play, sec­ondly an even great oppor­tu­nity exists.  We have the oppor­tu­nity to lis­ten to their sto­ries, to let them know that they are loved and val­ued all the while believ­ing that ‘lit­tle things done with great love change the world.’

@ Christ the King Manor

10AM (and pos­si­bly later at 2PM) This is an oppor­tu­nity to lis­ten to the great her­itage of folk who live at Christ the King Manor.  Per­haps we may play a board game or two, sing a song; but at the heart of this ven­ture is truly lis­ten­ing to their story let­ting them know that their story is valu­able.  Remem­ber­ing that ‘Lit­tle things done with great love change the world.’

@ Nelson’s Golden Years

10AM (and pos­si­bly later at 2PM) This is an oppor­tu­nity to lis­ten to the great her­itage of folk who live at Nelson’s Golden Years.  Per­haps we may play a board game or two, sing a song; but at the heart of this ven­ture is truly lis­ten­ing to their story let­ting them know that their story is valu­able.  Remem­ber­ing that ‘Lit­tle things done with great love change the world.’

Create/Lead a Mis­sional Activ­ity yourself

One of the coolest things about this week­end is that any­one can have a great idea about ‘lit­tle things done with great love can change the world.’  Per­haps a group of peo­ple would work with the pub­lic library and read with chil­dren on a Sat­ur­day Morn­ing or after­noon. Per­haps a group might want to hang out at the mall and do prayer walks, and when God opens the door for a con­ver­sa­tion take the time to lis­ten to their story believ­ing that lit­tle things done with great love really do change the world. The pos­si­bil­i­ties of lov­ing our neigh­bors are end­less, just like God’s love for all humanity.

Ben on February 28th, 2010

Over the past eight weeks at Emmanuel, we have been explor­ing the beat­i­tudes which are the intro­duc­tion to Jesus’ first teach­ing in the book of Matthew (chap­ter 5 verses 1 – 12).  This week we take a moment to reflect and ask some ques­tions that I hope will help us on our jour­ney of fol­low­ing Jesus.

Here’s a fun wor­dle from the beatitudes…

So what do you think the is the empha­sis of this pas­sage of scripture?