This past weekend, I had the opportunity to teach on being Free to Run in our relationship with Christ. My primary text was Hebrews 12:1 - "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." As people came into the services, we gave each of them a fist-sized rock to hold onto. During the course of the message, I used the rocks to symbolize the burdens we all carry.
Some of these burdens are from life in general - grief, accidents, loss, etc. Some burdens come from other people - disappointment, unrealistic expectations, abuse, gossip, etc. For other burdens, though, we have nobody to blame but ourselves - busyness, stress, burnout, lust, anger, bitterness, etc.
We closed the service with a special time of communion. We had everybody in the church come forward and place their rock in a metal tub placed at the foot of the stage - thus letting go of their burdens - before stepping over to eat the bread and drink the juice. It was humbling to see everyone respond to the teaching. The sound of the rocks hitting the metal tub and tumbling over the other rocks has been resonating in my mind ever since.
I closed out the service by talking about the scene in Forrest Gump where his braces come off his legs as he is running away from the three bullies who are pelting him with rocks. It is in this scene that we hear the oft-quoted line, "Run, Forrest, run!"
I told the audience I believe God is saying to us today, "Run, Church, run!" My hope is that we will accept His challenge. I hope that we can throw off our burdens of tradition, personal opinion, and lack of involvement and run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
We have an amazing opportunity before us with this new facility. Will we have the courage to come together as the church and use this opportunity to start a revolution in the Fox Valley area? It will not be easy, but I promise you the rewards will be great!
1 comment:
I'm the first! I'm the first! How often do I quote the phrase, "Run, Forest! Run!" I actually used that on a bulletin board one year during Lent..."Run, 5th Grade! Run!" And we posted what it was that they wanted to work towards to better themselves, during Lent. It was good to re-read that message! I suppose you are right..if we didn't have as much "junk in our trunks" we could run...and run far! Something to aspire to...
I love you!
~So. Cali Love~
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