Month: September 2024

Scripture:  Luke 11:1-13

Dear Church,

Last week, when Octavia led our time of corporate confession and pardon, she shared how a weekly practice of confessing sins was unfamiliar to her when she first came to the Grove. At first, she wondered what kinds of things people were doing that they needed to confess their sins every week.

She went on to beautifully share how regularly wrestling with her own sinfulness has borne fruit in her life.  A practice of confessing sins has deepened her awareness of God’s love for her and the power of grace and also broadened her compassion for and connection with other people in their struggles.

Mature Christians regularly face the reality that we are sinners.

But what happens when we grow too comfortable?

What happens when we decide that our sins–the things that separate us from God–are reasonable and tolerable? What happens when we keep confessing our sins, but stop repenting of them? How can we walk in the peace Christ has given us, confident of his grace and our belovedness and still, at the very same time, long for greater redemption and transformation? In other words, how do we live as sinners being saved by grace?

I hope you’ll join me as we consider the prayer Jesus gave his disciples in Luke and see that Jesus anticipated our weakness and provided a way for us not just to know, but experience the power of resurrection in our on-going struggle with sin.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

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Scripture:  Genesis 11:1-9

Dear Church,

Does God just not like tall buildings?

That was my question the first time I heard about the Tower of Babel and no Sunday School teacher ever answered it to my satisfaction.

Why was God so bent out of shape about the people coming together to work cooperatively to build a big tower? Just a few verses previously God was pretty pleased with Noah for building a big boat–what gives?

The Bible is a holy book.  It’s best read, not front to back, beginning to end, but in cycles. On a first read, this story is pure mystery.  But we can begin to understand the danger God saw on the plain of Shinar once we know about Pharoah’s pyramids, Nebuchadnezzar’s statue and Solomon’s temple.

The size of a vision doesn’t make it righteous. Every common cause isn’t in service of the common good. Everything that seems glorious, isn’t. This ancient story reveals that sin isn’t limited to the actions of individuals, we can also be collectively swept up into sin-filled destructive systems of oppression and harm.

Sin is corporate, too.  That’s a terrible, almost incomprehensible truth for those of us raised to take personal responsibility for our own righteousness. How can we be faithful in a world that sometimes gives us no good choices?

The good news is, we have a God who intervenes.  A God who makes a way when there is no way.  A God who loves us enough to thwart our plans and scatter us, even when that is our greatest fear. We have a God who loves us enough to be good to us, even when that goodness seems like a curse. Come and see how the very worst things that happen to us can sometimes, but not always, be our deliverance.

Things are not always what they seem. Sometimes, impressively great things have the capacity to destroy us.  And sometimes, the end of everything and death of our dreams is the door to the wild, free and abundant life we’ve been praying for.

Come and see.

Peace,

Pastor Kate

Want to chat about what you have heard? Click here:
https://www.thegrovecharlotte.org/connect-with-us

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