Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. I trust in You, my God! Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord Point out the right road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me for You are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in You. Remember O Lord your unfailing love and compassion which you have shown from long ages past. Forgive the rebellious sins of my youth…Archive for Richmond
Rva Worship 2010?
Been thinking this for awhile and wonder if anyone else has as well. I totally dig having a church family, and this isn’t about that at all.
A gathering of believers across Richmond – worshipping together. All churches represented. Every community. Praising Him as His bride; His church. I’ve no interest in denominational differences or if you even belong to a ‘church’. Come one, come all. Church worship rock bands, hymns sung by groups, individuals pouring their hearts out in praise, anyone. Well-known songs, or your own. I totally do NOT think it should be held at a ‘church’ building (sorry Scott); it has to be at someplace *different* – maybe a park or somewhere public. I know there’s regulations and laws and what-not so who knows. I’m no event planner so it’s not as if I’m going to pull this off.
The song that really gets me pumped every time I hear it is this (with the lyrics below):
Did you feel the mountains tremble?
Did you hear the oceans roar?
When the people rose to sing of Jesus Christ the risen one
Did you feel the people tremble?
Did you hear the singers roar?
When the lost began to sing of Jesus Christ the risen one
And we can see that God you’re moving
A mighty river through the nations
And young and old will turn to Jesus
Fling wide your heavenly gates
Prepare the way of the risen Lord
Open up the doors and let the music play
Let the streets resound with singing
Songs that bring your hope
Songs that bring your joy
Dancers who dance upon injustice
Did you feel the darkness tremble?
When all the saints join in one song
And all the streams flow as one river
To wash away our brokeness
And here we see that God you’re moving
A time of Jubilee is coming
When young and old return to Jesus
Fling wide your heavenly gates
Prepare the way of the risen Lord!
I could tie this in to some other posts I’ve read somewhat recently that have been simmering a bit in my head, including:
the trans-congregational church
I think that Kloha has pointed out something that may be missing among the church today. The church has become so exclusive and independent that we often miss the fact that we are united with other brothers and sisters in Christ as well – not only with the ones that meet with us from day-to-day or week-to-week.
… the success of the Nehemiah strategy will require that “all these players lay down their logos and their egos and embrace the city together. If we continue to work in isolation from each other, we will continue to be impotent. What emerges out of unity is clarity of purpose. What unites very different kinds of leaders is a passion to unite the church across denominational lines, serve the poor, reconcile the races, and take the whole Gospel to the whole city.”
“If Christianity was only about finding a group of people to live life with, who shared openly their search for God and allowed anyone, regardless of behavior, to seek too, and who collectively lived by faith to make the world a little more like heaven, would you be interested?…What people are asking for is the kingdom of God made tangible.”
“Church must not be the goal of the gospel anymore. Church should not be the focus of our efforts or the banner we hold up to explain what we’re about. Church should be what ends up happening as a natural response to people wanting to follow us, be with us, and be like us as we are following the way of Christ.”
what others are doing…
I’m going to try to continue the theme of external focus. I was sending emails to the gal in charge of our external focus team, but I figured I’d just pile together several articles that I’ve come across lately:
“A collective effort” (Chesterfield Observer)
During the cleanup, which is hosted annually by the Ampthill Civic Association, close to 60 volunteers assisted seniors with yard cleanup, tidied a neighborhood park and disposed of excess yard trimmings. The JDA redevelopment committee hopes to see similar events take place in other neighborhoods along the corridor.
And there is plenty of work to be done. In a 2005 survey of 1,931 houses located in Jefferson Davis neighborhoods, 14 percent of them were found to have heavy wear and aging, while 37 percent were in moderate condition.
The Plans, The Hope, The Future (View from the Bridge)
Great vision thoughts; I’m sure I want to be part of doing something like this, especially this concept of whole families doing things – not separate divisions (kids, teens, mothers, fathers).
Richmonders Involved in Strengthening our Communities
The mission of Richmonders Involved to Strengthen our Communities (RISC) is to bring together diverse congregations in order to powerfully address the root causes of poverty and injustice in the Greater Richmond area. RISC’s member congregations are located throughout the Greater Richmond area and are diverse in their socio-economic, racial, denominational and geographic backgrounds. Congregations in RISC work together to build relationships, listen to common concerns, research community problems, and then to take action to see that systems in the community are held accountable to principles of justice and fairness.
Community Emergency Response Team Course Starts June 2
The course provides citizens with basic emergency-response skills to help themselves, their families and neighbors during that critical time before professional emergency providers can arrive.
The Environmental Engineering Water Quality Team and Friends of Chesterfield’s Riverfront hosted a community cleanup of Pocoshock Creek on Oct.16, 2004.
show me where love and hope and faith are needed…
Awesome day earlier today… what I had expected to be a pretty good trip down to Monroe Park to distribute clothes, blankets and serve some food sure was something more… thanks to a major helping of generosity and giving by over 20 people from our church family.
Before moving out to go downtown, we made sure everyone knew each other and said a prayer or two; mine was one I read a day or two ago on this Church for Men Florida post:
God,
Open my eyes that I may see the needs of others;
Open my ears that I may hear their cries;
Open my heart that they need not be without succor;
Let me not be afraid to defend the weak because of the anger of the strong,
Nor afraid to defend the poor because of the anger of the rich.
Show me where love and hope and faith are needed,
And use me to bring them to those places.
And so open my eyes and my ears
That I may this coming day be able to do some work of peace for thee.
AMEN. Read the rest of this entry »
Serving Values
Donny remembered love (CHURCH FOR MEN FLORIDA related post)
Before I get to “Serving Values” let me say that what seemed really interesting was that a guy (picture above is not him – but another guy and another story…) who has lived on the streets for the past 3 weeks is walking around the parking lot; his name is Al. He apparently found a little card about our church and came on over. He is looking for a job. Not so much stuff, but he needed a pair of pants and hadn’t eaten yet. He sleeps outside (did I mention we had a freeze last night? ). His birthday is this Saturday too – he will be 50. Didn’t sound like he has any family and not really anyone around the area that he knows. We talked a fair amount before and after church gathering, and then for a few hours while I drove him around the area. He really just wanted to talk with someone.
Alright – “Serving Values”. The message was a rehash of a recent seminar (testimonies) by Peggy Schaub. Here’s the main points with links to the related Bible verses:
- Love God with All Your Heart
- Prayer
- Unity
- Excellence
- Attitude
- Not About Us
- Loving Others
- Serving is our response to God
There was a point said at the beginning that this isn’t a matter of salvation through “works” if you’ve heard the statement, but a matter of loving God for our salvation and serving Him by our works. As Steve put it it – “not a set of rules but a standard to which we believe God has called us.” So don’t serve because you want to feel good about yourself, don’t serve to check off for the week in some sort of “checkbox Christianity”. Do it out of love and thankfulness to God. I know there are many who do not feel as I do on this and many that have a different calling and different purpose; which is fine and good . Follow your God as you feel led to but I really feel like I must leave you with what resonates with me:
“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
“Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’
“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’
“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”
Chesterfield homeless
I’ve been a little off in la-la land for oh over a month or so when it comes to blogging (I marked my second blog as done due to it and a total lack of interest in that topic anymore). A bit here, a bit there… and life has just been busy, leaving not a lot of leftover time. Even still tonight, but …
I felt obliged to write a bit and link to three recent articles in my local newspaper, the Chesterfield Observer, on a topic close to my heart over the past year – homeless. To read the articles directly, here are the links: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Not bad reporting – I’m happy to see the topic get local coverage.
This came to mind because one of the people from New Venture who I’ve gone to Monroe Park with mentioned this series – in particular part 2 and the guy who lives in a tent off Jefferson Davis Hwy. Maybe we could change direction and focus on homelessness in Chesterfield? Somewhere in the 3 part series it talks about Chesterfield only making up a very small percentage, but we do know that there is less concern and focus on people experiencing homelessness in this County than in the City of Richmond, where most stay… time will tell where we go. If you will, say a little prayer for guidance on this.
