“SHARING JOY BECAUSE YOU MATTER TO GOD!”
This Sunday morning, I will conclude a 3 week sermon series on Covenant’s vision statement; “To be an inclusive community of faith – Offering Hope + Showing Faithfulness + Sharing Joy.” This week of course is about “Sharing Joy.”
A few years back, a Mercedes TV commercial showed a Mercedes crashing into a concrete wall during a safety test. An engineer in a white lab coat walks over after the crash and kneels down to examine the damage, which is minimal. A reporter then asks the engineer about Mercedes’ energy absorbing car body. After the engineer tells all about the unique design, the reporter asks him why Mercedes doesn’t enforce their patent on the design, a design evidently copied by several other companies because of its success. The engineer then replies matter-of-factly, “Because some things in life are too important not to share.” How true this is.
There are many things in life that fall into this “too important not to share” category. Advances in science, in medicine, in technology. But all of these pale in importance to that of sharing the joy of our faith.
This past Wednesday night I said that in every season of life we should ask four questions. One of the questions was “How can I help others in this season of life?” It is a question that we should ask in every season of ministry at Covenant. One of the answers to this question is “Sharing Joy.”
But what does it really mean “To be an inclusive community of faith – … Sharing Joy?” There is the obvious definition of “Sharing our joy as encouragement and hope for others.” However, I believe it means so much more than that. It also includes sharing the good news of God’s unconditional love, forgiveness, acceptance and grace as a means of helping others discover, experience and have joy in their lives. When we do that effectively, “Sharing Joy” is an important means of helping others to know that “You Matter to God!” I can only imagine how much better this world would be and the lives of people would be if we all woke up each morning with a real confidence that “I matter to God.”
Near the beginning of each Sunday morning services we say “No matter who you are, where you are on life’s journey or who you love, you are welcome here!” It is a radically inclusive invitation for ALL to share in the worship and life of Covenant! And we mean it! It’s one of the ways we seek to live out our Covenant’s vision of “Sharing Joy,” by helping others to know “You Matter to God.”
Join us this Sunday and be blessed in our worship as we share more of this great truth from the vision of Covenant. Why? It’s simply “Because some things in life are too important not to share.” My sermon title will be “Sharing Joy Because You Matter to God,” based on Psalms 139:1-18, 23-24 and I Corinthians 6:19-20.
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