NOTE FROM PASTOR J R FOR SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2021
This Sunday is the Ninth Sunday of Kingdomtide. Covenant will also hold our Annual Congregational Meeting at 2 PM by Zoom that afternoon.
Reading the assigned gospel text and reflecting on the privilege and responsibilities we have as members of Covenant, I thought of an old English TV series, I use to watch years ago called “Are You Being Served?” While the story was set in a department store featuring humor based on sexual innuendos, mistaken identity & misunderstandings, and such, it had very little to do with what the title implied, serving their customers. That made me think, that sounds too familiar of many Churches today.
God is still speaking. The gospel message is one of radical inclusion and we should be asking our customers “Are You Being Served?” And if not, seeking to serve them. Our customers are those whom God has entrusted into our care. This includes the community we serve, Covenant visitors, as well as anyone Jesus brings into our path in which we can help. Instead, we are too often like James and John in the gospel. Our question is: “What’s in it for me?” Or a request to: “Please give me what I want.”
Jesus always turned such thinking upside down sought to redirect His disciples, then and now, to where our thinking and our actions should be. In response to a selfish request by the Zebedee brothers, Jesus told them, “… Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant. Whoever wants to be first among you will be the slave of all, for the Human One didn’t come to be served but rather to serve and to give His life to liberate many people.” (Mark 10:43b-45, CEB) We are on the right service track as Christ’s followers when our first question is “Are You Being Served?”
Join Covenant this Sunday for worship, in-person, by Zoom or Facebook Livestream.” My sermon is “Are You Being Served?” based on “Mark 10:35-45.”
REMINDER: COVENANT MEMBERS, PLEASE ATTEND THE CONGREGATIONAL MEETING AT 2 PM, IN PERSON OR BY ZOOM.
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