This Sunday is the 8th Sunday of Kingdomtide. Our theme for this liturgical season is seeking to make “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” October sermons are a series on our Covenant Mission Statement.
The United Church of Christ proclaims, “God is still speaking!” It also proclaims, “Never put a period, where God has placed a comma.” Both statements point to a Divine Entity that exist and desires to have an ongoing relationship with us.
The fact is we were created for fellowship with God. Philosopher Blaise Pascal said in the 1600s “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each [person] which cannot be satisfied by a created thing but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” Ignorance of this great truth has caused many people to live their entire lives not knowing what will fulfill the deepest longing within them.
Covenant was founded nearly 40 years ago to help our disenfranchised condemned community to discover we too are included in God’s unconditional love, forgiveness, and acceptance. In discerning the wider mission God has for our congregation, as wonderful as it is to know and celebrate God’s love; our mission also includes helping ourselves and others to know the fulfillment of God’s best for our lives through “cultivating a relationship with God.” It is in the cultivating a relationship with God in which we discover that the deepest longing within us (that God-shaped vacuum) finds fulfillment. And so, our Covenant mission statement first includes that “We exist to celebrate the love of God.” Secondly, , “to cultivate a relationship with God.”
Join us this Sunday in worship by Zoom or Facebook livestream at 11:30 AM. While we will continue our 2020 theme for Kingdomtide, my sermon will do so in light of considering Part 2 of our Covenant Mission Statement: “The Mission is To Cultivate A Relationship with God,” based on Psalms 23 and Philippians 4:1-9.
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