Doctor Burt Palmer kicks off our series called alignment by asking us, "How are our individual journeys calling us to become part of the larger community of faith?" Thank you for listening to Traditional worship at KUMC!

In John 3, Nicodemus comes to Jesus because he is a teacher, but as he listens to Jesus he realizes the most important change in his life isn't information, it is transformation. Most of us are familiar with the part of this passage as Jesus tells us that we must be born again or born from above to see what God is doing. But a child does nothing to be born, it is through the mother's pain and effort that a child is born. And so it is with us and Jesus. Jesus said in John 16:21-22,  "A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy."  Have you let yourself be born from above?

The church is built on the true foundation of Jesus Christ, it can and shall remain unshaken no matter what amount of shaking is going on in the world around us. But, stirring is the calling of Christians, it is our calling written in the waters of our baptism - continuous, unfailing, untiring stirring.

 In fact, at the pool of Bethesda Jesus taught that until and unless the waters are troubled or stirred, there can be no healing.

As Disciples of Jesus we are to be stirrers, to let God use us to stir the waters of brokenness in our world with grace and truth so that authentic healing can take place.

Drift: Through Jesus

As we get deeper into the heart of Hebrews we discover that there is a bold call that the community which is formed from following Christ should be both inwardly and outwardly changed by the good news of Jesus Christ.  Chapter 13 reveals many of those differences including the call that through Christ we can offer God our best.  Our offerings should be sacrificial, not just out of our excess, but made in a way that we feel the loss of that which we give to God.  Our sacrifices of praise should happen in all seasons regardless of our circumstances because God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and worthy of our best offering.  Our sacrifices of doing good should draw people’s attention to the radical love of the One we follow.  And our sacrifices of sharing should say to the other that they are as important to us as we are to ourselves.  Through Jesus, and only through Jesus, can we become living sacrifices.

The passage from Hebrews (12:4-13) isn’t trying to make sense of all the suffering in the world, it’s speaking directly to the struggle of being faithful. It invites us to view our effort to live faithfully as part of the process that God can use to grow our capacity to believe and trust Him. And in my experience if you are not struggling somewhere in your faith, you do are not wanting to grow in your faith.