The truth: if you believe in Jesus, Christian is your identity. Its like your last name- its paramount.
The trap: especially for majority culture Christians, it is difficult to live like this.
The transformation: the apostles were willing to do something to bridge the gap between what they were called, and how they lived.
Check out our sermon on Acts 6 and Galatians 3 below!
Without God, human diversity is nothing but the scene for struggle, humiliation and death. But in the healing hands of the Christian God, diversity humbles us. It prepares us to know God, when other perspectives show us that we are not God. The conflict inherent in diverse perspectives becomes a source of creativity, and it sends us out on a mission to the world… not to colonize by glorifying ourselves and our culture, but to evangelize by glorifying God and His kingdom. Check out our sermon at the link below!
Black Lives Matter or All Lives Matter. Police Brutality or Protecting the Peace. 1619 or 1776. In America, on race, it seems like we are forced into a constant Either/Or. Alone of every narrative, Christianity provides some hope of unity. Listen to our latest sermon, Every Nation Under Heaven: Unity, at the link below!
Summer Announcements
Fellowship: Over the summer, we are going to provide a couple fellowship groups, designed so that you can drop in and out anytime you are in town.
Women: Join us for wine and a study of the minor prophets, Wednesday at 715 at Elizabeth Rick's house (98 Coffee Pointe Drive). Text her for the gate code (843-540-2653) when you get there
Men: Beer and brotherhood. Bring your own beverage and lawn chair, and meet in Harrison Key's driveway on Thursday. A local music phenomenon will be playing from 7-8 in the garage. If bleeding ears is your cup of tea, join then; otherwise, come hang out from 8-10.
Worship: I'll send out an email later this week when we have a worship location nailed down for Sunday. We will meet at 10 am.
2000 years ago, God sent a message we still seem not to have received: He cares passionately about racial injustice and division, and he calls his people to care passionately about it too. For their own good. Check out the first sermon in our series on Race and Christianity below.
Two weeks in the news. Two images. Two racial and/or national relationships characterized by endless war, suffering, domination, oppression, subjugation. Two radically different outcomes. How do we get from here to here? Pentecost shows us an image of two radically different kings. Submit your questions about the intersection of race, nationality, and Christianity, then join CTK this Sunday (5. 31.20) as we start a short series on being a truly Christian, post-Pentecost community.
When Yuri Gagarin went into space, he looked around and didn’t see God. When Buzz Aldrin went into space, he took communion? What accounts for the difference? Who are you more like?
On this Ascension Sunday, we remember that God is not in the business of justifying himself to us… he doesn’t submit to our rules, or offer all the explanations that we want. We submit to him- and that gives us the opportunity to respond to these difficult times with humility, courage, and compassion. Join us for digital worship by clicking here. Here is a link to the order of service to follow along.
Quarantine is a strange time to think about joining a new church. Who knows what the future will bring? And yet… maybe that’s exactly the reason to think about doing it! What if this pandemic is an opportunity to recognize anew the truth of Jesus’ words: that we must “build our house on the rock.” How does worship train us to love God, love neighbor, and love our city? How do you remain faithful to ancient traditions while still speaking to contemporary culture? How do you become a close-knit family, but remain friendly to the neighborhood? Check the image below to check out a worship service at Christ the King! Click here for the order of service to follow along.
Readings
Old Testament: Leviticus 16:20-34
Psalm 62
Gospel: Matt. 6:7-15
New Testament: 1 Thess. 5:1-11
Devotional
In strange times like this, it is totally understandable that people would talk about the end of the world. Things are so new, different, scary, uncertain... there is a sense in which it is the end of A world, at least for awhile. Our old worlds have shrunk considerably, to the house we live in and the people we live with. And we start to realize that even that house, even those people and our relationships with them, only really fit together in the context of a world where we didn't have to be there all the time. So I understand the suspicion that its the end of the world.
You are important to God, and he loves you and knows you better than you know yourself. But. But. But part of the reason we move from "my life is changing dramatically" to "its the end of the world" is because we overestimate our importance to the world, and to God's actions within it. And we are inclined to think then that God's care for us is only expressed in the circumstances of this world.
So many of our readings today encourage us to take a deep breath and relax: because we are just not that important. God's plans and purposes are accomplished in history despite the constant "ending of the world." His care and concern for you is not contingent on this iteration of the world lasting forever (Psalm 62:2). Being oppressed in this world doesn't change his love for you (62:10); riches have nothing to do with it. "People of low degree are just a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. They are together lighter than a breath." (WOW).
So we do what 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 encourages us to do. We keep calm, and live sober, steadfast, holy lives. Because God cares for us and loves us... His World is not ending, even when this version of it seems like it is.
Hymn
A Mighty Fortress is Our God
Prayer
Pray Psalm 61 aloud.
Margaret Wilson, A Wigtown Martyr
Readings
Old Testament: Leviticus 16:1-19
Psalm 57
Gospel: Matt. 6:1-6
New Testament: 1 Thess. 4:13-18
Devotional
Leviticus 16, at first glance, could hardly seem less relevant to the modern church. Blood sacrifices, empty thrones, burning incense... weird, amirite? Until we consider the fact that what is being described in the Tent of Meeting is just that- the place on Earth where God came down to meet with his people as their king. To sit on his throne, the throne of mercy. To rule his nation, his people. We think of Christianity as a philosophy (something to think) or a moral code (something to do). And Christianity certainly provides those things. But to be a Christian isn't to think something or do something... its to be a citizen of a different kingdom. Kingdoms have Kings, and Jesus is ours. And sometimes in modern life, this insight is lost. We think of ourselves as citizens of America, in which we are Christians. But most Christians throughout history have reversed that order: they thought of themselves as citizens of the Kingdom, incidentally living wherever they are.
On this day in history, 1685, an 18 year old woman named Margaret Wilson was tied to a stake in a tidal river in Wigtown Scotland and drowned when the tide came in. Her crime? She was a Covenanter- someone who swore that they would accept no king over the church except Jesus Christ himself. You can read more about the Covenanters (who are in our heritage) here. We would not agree with everything a Scottish Covenanter believed. But their refusal to accept earthly kingship over the church led them to positions which (at the time) were extremely countercultural, but in retrospect were... holy. Covenanters opposed slavery on biblical grounds, for instance, from the time they came to America. They marched to a quirky rhythm, and endured persecution for it, because they were convinced that Jesus was their political authority, and they were determined to bring that it into physical existence.
It is difficult to imagine this sort of conviction today. And we aren't often sure how to apply it. But the martyrdom of Margaret Wilson invites us to at least ask the question- what does it mean, really mean, for us to have Jesus as King- not just over our interior lives, or our ethics... but over our world?
Hymn
The Lord is King
Prayer
Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant
us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way,
the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his
steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ
your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity
of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
