| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “How to inhabit time” Our Bible verse for today: “This is the blessing that Moses, the man of God, gave the Israelites before his death.” Deuteronomy 33:1 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Savor the moments” I love the scene in Deuteronomy chapter thirty-three. Moses is about to die but before he goes, he speaks words of blessing upon the people. The entire chapter is one long declaration of blessing. This is significant because much of what we read in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy about the previous forty years of Moses’ life revolves around the challenges and difficulties he had to deal with as he led the people out of captivity, and then for forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Sometimes there were big victories and magnificent encounters with God, but many other times there were embarrassing failures and great frustrations. But actually, what we read in the Bible is just a summary of the highlights, the main events that transpired over those years. For Moses, most of those forty years with God’s people would have been spent just living life in normal day-to-day activities – and much of it was surely good. There would have been births and birthdays, engagements and marriages, music and games, meals around the campfires, storytelling, jokes and pranks. Life. Just life. And in the end, when it was all said and done, Moses thought about those years, looked out upon his people, and he blessed them. That sounds a lot like church life to me – especially church life lived-out over many years in a good church. There are ups and downs, good times and bad. But overall, it’s mostly good. We should savor and enjoy that time together. This Sunday at Oak Hill Baptist we will have Sunday school, a worship service, three baptisms, a baptism party after the service, a gender reveal party in the afternoon, and an evening Bible study. You know, the stuff of normal church life. I’m looking forward to it and intend to savor every moment of it. I hope that will be true for you in your church as well. I want to leave you this morning with a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien. It’s one of my favorite scenes from the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. In the middle of a dangerous journey, Frodo and his traveling companions are enjoying a time of rest and renewal in the home of a friend: “The future, for good or for ill, was not forgotten, but ceased to have power over the present. Health and hope grew strong in them, and they were content with each day as it came, taking pleasure in every meal, and in every word and song.” I encourage you that as you gather with your church family tomorrow for sabbath-worship and for sabbath-rest, take pleasure in it all. Soak it in. Savor the moments. God bless, Pastor Jim |
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