Becoming Real

I am so glad to be back with you all this Sunday!

Our family has been so blessed by many of you who have provided meals, prayers, care and continued to serve our church family while we cared for our own little flock. Thank you to all who reached out and blessed us in so many ways!

This Sunday we begin our fall series called  “Becoming Real”. We’ll study the lives of Jesus’ followers, like Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene, Mary & Martha and Peter, and to discover, through each encounter with Jesus’ love and presence, how they were transformed in His likeness in new and deeper ways.

The series title is drawn from the children’s story, The Velveteen Rabbit, in which a stuffed bunny embarks on the powerful journey of being loved by a little boy into becoming a real bunny.

Along the way, the Velveteen Rabbit learns to be loved, to get messy, to be devoted and even to be tossed away…

All of this contributes to his process of Becoming Real through the simple, daily love of his child.

And this is the same journey all of us are on, too, with Jesus.

“The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory… give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” Ephesians‬ ‭1‬:‭17‬-‭20‬.

Jesus has so much more for us!

But it requires more of us be softened by His love, hunger for His presence, nourish ourselves on His word, and walk more deeply with Him hand in hand.

The Christian journey isn’t just a one time prayer but a continual love relationship in which, with each encounter with Jesus, we are transformed into more of ourselves.

His love moves past our worn out fur, our tattered edges, our frayed ideas, and loves us unceasingly so that even, and sometimes especially, in our worst places we discover our true self leaking out as we lean into His perfect love. (1 John )

As the wise Skin Horse says, 

“Real isn't how you are made…it's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

May we press in, together, to the tender, unending love of God shown to us through Jesus, by the Spirit.

More, Lord.

Pastor Dave