Half The Conversation

Several years ago, Sarah and I shared one account for our phones.  That way we could share music and pictures and everything else stored on our phones…to be honest, we didn’t realize almost two decades ago that all of our life would be on our phones…that didn’t even occur to us.
The problem with sharing one account is, occasionally, for no reason we completely understood, some of our texts, calendars, emails and other things would show up on the other persons phone without going through a series of menu options to change that or stop it from happening.

We maybe didn’t send the initial text or send the initial email or initial calendar invite and yet, we had this bit of information that was intended for someone else and we were seriously confused.

Have you ever tried to understand a conversation with only reading one side of it?
Whether it is sitting there listening to someone talk on their phone, but have no idea what the person on the other end is saying.
It is very confusing.

This is what the letters are like in the New Testament.  We are reading Paul’s outgoing message sent for someone else.  We didn’t start the correspondence or read it, it wasn’t intended for us and yet we get to read it, and if we aren’t careful we will be seriously confused and misread these letters.

We value biblical literacy here at The Chapel and we want people to know how to wrestle with scriptures, to see what was happening at the time, what it meant for them then, and what it means for us now.  We do that every Sunday at worship and at every Bible Study and in our Advent and Lent Guides and on our podcast.  Our hope is that as we wrestle faithfully, we will draw closer to God.

When the Hebrew people first settled in Egypt when Joseph (and his amazing technicolored dream coat) were number two in command…Joseph had his family live in Goshen.  It was an area that was outside of the hustle and bustle, where they could farm and raise animals.  They found themselves in a polytheistic world, all sorts of Egyptian gods and idols to bow down to all around them.
This is not where they were supposed to be.
They were supposed to be in the Promised Land.
And yet, even though they are in Egypt, they are actually living in Goshen, and Goshen is almost the exact same words for “draw near”.

As in, when they were in a destructive place, far from their Promised Land, a place that could cause them to drift from their knowledge and relationship with God, be distracted or distanced from God and God’s purpose in their life, they were reminded to draw near.  They are supposed to draw near to God even though the world around them could easily lead them away.

That is what studying scripture does.  It draws us nearer to our God, to wrestle with the story of our faith, and to see and know our part within that same journey no matter the environment we find ourselves in.  We can draw near to God, because God draws near to us.

This past Sunday morning, we kicked off studying the letter to the Ephesians.  It is Paul’s letter to this community of Jesus followers in what is now modern day Turkey.  For the next 5 weeks we will be journeying through that text one chapter at a time.  I’m excited that Branden Campbell, who preaches here regularly and his wife leads 30A Prays (the prayer ministry we partner with), will be preaching half this series.  He will be here this Sunday as we jump in to Ephesians chapter 2.
I’ll be back the following two weeks, so I hope to see you Sunday mornings over the next month.

There are lots of things in this world that divide us, cause us to focus on our differences, and make us think we must be enemies with anyone slightly different than us or our opinion. Honestly I think it is a lot easier to do that, when we no longer draw close to God, no longer wrestle with the scriptures and no longer see people created in the image of God…and I don’t think that is what God had in mind when creation began.
When we assume things about others, automatically make them a foe, and write a narrative in our mind that is not based in fact or reality, we are disconnecting people from their story and who God is and what God is doing.

The solution to this, is get to know the other side of the story, to draw near…just like with these letters from Paul, we have to get to know the other side of the story, so that we can discern, know, live, and love well.
Let us be the people who buck the trend, turn the tide, and find beauty in the uniting under our God and King, trusting in the love of God the father, following in the footsteps of Jesus, and letting the Spirit guide and direct us.

One of the ways to simply know God more is to know our scriptures more.  So I hope you will join us as do that.  As we let the same Spirit that guided the composition and canonization of the texts, guide our study.

In the past few years our boys have needed accountants for watches and tablets, so we created a family account, with proper settings.  It turns out, there is a lot out there that can help guide me, give me clarity, and help me to do this better when it comes to technology…but I probably didn’t look before.

It turns out, there is a lot out there that can help guide me, give me clarity, and help me to do this better when it comes to our faith…But most of us probably don’t look.
What would happen if we looked at the scriptures?
What would we find if we combed through this?
What would happen if we drew nearer to our God and King, our Savior and Messiah?

Draw near with us, wrestle with us, help us to see Pauls message to these early followers of Jesus and what it means for us 2000 years late.

If for some reason you can’t join us, you are out of town, or under the weather, you can always worship online or follow along on the podcast, The Chapel at Seaside.

 

I hope you continue to draw nearer to Jesus as we abide in him, are changed by him, and embody his ways for the glory of God and good of others.
Lots of great stuff coming up.  Check out details below.

• Sarah and I are both out this weekend, but I know it is going to be a great time with Branden preaching.  You will not want to miss Ephesians 2 on Sunday morning at 10am at The Chapel.
• We have a noon prayer hour every Tuesday at noon.  We partner with our friends at 30A Prays for a guided prayer time.  Come and go as you need.
• Bible studies are in full swing.  Our Men’s Study on Wednesday meets from 8am-9am.  We’ll be in Exodus 15 this week.  The Women’s Study on Wednesday meets 9:30am-10:30/11am.
• Our young adult/20’s and 30’s group meets on Thursday mornings 8am-9:15am.  They are also studying Exodus.  The 20’s and 30’s are not meeting this Thursday, October 24th, but we will be back on Thursday, October 31st.  We hope to see you then!
• In case you didn’t know all of our sermon and our Bible Study teachings are available on podcast.  We launched a Bible Study recap podcast called Chapel Study Notes, and we think it’s pretty great.  Check them out on Spotify here, Apple Podcast here, or wherever you stream.
• If you are out of town, under the weather, or just need to worship from home, you can watch our live-stream on our website, thechapelatseaside.com, on our Facebook page, Facebook.com/TheChapelAtSeaside and our Vimeo page, Vimeo.com/thechapelatseaside.

Other upcoming things.

• Sunday, November 3rd – Communion at 9am at The Chapel, followed by coffee and pastries.  Worship like normal at 10am.
• Sunday, November 17th – Night of Worship led by Daniel Pratt, Nate Kelly and friends.

Let us know if you have any questions and we look forward to seeing you soon as we continue to draw near to Jesus.

Blessings,

Andrew.