Community Updates

Preparing for Worship: This Thing is from the LORD

Jason Davison
January 7, 2022
"It Must Have Been Your Hands", Clay Crosse

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.
"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,
You'd walk with me all the way.
But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,
there was only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."
---“Footprints in the Sand”, Authorship Disputed

“The workings of God are not spectacular, not magical, not oddities.  Disclosure of God comes by steady discernment and by readiness to trust the resilience that is present in the course of daily affairs.”
---Interpretation: Genesis, by Walter Brueggemann


       Note:  No Christian Formation this week
                 Worship is at 10:15 AM on Sunday
                 In-person worship and
live stream
           

Dear Grace Family,

Many blessings to each of you as we recognize the revelation of Christ to us on this coming Epiphany Sunday. Following the church calendar, Christmas season is capped off with the remembrance that God has been made manifest to us in the person of Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

It’s easy to call to mind the wise men following the great star as it is guided by God to light the way to the Christ child; the Magi were persuaded in their hearts that the stars revealed the Chosen One to them and travelled far under their conviction.

But what if there is no star guiding the way?  

What if there is no astrology, no equation, no discernable divine hand showing us which way to go?

These questions and others like them are answered by passages we find in Scripture where God’s presence seems muted, and the human actors on the stage must discern meaning from the mundane.

Our passage this Sunday, Genesis 24, is one of those stories where God’s Hand is present and active in a posture of blessing during a time of transition and loss—but in subtle ways rather than overtly miraculous.  

The matriarch Sarah has just passed and Abraham’s time on the earth is also drawing to an end, (Genesis 23 and 25 respectively). In this narrative, the question presented to the reader is whether God will truly continue His covenant blessings to the next generation, or was God’s steadfast love and faithfulness just reserved for Abraham, God’s “friend”? Moreover, what or who would come to bring consolation to Abraham and Isaac in their time of transition and loss?

I strongly encourage you to read all 67 verses of Genesis 24—we won’t have the space to explore such a beautiful, nuanced, and important chapter in detail this Sunday. That said,  this story showcases a variety of individuals who become convinced of the hand of God to guide, bless, and console in the mundane, or “coincidences” we experience in life.

Try placing yourselves in this exquisite story; you’ll find most of the actors on the stage become convinced of God’s will and benevolence during changing times. I pray as we enter 2022, you and I may become persuaded that though heartache and change come—God’s love never will never leave you and He orchestrates all things well.  May we all be convinced of this truth and confess, “This thing is from the LORD” (Gen 24:50)!

May God’s light brighten your way!

This Sunday: Genesis 24:1-4, 6-9, 12-15, 27-30, 48-50, 55-67
                     "This Thing is from the LORD"
         
Here is the Order of Worship.

Whether remotely or in person, let’s worship together this Sunday,

Jason

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