Shaped by a Blessing

I think I never blogged about our Sunday worship with the Mukachevo congregation.  Greg did another amazing job leading the worship music.  I sometimes wished I could have pursued a musical vocation much further than I ever did, and so Greg's graciousness and patience with me while I joined him in music-making is a real blessing to me. Thanks, Greg - it's been a pleasure serving with and learning from you!

I preached on 2 Corinthians 13:11-14 (verses 11-13, in some translations), with the focus being on the blessing in the last verse: "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." It's worth noting that the last verse is ... the last verse. The last verse of these two long letters to the Corinthians, to this messed-up church. The Corinthians had problems with the apostle Paul, with each other, with the gospel message itself.  And Paul deals with all that head-on.  And yet, for all of their problems, Paul doesn’t give up on them.   Paul doesn’t think they’re beyond God’s reach, have somehow put themselves outside of God’s grace.  No, he writes to them these important letters, these long letters, as an appeal to receive and live the love he knows they know in Jesus Christ.  And then the last possible words he can say to them, on behalf of his and their Lord, are: “Christ’s grace be with you, God’s love shape you, the Spirit’s fellowship be what you’re known for.”  To exactly this sort of people who have all sorts of problems – problems with God and problems with each other – comes this life-shaping blessing. These are not flowery words; they are words to combat evil – to erase gracelessness, to put a stop to hate, to bring together people who are divisive, isolated, and fragmented.  He wants them to be a congregation shaped by God’s blessing.

George wondered whether in the future there couldn't be an entire conference in Ukraine devoted to the topic of how our worship (worship services) ought to shape the lives we live: 

• As God greets us with grace in worship, so we need to receive God’s grace and peace in our daily lives.  
• As God’s grace frees us to confess our sins in worship, so God’s grace and peace frees us to live repentant lives every day.  
• As God’s Word builds us up as God’s people, makes us into God’s people in worship, so God’s Word should be central to our daily living, each one of us.  
• As we offer money in worship to the God who gave us everything anyway, so our whole lives should be offered to God in service and love.  
• As the Lord’s Supper makes visible God’s grace to us in Christ’s death and resurrection, so we need to live with eyes wide open to all of the amazing ways that Christ meets us in daily life. He is real, he is alive.

...And God’s blessing shapes us to live lives that are shaped like these things, like worship.

We'll see, George. 

The Lord bless and keep you and your congregation,

Dave