The Well

Pastor Laura's Blog

 

In Jesus' time, the town well was the place where people gathered and shared news and ideas. It was also the place they could be refreshed. In the book of John, chapter 4, the town well was where Jesus offered his living water to the Samaritan woman. In this blog, I will offer some reflections on sermons I just preached, and some thoughts on upcoming sermons and Scripture passages. I welcome your thoughts, questions and insights in conversation with me. Your feedback will help me as I pray about what word from God I can bring to people in the sermon. Please check in weekly and send me your thoughts via email through our Contact Us form.

December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas! As much as I love Christmas Day, I love Christmas Eve more. On Christmas Day, I pause here and there to remember the true meaning of Christmas, but I'm usually more focused on the presents and food and loved ones around me. It's a great day that creates great memories, but on Christmas Eve, I actually stop and allow myself time to marvel at the mystery of God coming to earth as a baby. There is a hushed anticipation in the air on Christmas Eve. Our service this year used candlelight everywhere to announce that the light had come into the world. We had luminarias lining the driveway, candles on every table, and we passed around the light of Christ to one another with individual candles. It was so beautiful to see the room illuminated with candlelight glowing on each face. We heard the Christmas story and sang favorite carols. It is my favorite service of the whole year, and I enjoy it even more than opening presents the next morning. O come, let us adore him!

Next Sunday is New Year's Eve. Instead of writing resolutions that we may or may not remember a week later, we're going to focus on what God might want to do to us and through us in the coming year. It's a safe bet that God wants us to change something about our lives in 2007. How can we know what it is? How can we find the strength/courage/time to do it? What are the consequences if we don't or the possibilities if we do? Come ponder the future with us on Sunday!

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December 18, 2006

Living Water Christian Church is so blessed to have talented musicians who lead us in worship. The people in Fusion 112 bring not only their musical gifts, but their own hearts for worship. They helped the Christmas story come alive for all of us during Music Sunday yesterday. I give thanks to God for these amazing people! After worship we had a potluck Christmas party with a silly white elephant gift exchange. It was so great to gather with all the new friends we have made since we started Living Water and laugh together, sharing food and fun. I did tell the gathered group, however, that my deepest prayer for our church is that we could never do this again - meaning that by next Christmas, there would be so many new people in our church that our current building couldn't hold them all at once. It is a big dream, a God-sized dream, but I believe we are called to continue to reach out to people who need a church like us. In order for that to happen, we must be willing to let go of "traditions", even good ones, so that we can make more room for more people who are looking for a place where they can find some living water.

Next Sunday is Christmas Eve. It will be a little strange to have a regular Sunday morning service at 11 am and then come back for Candlelight Christmas Eve at 5 pm. We have purposely designed the services to be very different so that people can have two unique Christmas Eve experiences. In the morning we will finish our series on Wayside Witnesses by looking at the stories of Simeon and Anna. In the evening, the room will be bathed in candlelight, and the music and message are designed to lead our hearts to worship the newborn king. It will be an amazing night full of wonder and joy. Please come join us for either or both of our services!

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December 11, 2006

Nothing puts a damper on the festive holiday mood like preaching about a king who killed babies. All things being equal, I would have preferred to ignore this horrific scene from the Christmas story and just preach on the happy and wonderful things about that first Christmas. But the Bible doesn't give us a wholesome, squeaky-clean version of Christ's birth. It tells us the story as it happened, a smelly, unsterile stable for the birth of our Lord, and a murderous king who would stop at nothing to kill him. Our nativity scenes don't capture this part of the story. It is the part we don't want to think about. But the truth is that our lives aren't always wholesome and squeaky-clean either. We often live in the midst of a mess, even as Jesus was born in the midst of a mess. We sometimes spend the Christmas season in sadness, loneliness and grief - possibly even grief as great as that which overtook the parents of those murdered infants. Yet the God who comforted them is the same God who offers us comfort, too. Christmas doesn't have to be artificially happy. We can bring our sadness and emptiness to the manger, too.

Next week we'll shift gears into a less-gruesome mode! Fusion 112 will bring us the message in music. One of the best things about Christmas is all the beautiful music that has been written about it throughout the centuries. We'll be treated to much of it as part of our worship next Sunday. After worship, we will have an all-church potluck Christmas party. Bring a side dish to share and a wrapped white elephant gift and have some fun with us. Guests are especially welcome!

(Speaking of Fusion 112, they will also be performing at our Friday night coffee house, Oasis, this Friday, Dec. 15. If you're not busy, come by between 7-11 pm and enjoy some sacred and secular Christmas classics by the band.)

 

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December 4, 2006

We had a very strange phenomena yesterday in worship. We had several people who brought visitors and friends (that's not the strange part!), and many of the guests were children and youth. As I looked out over our congregation, the people under the age of 20 almost outnumbered the people over the age of 20! It has been our prayer since we started Living Water that we could be a church for people of all ages, and it was so exciting to see lots of children and youth worshipping with all of us "older" folks. I mentioned in my sermon that we are living in the middle of a miracle, and yesterday was proof of that. God is at work through Living Water, and it is such an honor and joy to be invited along for the adventure. Just like Elizabeth, we are witnesses and participants in what God is doing!

Next Sunday we will look at the only bad guy on our list of Wayside Witnesses. Herod the Great knew all about the birth of Christ, but his response was one of violence and death. What would make a grown man feel threatened by a baby? Do we ever respond to what God is doing with anger or even violence? We'll take a look at the dark side of the Christmas story.

 

 

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November 27, 2006

I love Christmas and Christmas decorations. There is something about seeing a tree all decorated with lights and ornaments that just makes me happy. It's probably because it brings back so many wonderful memories of spending time with my family around our own tree or sitting in church listening to the story of Jesus' birth and hearing the beautiful music, surrounded by the twinkling white lights. But I have to admit that it was a little strange having the church all decorated for Christmas before Advent even started. It didn't help that it was almost 70 degrees outside! In the end, however, it helped set the mood for our new series "Wayside Witnesses" as we focused on the story of Zechariah in Luke 1:5-22. It is so easy to see myself in his story because I know I would have reacted the same way to Gabriel's news. As much as I say I believe that God can do miraculous things, it is something else to be faced with an angel telling you that God is going to do something miraculous in your own life. I'm afraid I would have spent the next 9 months in silence, too.

Next week we'll get to hear the story from Elizabeth's perspective. Can you imagine being a woman past childbearing years, finding out you're pregnant, and having a husband who suddenly can't speak or hear? Her story is just as amazing as Zechariah's.

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November 20, 2006

Every once in a while something happens in worship that can't be explained in human language. We had one of those services yesterday. Because it was Thanksgiving Sunday, we had an "open mic" time during the usual sermon slot so that people could share what God has done in their lives and tell why they are thankful. We have never done this before, so I wasn't sure if anyone would share or how it would play out. But what happened was more amazing and more moving than anything I could have imagined. It turns out that the people of Living Water had a lot of reasons to be thankful, and when they shared their stories, the presence of God came upon us all in a powerful way. I can't explain how moving it was to hear people share what a difference Living Water has made in their lives. We talk a lot about what it means to be the Church, to bring Christ's love to people who are hurting. But to hear these folks speak from their heart about how much Living Water has been God's love to them made me realize what an amazing and miraculous work God is doing among us. I have never felt more honored to be the pastor of this church than I was during that service. If you are looking for a church that can make God's love real to you, then please come join us for worship.

Next week we will begin our Christmas sermon series. This year, I thought it would be fun to look at the Christmas story through the eyes of some people who don't often get mentioned and are never seen in a nativity display. We'll begin next week with the story of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. His story is a testimony to power of God to accomplish unimaginable things. We'll also have our Christmas decorations up to begin to build the excitement for the birth of Christ.

 

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November 13, 2006

What better way to wrap up our series on 1 Cor. than spending some time in chapter 13? It is some of the most beautiful language in the whole Bible. Yet, most of us know it only as it is on its own - usually read at weddings. There's nothing wrong with reading Paul's words on love at weddings, but they take on even more power, beauty and significance when we read them in the context of the letter to the Corinthian church. If ever there was a group of people who needed to be reminded of love, this church was the group. Paul's words still cut to the heart of what it means to live as followers of Christ. Unfortunately, we still fall far short, but with God's help we believe that it is possible to become people who love the way Paul teaches us to love. And how the world might be changed if we did!

Next week we will try something new at Living Water. As we come together to give thanks to God on Thanksgiving Sunday, we will give people an opportunity to share their own stories of thankfulness. This "open mic" idea is often a risky one for a worship service. What if no one wants to share? What if everybody wants to share? What if someone is really long-winded? The risks can often lead pastors and worship leaders to either abandon the idea or simply ask a few people to prepare something ahead. But there is something wonderful and supernatural that can happen in a worship service when people begin to share their lives and their stories with each other. There is an unleashed power of the Holy Spirit that can speak to people's hearts in ways that all the sermons in the world cannot. I am prayerfully trusting that God will use our stories to speak to us this week in worship. We will minister to each other as we lift our thanks to God. If you are in town this Sunday, don't miss this one-of-a-kind service.

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November 6, 2006

I usually try to avoid controversial and/or political issues in my sermons and lessons. The main reason for this is that my denomination - the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) - values the right of each person to disagree on issues that are not central to faith so that we may come together and worship in the name of the One whom we all agree is Lord and Savior - Jesus Christ. I think it is still a worthwhile goal to have a church where Republicans and Democrats and Independents can all worship together as brothers and sisters in Christ, even as they might practice their faith in different ways at the polls. But Missouri Amendment 2 regarding stem cell research is an issue that cuts to the heart of what we believe about God and what we believe about human life. Therefore, I thought it was worthwhile to spend some time looking at the issue during Act(s) II yesterday. I basically presented the thoughts of Adam Hamilton, pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, because he is someone I respect (although we don't agree on everything), and because I knew he spent a lot of time researching this issue.

We also spent a few minutes talking about Ted Haggard's removal from his church for sexual misconduct. We acknowledged that all of us are sinners, and God doesn't rank sins as we do, but it is especially damaging to the cause of Christ when a pastor leads an initiative to ban gay marriages when he himself has engaged a male prostitute. How do Christians communicate the Gospel, the Good News, to our friends and family when stories like that lead people to believe that all Christians are hypocrites who preach one thing and do something else behind closed doors? Both of these issues are difficult ones, and people of faith can disagree on how we should handle them, but as Christians, we cannot hide from the things that are going on in the world. We must prayerfully seek God's guidance when we enter the polling place and vote where the Spirit and the Scriptures lead us - even if it means we might vote differently than some of our Christian brothers and sisters.

Next week we will spend time in one of the most beautiful chapters in the whole Bible - 1 Cor. 13. This is Paul's call to love like humans are not used to loving. It is a call to love like Christ loves us. It is a way of living and loving that seems impossible, yet still causes us to dare to believe that we can do it with God's help. I can't wait to spend some time this week in this world of love that Paul paints for us!

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October 30, 2006

All things being equal, I'd actually prefer to not preach about sex. As an introvert, it's difficult for me to even say the word out loud, let alone preach on it for 20 minutes. But Paul saw how issues of sexual immorality were tearing apart the church in Corinth and tearing apart lives and families. If he knew that the issues must be addressed from a Christian perspective, then who am I to pretend they don't exist in the current culture? The thing is, Paul's approach to this is so refreshing and contemporary that the church needs to proclaim his wisdom inside the doors and outside. If each person were to see his or her body as a holy and beautiful part of who God created them to be, then sex could not be treated casually. So kudos to Paul to taking on difficult subjects and to continue to teach us 2,000 years later how to live in right relationship with God and others.

Next week we'll see how Paul envisioned the church functioning as the body of Christ. In order for a body to work correctly, all the different parts of it must be working toward the same goal. You can't have the eyes going one direction and the arms taking off in another direction. How can we achieve that kind of unity when all of us are so different from one another? This is the challenge for Living Water and for all churches today. Join us as we see what Paul has to say about living as the body of Christ in the world and to the world.

 

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October 23, 2006

It's been a while since we've spent any time with the Apostle Paul, and I have to say that I've missed him. I used to be one of these people who had a love/hate relationship with Paul. I found his tone frequently harsh, and I didn't think he had much appreciation for women and the gifts they have for ministry. But over time, I've come to see Paul as a tireless worker for God's Kingdom who tried to bring out the best in those he encountered. I've read some good books by scholars who suggest that Paul was actually a strong supporter of women in ministry (with Scriptural and historic evidence to back it up), and as I read through his letters, I get a sense of a man who loves deeply - loves God, loves the churches he's planted, and loves those who haven't heard about Jesus yet. He's human like the rest of us - he gets cranky and a little full of himself at times, but I kind of like the guy. I'm looking forward to spending some time with him as we go through the book of 1st Corinthians. Join us on this journey with Paul!

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October 16, 2006

Okay, I admit it, I'm bummed. We prayed and planned and prepared for months for our first-ever outdoor service, and the rain prevented us from having it. I tried to find my way to thankfulness for the rain that soaked the parched earth, but I kept ending up thinking, "You couldn't have waited a few hours to send the rain, God?" It's hard to understand why our best-laid plans - especially ones that will benefit God's people - don't work out the way we want them to. In the end, I can only confess that God is God, and I am not. We are still called to live out our faith and take it with us into our daily lives, into our community. Perhaps God will show us another way to do that.

 

It's been a while since we've looked at one of Paul's letters, and 1st Corinthians is one of his best. During the next four weeks, we'll read through this book, highlighting some of the best-known passages in worship and digging a little deeper during Act(s) II. I'm really looking forward to spending some time with Paul and this "Church on the Verge."

 

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October 9, 2006

Fall is my favorite time of the year. It's not just because of the beautiful colors on the trees, it's also the way the air smells and the crunching of the leaves under your feet. Crisp apples taste better in fall and hot chocolate warms you up from head to toe. I'm so excited that we are having an outdoor worship service next Sunday at English Landing Park! I know it's a little risky to plan an outdoor service in fall. We could get rained out or it might be really cold. But sometimes stepping out of the box and trying something new is a great way to experience God in a fresh way. If you live in the Kansas City area and are reading this before Oct. 15, 2006, then please come join us for this first-ever outdoor worship service for Living Water Christian Church. Fusion 112 will be playing lots of great music, and there'll be dogs and kids and coffee and hotdogs and all kinds of fun and chaos. We hope we'll see you in the park this Sunday at 11 am!

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October 2, 2006

Worldwide Communion Sunday is one of my favorite Sundays of the year. Of course, there's no reason why we can't sing songs in other languages and decorate the room with fabrics from other countries on other days of the year, but we don't seem to think about it as often as we should. On Worldwide Communion Sunday, we remember that we have brothers and sisters in Christ in many other parts of the world, yet we all gather at the same table to celebrate the Lord's Supper. This year, we sold jewelry made by Ugandan women as part of our celebration. And, as always, we served fair trade coffee to remember those who grow the coffee beans for us. We sang songs from Zimbabwe and South America. We used all kinds of bread from all kinds of places as our communion bread. We also read some emails from pastors in Africa who received prayers and pictures that our children and adults sent last month. In that way, a tangible part of us was a part of the worship in a church on the other side of the world. What a great way to worship God as a part of the whole body of Christ!

Next week we finish our sermon series on Reel Faith by looking at Citizen Kane. This film was ranked the #1 film of all time by the American Film Institute. Not only is a great work of art, but it also raises some interesting theological questions. Join us as we explore what is truly valuable and worth holding on to.

 

July-September 2006 archive

April-June 2006 archive

January-March 2006 archive

October-December 2005 archive

August-September 2005 archive

June-July 2005 archive

Who is Pastor Laura? Pastor Laura Guy, Living Water Christian Church

Get the 411 on Pastor Laura and the rest of Living Water's staff here. Read her answers to frequently asked questions here.