"Most Unlikely"

Pastor Laura Guy

October 5, 2008

Here's an instant replay of what happened in worship:

We heard about the new Bill Maher movie "Religulous" in which he says that the claims of the major religions, including Christianity, are ridiculous. Pastor Laura admitted to feeling a little angry about the generalizations the movie makes about Christians, although she also admitted that there have been many Christians in our 2,000 year history who have given Maher much material to work with.
We thought about how Christianity has often been misunderstood, ridiculed and even hated. From the beginning, the claim that God came to earth in human form, lived and died for us, and offers us eternal life and resurrection has seemed beyond belief. For the early church, those claims were even considered blasphemous by the Jewish leaders. One of those leaders, Saul of Tarsus, was so angry at the Christians that he "breathed murderous threats" against them and sought to wipe them out.
We realized that even though Saul was perhaps the most unlikely person for God to call to spread the Gospel, that's exactly what happened. In Acts 9:1-18, Saul has an encounter with the risen Jesus that changes everything - his world view and his identity. He now identifies himself primarily as a follower of Jesus Christ. He now realizes that the "ridiculous" claims of Christianity are true.
We wondered if our identity changes when we meet Jesus, when we realize he is walking down the road with us. Do we now see ourselves as followers of Jesus Christ first, before we define ourselves by what we do or our family relationships? If we do, can others tell it by our actions?
We prayed that we would encounter Jesus, and like Paul, would identify ourselves first as his follower. We also prayed that others would see this new identity in us by the way we live out his love.
We celebrated communion at the table of forgiveness and grace.