"The Amazing Shrinking Army"

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

We learned about the judges, men and women whom God chose to lead the Israelites as they were settling the land. One of those judges, Gideon, was surprised when God called him because he was not a "born leader."
We heard how God told Gideon to gather an army to fight the Midianites and keep them from destroying crops and livestock. Originally, 32,000 men volunteered to take on the 135,000 men of the Midianite army. Not very good odds. But then God told Gideon his army was too big, so 22,000 men went home.
We read Judges 7:1-22 and saw the very strange way God whittled the army down to just 300 - by seeing how they drank water. How on earth could an army of 300 - armed with only jugs and trumpets - take on the massive Midianite army?
We thought about these kinds of "Cinderella" stories, where the underdog defeats the much-stronger, much-bigger opponent. We say, "It was a thousand-to-one shot!" which means, "It was barely within the realm of human achievement." But it is still in the realm of human achievement.
We saw how God wanted to make sure that no one could claim that this victory came through human cunning or strength. It was all God. In the battles we face, sometimes the best thing to do is to let go of the things that we rely upon so that we can put our faith in God instead.
We prayed that God would help us let go of whatever it is we don't need so that we can lean fully upon Him.
We celebrated communion at the table of Christ's brokenness and our wholeness.