Dear Friends and Family of RRUMC,
Rev. Dan Bogre, Senior Pastor at RRUMC
Peace to each and every one of you and may God’s blessings fill your heart to overflowing.
I open with that because that is what I felt yesterday, August 6, at our Twice Blessed Free Store. We had been collecting school supplies throughout the month of July.
On August 6, it was time to distribute them to families in need of those items this school year. It was so much fun! My job was to welcome shoppers and then help them as they looked over the school supply list for each of their children.
There I was, face to face and hand in hand, walking moms and their kids through the shopping list and getting the items that they needed. I was reminded of my call that I received into ministry way back in 1988. What happened on August 6 is what I remember my call feeling like when I received it.
Paul and I are getting ready to preach our September sermon series. We had chosen a different theme when we put the 2019 sermon year together, but we feel that we are being pulled in a new direction.
What happened to me at the free store helped solidify the new theme for September. Our sermon series will be, “Distractions.”
There are so many things in the world and in our own church that are trying to pull us off focus. Those distractions have our eyes off of Christ and focused on things that will not help people meet Jesus Christ in the midst of their story.
When I was volunteering at the school supply event at the free store, there was absolutely no room for distractions. When I was carrying bags and holding a little girl’s hand as she picked out her items, there literally was no room for anything to come between us because I was holding her hand.
If we take those opportunities to get involved, to volunteer, to hold a hand, to offer a prayer, then we are shutting out all of the vulnerable places for distractions to wiggle their way in.
Hebrews 13:9 (The Message) says, “Don’t be lured away from him by the latest speculations about him. The grace of Christ is the only good ground for life. Products named after Christ don’t seem to do much for those who buy them.”
Stay focused on the real thing. Stay focused on Jesus Christ as you live in the midst of the distractions. The distractions will never go away.
Are you living a life filled with distractions? Do the distractions seem to be winning? This September’s sermon series is for you.
Put this article on your fridge so you remember to be here all the Sundays of September. If you see it each and every day, maybe you won’t get distracted.
Peace and blessing to all of you.
His, Rev. Dan