Off To The Races!
I was driving along the beltway the other day on my way to visit someone in the hospital when I noticed an interesting sign over at the Sam Houston Raceway. Right up there on the jumbo-tron sign that has advertisements for events ranging from traditional horse races to rock concerts ... I saw something unique, something I'd never seen before. On March 10 instead of having horse racing at Sam Houston Raceway, they're going to have .... brace yourself for excitement! - They are going to have camel and ostrich racing! Can you believe that? I'm excited and while I would probably never bother to see a horse race, I'm more than curious to watch camel and ostrich races. I'm guessing that the camels and the ostriches will race in separate events although watching a camel race against an ostrich would be pretty awesome! Of course, the best possible scenario would be if during the ostrich races ... there would be monkeys riding on their backs like little jockeys! I know that's asking for too much. I'll be happy just to see something out of the ordinary ... monkeys riding ostriches would be greedy!
The reason I'm mentioning this is because as Christians people have certain expectations of us; some good some not so much. Just like you'd expect to see horses racing at the race track ... a lot of people expect us, as Christians to perform in a certain way. They expect us to be charitable. They expect us to be righteous and well disciplined as well as well versed in our faith. Unfortunately, a lot of people also expect us to be overly mild mannered, to lead dry and boring lives and to gather together in worship for a dry and boring service. Of course, lets not forget the hypocrisy. There are a lot of people out there who are expecting us to be hypocrites ... it gives them an excuse not to join in with us. When someone says that the church is full of hypocrites and judgmental people I always tell them they are more than welcome to join us because we always have room for one more.
Anyway, the point is; good or bad people have certain expectations of us as Christians. What do you say we shake those stereotypes up a little? During our worship celebration this Sunday we're going to talk about being risk-taking Christians. The Scripture lesson will be from Ecclesiastes 11, particularly in verse one where the Word of God says, "Cast your bread upon the waters and in many days it will return to you." What does that mean? It means we need to be willing to take a few risks every now and then and not always play it safe. It means we need to trust Jesus even when we're not so sure we can trust ourselves. In another way it can be about breaking down stereotypes about who and what people believe us to be as faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
I like the idea of going to see a camel race and an ostrich race. It's new ... it's different ... it's not the same old, same old! As people of faith, it might do us some good to step out in faith and accept the Lord's challenge to take us into uncharted waters, into new and exciting places in order be His witnesses in the world today. That sounds far more exciting than the same old, same old .... stuff.
Believe it or not, the Lenten Season is upon us. The Season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 22. That's next week! Make plans now to join us for our Ash Wednesday worship service. It begins at 7 pm.
A big thank you to everyone who came out and supported the Women's Guild bake sale this past Sunday. It was a huge success and the ladies report that they made a nice profit.
Let us not forget to help our brothers and sisters in need. During the month of February we will be collecting the following food items for Cypress Assistance Ministries. - Breakfast cereal, peanut butter, jelly, and juice boxes. In March we will switch over to dry goods - paper products to include toilet paper and paper towels. All items can be dropped off here at the church during regular office hours, Monday thru Thursday, 9 am - 5 pm or in the food box in the narthex on Sunday.
We will have our weekly youth rally this Friday beginning at 7 pm. Everyone is invited!
Blessings to you all!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Darrin
