A Good Bet (Still) – Sept 27th

“GOODNESS” is a fruit of the Spirit listed by Saint Paul in Galatians 5:22 next to love, joy, peace, patience, kindess, etc.. “Goodness” is such an all encompassing word, what could we possibly say about it?

We could admit “goodness,” in the context of spiritual fruit, is not about the flavor, or health benefits, of food or beverages, nor the artistic merits of this or that artist, nor the functionality of the latest software we have installed. Those are all important things, no doubt; we spend a lot of time distinguishing between what is “good” or bad as it pertains to our comfort, safety, and whether or not something will be “a good bet.” What will we get out of it? There had better be some personal benefits for us to call it good.

To better understand the spiritual fruit of “goodness,” how about a story from Jesus? He told a story about someone who went through a lot of trouble to help a stranger. The story became one of his most popular. Many people today, who count themselves biblically illiterate, are yet familiar with Luke’s narrative of Jesus answering a lawyer’s question with the story of the “Good Samaritan“.

WHY is this story so well known, so popular? Maybe because we all wish people were more like the “Good Samaritan”. If people were so brave, so generous, so willing to get into GOOD TROUBLE, crossing tribal, political, and social boundaries, our world would be a much better place. Radical compassion, deep generosity, courageous conviction – goodness – characterize this Samaritan, who rescues a Jew, along a dangerous road in first century Palestine. 

This is easy to admire from a distance. I am not so sure we all think living like this, though, is “a good bet.”

HERE’S THE DEAL: the Holy Spirit will not let us get away with that kind of thinking. Listen to Jesus. Allow the Spirit to inspire and empower. Let the “goodness” of God take root and bear fruit, such that we follow Jesus’s commandment to “go and do likewise.”

ABUSE AWARENESS

Emmaus Road Church belongs to a larger church family, the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) of North America. Our denomination has designated the fourth Sunday of September as a time for congregations to address the issue of abuse. We will take note of this tomorrow during our ZOOM Church gathering.

YOUNG CHURCH

  • Godly Play – The Story of the Church Calendar
  • Big Kids – On ZOOM at 11:20 am Sunday

The Young Church Leaders convened a virtual meeting this week to discuss each of the Young Church groups. We covered a lot of ground! Pretty soon, we would like to host a conversation with parents, and talk through observations and vision ideas. Look for more information in the coming weeks.

BEYOND SUNDAY

  • Four separate Small Groups meet via ZOOM on a regular basis – “Guys Group”; “North End Moms”; “Crown Hill”; “POD-19”; email office@emmausroad.net for info
  • New Horizons Dinner – served every first Wednesday; email office@emmausroad.net for info.
  • Aurora Commons – Wonder what their wishlist is? See it here; view the most recent update here.