Who do you think you are? Tracing our family history, uncovering the heroes and villains in our genealogies, can be a fascinating and unsettling endeavour. Many who do discover that the generational patterns, both good and bad, handed down by our families of origin influence us even now. As a result, we seek to build on our good inheritance and work out how to dump the bad.
In the new family of God, getting stuck into a local church is essential if we are to grow at all. Nevertheless, joining with other Christians can mean we bump up against hidden histories and values that can bamboozle and confuse us. Every local church (like our human families) considers themselves to be the normal ones. However, through choices, reactions, and the passage of the years every Christian community develops its own unique and idiosyncratic personality. Sadly, we insiders, pastors, and leaders, easily and wrongly imagine that everyone else understands and agrees about how and why we do things.
So, over the next few Sundays we plan to lift the lid on some of the things that God has used to shape QPBC and some of the ways we try to do things around here.
This week we set out by celebrating the work God has done among us over the years as we remember our Spiritual heritage and the faithfulness of God.
Isaiah 61: 7
7 I will remember the steadfast love of the Lord,
the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord has granted us,
and the great goodness to the house of Israel
that he has granted them according to his compassion,
according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
Remembering is a potent spiritual practice that the bible continually calls our attention to. For example, in the 10 commandments the sabbath is to be a time when God’s people deliberately recalled what he had done for them (Deut 5:15). Indeed, one way to view scripture is as the God-given testimony to his work in our world. Right into the New Testament the language and imagery, stories and songs from the Old Testament are recalled, shining light on the story of God’s great salvation.
This is not permission to get stuck in nostalgia or to pine for the good old days. Biblical remembering means allowing God’s works in the past to raise our faith and inspire our action in the now.
As we head toward Sunday why not bring to mind the works he has done in your life and our community. You might encourage someone by recalling the faithfulness and goodness of God to you or to our fellowship.
Psalm 105:5: “Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgements he uttered.”
Remember!
Iain