'Story Tellers.

"If we're not careful, history can become 'this thing that just happened'." (Pastor Althea)

In reflecting on the celebration of Black History Month/African-American Heritage Month, Pastor Althea noted that we are now at a point in time where many in our population were not alive to personally experience the struggles of the Civil Rights movement between the 1950's and 1970's. For such persons, the "History" in Black History Month is all they know; it's a number of stories read in books, or passed down through oral tradition, but not embraced as real or relevant.

Similarly, there are many in our population whose experience of faith in Jesus is not a personal experience, but a history lesson. They can point to their parents and grandparents and speak of God's love for past generations, but they themselves have not experienced God. During the prayer before the second service this past Sunday, our pastor said that, like Moses, our experience of the glory of God carries evidence: God's glory is reflected in our faces. Something happens to us and in us that causes others to recognize that we have met the Lord of glory.

It is a sad thing to meet people who, though in attendance with the community of believers, have opted not to experience God for themselves. It is also a dangerous thing to behold. As we learned in Pastor Joy's sermon a couple of weeks ago, the kingdom of God has no use for branches that are not connected to the Vine (see John 15) and such persons are on the road to destruction.

Pastor Althea, using the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as an example, implored us to embrace the love of God, righteousness of God, and peace of God that is central to our Christian faith. And, here, we are particularly blessed: we might have missed out on certain historical events, but we still have an opportunity to be drawn in to the beauty of Christ and the strength of membership in His kingdom. It is something we can do today, tomorrow, and every day for the rest of our lives.

I pray that we all will become participants in His Story.

Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it TODAY, when a long time later He spoke through David, as was said before: TODAY, IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS. (Hebrews 4:7)