Steven: This week we’re looking at scripture and how it changes us over time. I’d love to hear how being a student of the Word of God has shaped you.

Louella: Well, there were years that I was not such a student. I went to church, but you know how it is when you’re busy, raising a family, and I always worked with my husband, Paul. When he was a photographer I worked in the darkroom, and when he started making dulcimers I helped with that. We worked together all our married life—we were together probably more than other people would be if they were married for two hundred years. But anyway, before he died our kids gave us a “One-year Bible”, and we started reading it together. And since he’s been gone, I’ve read it every year. And that’s been over twenty years. And I just saw things in there that I had never heard before—you know, we never had put much thought into the Old Testament. I never realized what the prophecies and all that really meant.

Pat: Are there scriptures that have been important to you in your life, and can you tell us why?

Louella: Well, I have always loved the one that says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” And there are so many others that I love, that I’m not sure which ones to say…You know the part where Paul talks about having a thorn in the flesh? That’s been important to me.

How profound! Here is a woman, ninety-four (and a half) years old, with a habit of reading the Bible daily. Even though she didn’t start until later in life, she’s now read through the entire Bible over twenty times! Even now, she’s always learning something new, and finding herself in the Word. She later told us that her reading is now in the last few chapters of Luke, and she’s finding joy and hope in the stories of the cross and the resurrection. What an incredible testimony to the formative power of the Word of God!

Thanks to Ms. Louella for letting a couple of preachers barge into her house—as always, she was incredibly gracious, and Pat and I had a fantastic time talking with her!

In order to be transformed through worship, we must get back to the basics of worship. What is worship? Why do we worship? I believe that worship is a reaction to the awe and astonishment we feel when we encounter His glory! Look at Matthew 14:22-33. Jesus walks on the water, and the disciples all freak out! It says “Then those who were in the boat worshipped him saying, ‘truly you are the Son of God.’” The disciples were awed by His power. Even after Jesus left this earth people were being astonished by works of God through the disciples. Acts is an entire book about God using Christ’s disciples to make new believers! They were not transformed into to believers because the coffee at service was really good—they were astonished at the things they had seen and heard!

As a person in the 21st century, it is very difficult to be truly astonished or awed. Many things that would have been considered miracles in the days of Jesus are now commonplace—organ transplants, communication devices, technology, and the like all callous our ability to be awed by the power of God. I believe we must recapture that feeling of being awed by the Almighty God in order to be truly transformed by worship. If our worship is that powerful and transforming at Cedar Lane, new disciples WILL be created, and old disciples WILL be transformed!

• Worship service starting at 9:00 a.m. will be essentially what we are use to (nursery and children’s church will meet).
• Fifteen minute break between worship service and anniversary program.
• Anniversary program consisting of songs, talks, and slide shows (one hour and fifteen minutes).  The nursery, preschool, and primary grade (K-5) will be staffed to provide child care/activities.
• Fellowship and lunch preparation (thirty minutes)
• Lunch (BBQ and homemade desserts).

The Dorcas ministry at Cedar Lane is designed to help us serve God by serving others. Each of us has been given talents but often, we think of ourselves as having none. Rest assured, the Bible states that we do, and we will be held accountable to God for how we have used them (or not) Matthew 25:14-30.

If you are new to Cedar Lane and feel that you haven’t quite “found your place” we hope that this ministry will help you do that. Even if you do not sew there are other things that can be done.

February 6, we met and cut out small pillows and drain tube bags for cancer patients. These will be sewn and ready to stuff at our next meeting on March 5 and will be delivered in Tullahoma.

Betty Hutcheson
Vicky Barker

Remember to check the former member list in the lobby and select people to invite. Also, current members are expected to invite their own family members.
Please remember to sign up yourself and your guests for the fellowship meal. Sign-up sheets will be passed around in the adult classrooms this morning and a sign-up sheet is also available in the lobby.

Written over hundreds of years by a collection of named and anonymous authors, it spans genres and themes as diverse as power and money, family and sexuality. It alternates between genealogical lists and colorful histories, ritual law and love poetry, all managing to say something important about what it means to be human, the nature of the world, and God.

Something I’ve been thinking about lately is how the Bible is both a product and a means of God’s mission in the world. It is a witness to the things God has done in the past to shape and recreate people, and it is itself a part of the process of shaping those who read and receive it.

For instance, take the story of Nathan confronting King David (1 Samuel 12). It’s both a witness of how God was confronting and shaping David to be the king he was supposed to be. But at the same time, as we read the story and allow ourselves to live in it, the story shapes us as well, challenging us to think about how we use power, or our own tendency to cover up our sin with even more sin.

As we read stories like that, or meditate on the poetry of the prophets, or read along with the first century churches in their letters from Paul, we’re pulled into the story of God through time, and are shaped to be more like God, and less like the world. We become gracious where the world is judgmental. We become joyful where the world is bitter, and mourn in the places where the world wants to celebrate. We become peaceful in the middle of a world at war, or we become generous in a world of selfishness.

The Bible is a strange book.

But, that’s okay. We’re a strange people.

By God’s grace, and through God’s word, we’re becoming stranger every day.

Peace,
Steven Hovater