Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia invited me to preach on 27 December 2015. My topic was Living as God’s Children based upon Colossians 3:12-14. Here is a link to video of the 21-minute sermon: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=23F7331101B1C7F%21141
My wife led a Call to Worship earlier in the service that was based upon how we have been reading responsively to each other at night lately. It reflects in written form where I was coming from in my sermon…
Call to Worship:
Leader: O God, complete the work you have begun in us.
People: Release through us a flow of mercy and gentleness that will bring water where there is dessert,
Leader: healing where there is hurt,
People: peace where there is violence,
Leader: beauty where there is ugliness,
People: justice where there is brokenness,
Leader: beginnings where there are dead-ends.
People: Waken in us gratitude for our lives,
Leader: love for every living thing,
People: joy in what is human and holy,
Leader: praise for you.
People: Renew our faith that you are God beyond our grasp but within our reach;
Leader: past our knowing but within our searching;
People: disturber of the assured,
Leader: assurer of the disturbed;
People: destroyer of illusions,
Leader: creator of dreams;
People, source of silence and music,
Leader: O Keeper of Promises, Composer of Grace,
People: grant us prayer in our hearts,
Leader: trust at our core,
People: songs for our journey, and a sense of your Kingdom.
Leader: And all the people said,
People: Amen!
Adapted from Waken in Me Gratitude for My Life by Ted Loder: Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle
Very moving. Looking toward to video.