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Psalm 95.6-7 (The Message) So come, let us worship: bow before him, on your knees before God, who made us! Oh yes, he’s our God, and we’re the people he pastures, the flock he feeds.

A friend and minister once commented, “Do I have a personal relationship with Jesus? Maybe the better answer is not Yes; but No…” with the caveat, “I have a public one.”
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This comment from my friend really got me to thinking. My faith in Jesus is deeply personal yet at the same time very public. My faith asks me to love people, I sometimes would rather not. My faith says to forgive another even when it feels so good to hold a grudge. My faith asks that I give away money to others. My faith might even say that I need to let go of a dream that I’ve been working on for a long time. This is the faith that we consent to while it is deeply personal as it is deeply public.

And that is not the only way that my private faith is public. My faith in Jesus asks me to live my faith every day in very public ways. My faith puts me in direct relationships with those that share my faith and in our common life that we learn, study, and discern the way of God for us all. It is also public in the sense that we are tied to one another. We are responsible to and for each other. It means that by myself, I do not get to decide the fate of the world or myself for that matter. Public faith means that I need others for this faith to be fully lived.

I guess that is why God created us different with different gifts, talents, passions, and interests. Because it is when we are together, worshiping, studying and living that the kingdom becomes more realized. And Sunday’s message will invite us to look at our spiritual gifts and how THE ONE God gifts us to be together. See you there!

Grace and peace,
Rev. Brian