West Main

We will have our fifth annual worship encampment at Emigrant Lake on Sunday, August 24, at 10:00 a.m. We have reserved Picnic Area D. (This is a different area than we have had before.) Entry fee is $4.00 per vehicle. *If you need a ride please let the office know.*

This is another good opportunity for you to invite family, friends and neighbors to enjoy a time of fellowship and worship. This is a wonderful experience of worshiping outdoors and getting to know one another and others in a relaxed and beautiful environment.

Please bring your own table service, lawn chairs, games, and a potluck dish to share. We will provide the meat, but ask that you bring the side dishes. We will have a sign up sheet at the back of the auditorium this Sunday for the side dishes.

*Services at the building will begin at 10:15 a.m. for those not going to the Worship Encampment. We will NOT have Bible Class or Nursery Care that morning.

LITTLE  BIBLES

In the physical sciences, where truth statements often take the form of mathematical equations, I have been astonished at how compactable truth is. In that world, some very big ideas can be reduced to very small algebraic expressions. Many of the great breakthroughs in science have produced simple equations that said a lot. This has caused me to think of truth as having that inherent character.

It does not surprise me then that the truths in the Bible are like that too. For example, Romans 12:9-21 has been called the “little Bible.” There, in just a few verses, the whole of Christian character is compacted into a few words. Furthermore, there are many other “little Bibles” within the larger text – kernels, if you please, that are much bigger than the space they take up in words.

In Matthew 5, when our Lord began to teach, he summed up the blessings that come with the way of life he calls us to. What an impact these short verses can have when we take them seriously!

In Romans 13:8-10, Paul sums up the essence of the Ten Commandments and what replaces them for followers of Christ. “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow man has fulfilled the law. The commandments, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not covet,’ and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” In this case, one word says it all.

In James 1:27, we are called away from pomp and ritual to the real thing – “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” If I think of this as an oversimplification of the whole, I will be quickly humbled when I try to make it a rule for my life. It has far-reaching implications beyond its brevity.

Faith and good works are often considered as opposites by combating theologians. This should not be blamed on the lack of clarity in God’s Word. One simple passage can put this whole matter to rest. “For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10

These passages are just a sampling of the potent “little Bibles” you will encounter in God’s Word. On one hand, their simplicity is a delight. They are too plain and straightforward for me to miss their meaning. I am also steered away from the many sidelines and false emphases religion may fall into. And they bear the marks of truth.

– James Gibbs

Elders and Deacons Meeting – Tuesday, August 19, 6:30 p.m. at the building.