Views from The Ridge 08.23.23
Sunset Ridge is a church that desires to follow Jesus, reach people, and radiate God’s love and hope to all.
This Week…
Wednesday, August 23, 6:30pm Sunset Worship
Sunday, August 27
9:15am Life Groups, children’s Roots gathering, teen gathering (see website for more info)
10:30am Worship (Counting Your Losses - Luke 15:1-32)
4:30pm Chapel worship
6:30pm Young Adult dinner at Torchy’s
Wednesday, August 30, 10am Women’s Wednesday Fellowship
Upcoming…
September 3, 4:30pm Supper Church
September 4 Labor Day - office closed
In Theory
Riley Stirman
Sometimes the distance between theory and practice is an ocean.
The Bible is filled with amazing teaching, with some of the most beautiful ideas about love or justice or truth ever put forth, with enormous notions about the God we worship. But I believe the Bible - and the God who reveals himself through it - expects more from us than mere learning or ideas. Love, faith, righteousness, hope, and mercy aren't meant to remain in the abstract. They're meant to be lived. And only when we try to do that do we realize just how challenging some of these are.
In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis said, "Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive, as we had during the war. And then, to mention the subject at all is to be greeted with howls of anger. It is not that people think this too high and difficult a virtue: it is that they think it hateful and contemptible."
Forgiveness is all fine and well to talk about in the abstract. But when you've had to experience a loved one killed, when you've experienced betrayal by someone you thought you could trust, or when you have seen someone behave in a way that suggests nothing short of pure evil, we may have a harder time putting it into action.
Loving your enemy sounds like an impressive, subversive idea, as long as you don't have any enemies. What about when someone has committed their life to eradicating your race or tribe? What about when someone is bent on tearing you down and burning everything you hold dear? Surely Jesus didn't mean to love that enemy.
Loving your neighbor as yourself sounds even easier. But what about when we learn just how broadly God defines the word neighbor? What about when we feel visceral disgust when we think about or encounter another human being? What about when that means we'll have to go to the wrong side of town, hang out with the wrong sort of people, or - God forbid - listen to someone talk about the wrong sort of politics?
The lifelong challenge for the Christian is learning to navigate the chasm that exists between theory and practice.
If you'll remember from the parable of the Good Samaritan, the man who questioned Jesus got all the answers right. Jesus asked which of the characters was a neighbor to the man who'd been left for dead, and - perhaps unable to even bring himself to say the word Samaritan - the man answered that it was the one who had mercy on him. But that didn't mean he was done. It meant he was ready for the next step. Jesus tells him, very simply, "Go and do likewise."
Spiritual transformation doesn't happen when we open our Bibles, but when we close them. After our reading and learning and studying are done, after we've filled our heads and our hearts with love and mercy and grace and justice and holiness, only one thing remains.
Go and do likewise.
Around the Community
This past week, we got to welcome our newest 6th grader, Ellery Fink, into the youth group! We love getting to see how this group changes and grows together.
The necessary removal of the trees in front of the chapel has been delayed due to a minor permitting issue and will be rescheduled soon.
From Our Leaders
Each week we will share an update from our Committees here in Views from the Ridge. This week our update comes from Gregg Alba, Trustee over Stewardship & Finance.
Stewardship & Finance:
The 2023 Budget is $608,923.00, which requires:
Weekly Giving: $11,489.11.
Update through the week of August 20th:
Weekly Donations: $8,825
Weekly Deficit: $2,665.
We ask you to prayerfully consider how you might increase your giving to meet these requirements. A small weekly increase from all of us will help us to alleviate this deficit.
Prayers & Praises
Esther Howard, Patrick Howard’s mother, is doing well following cataract surgery.
