Liberty Vineyard family,
Why do we gather together as a church? We certainly don’t claim to have all the answers or to fully understand the mystery of knowing God. But in gathering together as we do, our focus is worshiping and experiencing Father God / Christ Jesus / Holy Spirit. In each of our Liberty Vineyard worship services we aim to provide pathways that help us to respond to God’s invitation to journey upward, to journey inward, and to journey outward.
Some of our Kingdom journeys since the last installment of “Everybody Gets to Play” have included pressing in to seek God’s heart, wisdom, and direction during our recent Call to Prayer; launching Music & Ministry at Meadowbrook (a local assisted living / memory care community) (come join us on the 3rd Saturday of each month!); beginning a new Lisa Harper women’s Bible study, “How Much More”; gathering for relationship over breakfast with other men; praying for God’s power to break through in some pretty big challenges around the world; receiving comfort and confidence from the Lord when making decisions in which “it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us”; and getting to know Saul / Paul, Peter, and Cornelius a little better (in our continuing journey through the book of Acts).
Some of our other Kingdom journeys have included planning a women’s daytime prayer retreat that needed to be cancelled the evening before due to sickness; receiving hard news; wondering how we’re going to get from “here” to “there.” Through it all, God is faithful.
I want to share with you some thoughts I’ve been mulling over following a seminary assignment last week, in my class “Old Testament Writings,” in which I focused on the treatment of Hagar in Genesis. Even if others use us, the Lord shows love to us. Even if others are abusive, the Lord blesses us. Even if others push us away; the Lord seeks and finds us. Even if others ignore us, the Lord speaks to us. Even if others cause us pain, the Lord gives heed to our affliction. Even if others treat us as though we were invisible, God sees us and loves us perfectly and completely – we are never invisible to God! We may at times feel like we are being treated as “less than.” God always treats us with great compassion and care. We may sometimes wonder if there is a place for us – we always have a home with God. May God open our eyes in both physical and spiritual ways, bless us with whatever provision we need, and give us vision and hope for the future. God’s blessing is expansive! The beautiful thing is that God doesn’t bless us because we deserve it; on the contrary – in spite of our or others’ impatience or poor choices, God’s blessing extends to all!
With you on the journey,
Karen Sculley
Associate Pastor, Liberty Vineyard Church
(404) 388-0518
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