This Sunday in 10/12 Worship

Dear Grace Family,

This Sunday is week two of our stewardship sermon series, Beautiful and Abundant, based on the book by Ryan Welch. The subtitle of his book is Building a World We Want. He argues that we need to take a more positive approach as we seek a vision for the future—one that appeals to beauty, creativity, and communal life. I believe the church can lead the way in building that better world.

Ryan Welch gives us four questions to ponder as we imagine that world. We addressed the first last week: Is it beautiful? This week we will explore the second question: Does it create abundance?

I did a little research on the word abundance. It literally means “an overflowing wave” or “something that exceeds the ordinary measure.” I like the image of the overflowing wave, but it’s the second definition that really catches my attention—it exceeds the ordinary measure.

Theologically, I think that’s a wonderful definition of God’s grace. God’s love for us exceeds all ordinary measures. We don’t deserve God’s love, and yet God loves us anyway. If we are going to live up to our name as a church, we must be prepared to do the same. We must exceed ordinary measure so that others can experience the grace of God.

The good news is that we don’t have to do it alone. God has already given us all the gifts we need to create abundance. Join me in worship this week as we explore the beauty and abundance of God’s love.

See you in worship,

Barry

Each Tuesday Pastor Mitch publishes a devotion on his website Weeklydevotion.com.  If you’d like to receive this in your inbox, drop him an email at   and just say “Sign me up!”