January 21, 2012 - Church at Worship

Sermon: "Divine Artistry or Human Commodity?" - John Brunt

Pastoral Welcome: Bernard Taylor

Children’s Feature: Patty Marruffo

Meditation:

There is no insight more disclosing: God is One, and humanity is one.  There is no possibility more frightening: God’s name may be desecrated. 

God is every person’s pedigree.  He is either the Parent of all, or of no one.  The image of God is either in every person, or in no person" – adapted from Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Insecurity of Freedom.

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2:8–10, TNIV Timothy Tan,  Jeffrey Bowens

Sermon notes:

This weekend the Mind and Spirit Conference focuses on the ethical issues raised
by advanced medical technologies such as genetic engineering. What if we had the
capacity to fabricate human beings for our specific purposes?

On the one hand, these technologies open new possibilities for healing people and
making them whole, which is the goal of Loma Linda University. On the other hand,
they may tempt us to engineer people for our own ends.

Perhaps the most important question is this: Do we value people simply because
they are God’s children, or do we value them only if they achieve our ends?

Ephesians 2:10 suggests that humans are God’s handiwork or artistry. What might
this mean for the issues being considered in this weekend’s conference, and what
might it mean for us as we go about our daily lives? These are the questions today’s sermon will explore.

John Brunt
Senior Pastor
Azure Hills Adventist Church