Sermon: Jesus Defi cit Disorder by Timothy Gillespie

Pastoral Welcome: Calvin Thomsen

Baptism: Zarina Inderias - Jacqueline Lynch 

Katherine A. Nelson, Jacob A. Nelson - Doug Mace

Brianna C. Brockmann, Ally P. Wood - Calvin Thomsen

Children’s Feature: Jackie Bishop

Scripture Reading: John 9:24, 25, TNIV - Barry and Desmyrna Taylor

Note: Baptisms are in the extras section of the DVD

 PASTOR'S PAGE Greetings, It has been a long hot summer already, and there is no end in sight. The exciting part is that we are coming up on our Camp Meeting season here at LLUC, and that is always a great time of fellowship and church life. As well, next week we will be getting our senior pastor back. He has been missed. Hopefully he is returning with a renewed vigor and vision for the life and fellowship of this church. As we look forward to all of these happenings, it is easy to forget the reason we have this community in the first place. It becomes so easy to simply exist for the sake of existing. The machine self-perpetuates, which is not all bad. However, there is a reason we come together. There is a reason that we build buildings, that we bring together singing voices, that we create organized childrens departments, and that we potluck together. The reason for all of this can be summed up in one word: Jesus. I think that in the church today there is, to use a term that I have heard, a Jesus Deficit Disorder. There is a danger of Jesus becoming the given of the Christian experience. We are all here in church, so it would seem that we have all assented to the fact that Jesus is the center of all of what we do. However, without the continued connection to the person of Jesus, not just the idea of Jesus, all of this is for naught. Perhaps it is not enough for Jesus to be at the center of what we do. Perhaps the idea of a Christo-Centric community is the wrong metaphor to use. I suggest that we use new language. I suggest that rather than having a Christo-Centric idea of community and church that we have a Christo-Present understanding of our lives as Christians. What is the difference? Let's use a couple of different metaphors -- the first being a football huddle. In a huddle all the players are looking to the quarterback to give them instructions. At the end of the huddle, they "break" and go to do their respective jobs. The anchoring point is the knowledge they have of what they were told. While not a bad way to live, I think there is another metaphor that speaks to Christo-Presence in a bit more powerful way. I like the metaphor of the mist in the forest. To have a Christo-Present community is to live in the midst (or mist, if you will) of the presence of Christ that permeates everything. We see the world through the mist (Presence) of Christ. All of our relationships, our purposes, and our decisions are affected by this presence. All of our efforts are subject to the worldview that Christ gives us as we look through and into His presence to one another, the world around us, and to the Kingdom of God. Just my two-cents for you on this Sabbath day. Come and join us for worship and for the exciting month of August at the Loma Linda University Church. Grace to you,and peace.

Timothy Gillespie
Associate Pastor
Young Adult Ministries - Re:Live

MEDITATION “The “Jesus of history” cannot be disconnected from the “Christ of faith. “The Jesus who walked the shores of Galilee is the same person who indwells the church today. There is no disconnect between the Jesus of Mark’s Gospel and the incredible, all-inclusive, cosmic Christ of Paul’s letter to the Colossians. The Christ who lived in the first century has a pre-existence before time. He also has a post-existence after time. He is Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, A and Z, all at the same time.” -- Frank Viola and Leonard Sweet, A Jesus Manifesto

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