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- July 3, 2010 - Church at Worship
July 3, 2010 - Church at Worship
$12.00
SKU:
1007-03c
Weight:
1.00 Ounces
Product Description
Sermon: “I’m OK–Too Bad About You” by Calvin Thomsen
Pastoral Welcome: Genevieve Koh
Baptism: Tammy Lynn Davis - Calvin Thomsen
Children’s Feature: Jackie Bishop
Scripture Reading: Galatians 5:13–14, TNIV - William and Carole Hull
INTRODUCTION TO THE SERMON
In the United States this week-end we celebrate a holiday we call “Independence Day.” We talk about freedom and maybe, between the picnics and fireworks, think a bit about what we call the meaning of freedom.
What is freedom? Is it about personal autonomy? Should its icon be the rugged cowboy with nobody but his horse, etched in splendid isolation against a blazing sunset? The rugged individualist who needs nobody and can proudly say “I did it all myself?” The person who can tell the rags-to-riches success story from a childhood where nobody in the family could even afford a bus pass to adult success symbolized by an eight-car garage with a Ferrari and a Rolls?
We seldom think about the fact that dictatorships often focus on breaking up gatherings and fracturing social ties. The greatest threat to tyranny is not found in rugged individualists, but in people who know how to work together for something larger than themselves.
The Bible says: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! …. though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” (Ecclesiastes 4:9.10,12).
Could it be that that the most important dimension of freedom is the opportunities it gives us to work for the common good and create meaningful opportunities for both service and community?
If this needs a title, call it “The meaning of Freedom.”
Calvin Thomsen
Associate Pastor for Family Ministries
MEDITATION
No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main… any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
John Donne
