Let's Talk About Communion

Did Sunday's message on Communion spark some thoughts or inspire some questions. Let's blog about that here. Here's my closing paragraph to jog your memory.

We celebrate communion because it celebrate’s God’s rescuing us from slavery to sin and death. We celebrate it weekly because the messages of communion are central to who we are as Christ-followers. We celebrate it around tables in a simple attempt to restore community to communion.

Remember the Sabbath, keep it holy.

On Father's Day at Journey Fellowship we began thinking about the original Father's day. Our heavenly Father asked us to remember to "cease" once a week and make it a "holy" day for him.

The Sabbath was intended to be a "period of time where we create space for our Creator to re-create us."

One of the suggestions I [steve dye] made this morning was that we begin to DISCUSS this as a community of faith. So, let's give it a go...

Reflections? Questions? Ideas? Experiences?

The SIMPLE Story

journeyfellowship is excited about this upcoming this focus on the holy scriptures. At JF we love to keep things SIMPLE - The Story does just that. In 31 weeks we will look at the over-arching story of the Bible. Scholars call it the meta-narrative. I call it THE story.

Wannabe Bible students often become intimidated by the 2 parts, 66 books, 1,189 chapters, 31,103 verses, and dozens of words they don't understand. This study will bring SIMPLICITY to the study of the Bible by helping understand the story of God and his people as we survey the various stories of God's people.

In addition to a study guidebook called The Story, we will provide small groups study guides, family devotionals, personal study devotionals. These can be downloaded from www.thestorynow.net

These will be great resources for your family and for you personally to use to reach out to our community. Use them to help us achieve our dream of having a real presence in every neighborhood in northeast San Antonio and beyond.

Please join us on the journey through the scriptures, our whole family will spend the whole year (school year) through the whole bible.

We Need You...

...to commit to a weekly community group.
This is how we carry out the ministry of JF as a community and into the community.

...to hang around on Sundays and volunteer.
Three areas in great need of coverage over the next few weeks.

1. Greeters/Hospitality
2. Prayer Partners
3. Material Distribution for THE STORY

If you think you might be able to help in any of these areas call the office 651-1463 or email steved@journeyfellowshipsa.org

Did he have to talk about money???

Sunday I mentioned a great teaching series on what the bible says about finances/money. If you have itunes you can get it there under podcasts.

For the rest of us, it is not yet posted on the northpointe website so I guess you will have to wait a few weeks. Keep checking though... http://www.northpoint.org/messages

If you have questions about giving/tithing, pick up a copy of our brochure on GIVING in the new MAP ROOM (Information Center).

Thanks for to all of you who stepped up to partnership. About 25 family units made a new commitment to this body.

Thanks to all who remembered to bring their offering from last week. This week was an outstanding response to the church's financial needs.

The New Journey Fellowship Website

Hey Fellow Journeyers,

As you can see, we are working on a new version of journeyfellowship.info. Look around, and then leave a comment here. Tell us what you like, what you dislike, any bugs you find, etc. We'll incorporate your feedback into the final version of the site.

Hope you like it!

further comments AT THE CROSSROADS

DIRECTIONS #9: CROSSROADS

Before discussing Matthew 6:21 & 22, the verses we skipped over in the CROSSROADS message, I want to point you to a CNN story regarding wealth and need as we discussed this past sunday.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/07/02/hunger.house/index.html

Now on with the message of Matthew 6. The word translated good (NIV)/healthy (NRSV) and the word tranlated evil(NIV)/unhealthy(NRSV) can be translated GENEROUS and GREEDY respectively. These seem to make more sense in the context.

THE EYE IS THE LAMP OF THE BODY
As for the whole thing about the eyes being the lamp of the body, it was believed by some in ancient times that light actually shone out of the body through the eyes. Others suggest that the eyes were like a window and good or evil came inside through them. (A good commentary will chase down all the arguements.) Regardless of which explanation of the "eye/body" statemetns (and there are more than 2) the overall metaphor remains. When it comes to STUFF (Mammon in greek, Money in NIV) we often follow our eyes OR our eyes see some thing and it triggers something inside us to "go and get it." Jesus is calling a spade a spade and saying that the way we see stuff is a function of what goes on inside with regard to the stuff. FURTHERMORE, if we add back in the translation of GENEROSITY/GREEDY for GOOD/EVIL. Then we realize that GENEROSITY is a sign of true followers of Christ who have surrendered to his kingdom.

GENEROSITY AND SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES
It seems to me, if you put last weeks texts and this weeks texts together (which Matthew did) then we can say GENEROSITY is a spiritual discipline. I believe it to be a discipline that is helpful to rich and poor alike to "fill us with light."