From the Pastor

Mark Edmonson, a professor of English at the University of Virginia, writes, “My students are possibility junkies... they always strive to keep their options open, never to shut any possibilities down, which means they cannot commit to one thing.... Ask any American college student what he’s doing on Friday night. Ask him at 5:30 Friday afternoon. ‘I don’t know’ will likely be the first response. But then will come a list of possibilities (longer than a Chinese menu): the concert, the play, the movie, the party, the stay-at-home chilling … the monitoring of SportsCenter, the reading (fast, fast) of an assignment or two. […] And once you do get somewhere, wherever it might be, you’ll find... at a student party, about a fourth of the people have their cellphones locked to their ears. What are they doing? ‘They’re talking to their friends.’ About? ‘ About another party they might conceivably go to.’”

 As I continue my sermon series on the Fruit of the Spirit, this Sunday, I will be talking about the fruit of Kindness. Kindness means commitment! The Hebrew word is “hesed.” “Hesed” is the word for God’s super-love. What “agape” is to the New Testament, “hesed” is to the Old Testament. In the Psalms it’s often translated “steadfast love” or “covenant love.” It’s an open-ended, unconditional commitment of self-giving love. It’s giving a blank check and saying, “All that I am is all for you no matter what.” And may you commit to showing “hesed” kindness to those you meet.  

 Pastor John

Quote of the Week

 “Kindness does not require us to be blind to facts or to live in fancies, but it does require us to cherish a habit of goodwill, ready to show pity if sorrow appears, and slow to turn away even if hostility appears.” Alexander MacLaren

Alexander Maclaren was an English non-conformist minister of Scottish origin.