God soothes our ragged souls
“Everybody Gets to Play” describes who we are at Liberty Vineyard. It’s part of our Vineyard DNA, where every single person has a valuable contribution to make in the ministry of Jesus. Each week you are invited to jump into what God is doing among us. Take a look and join us in making God’s kingdom visible, as we reimagine how we can together do small things with great love, reaching out to neighbors and nations, for the greater glory of God!
September 23rd, 2024
Liberty Vineyard family,
Just as with any long mountain climb, by the time we get about halfway through our journey, we wonder if we’re gonna make it! Life is so hard, and God is so good, so let’s remember to sing and dance as we go … songs of lament, songs of joy, songs of wonder, songs of fun … so often, through music, God soothes our ragged souls and puts the spring back in our steps. I encourage you to tune in to Bart’s Autumn Album (from our precious time at Meadowbrook on Saturday) if you need some soothing for your soul today. We can’t always wrap ourselves in one of Jeanne’s gorgeous love-sewn quilts or Theresa’s beautiful love-knitted prayer shawls, but we can all fall into the Trinity’s embrace any time because God is ever present with us in perfect love and mercy and refreshing.
We’re about halfway through this wonderful series on the Pilgrimage Psalms. As we sat with Psalm 125 a week ago, we grew together in becoming more candid in our challenges and secure in our Savior. As challenge after challenge was read aloud (anonymously), my heart was simultaneously grieved and broken over the very real hardships our congregation is facing AND greatly blessed by the authenticity and trust demonstrated by together laying down the raw and ragged parts of our lives before God and one another. I am convinced that shared burdens are lighter burdens. Just knowing that you and I are not alone in walking through hard stuff multiplies strength and hope! As we continue to cast our cares on the Lord together and cry out for God’s help, we are learning to become more secure in our Savior’s presence, sovereignty, and shalom.
Yesterday we sat with and entered into Psalm 126 (how about those shouts of joy!), stepping away from wishing for the “good old days” and instead choosing to live with self-giving love, letting go of our hopes and expectations for particular outcomes. God is calling us ever onward. To try to think or to live as we did in the “good old days” is to put artificial limits around what we’re willing to do in our life with God. Psalm 126 beckons us to ask God to do God’s purpose and God’s will, to be wonderful to us as he has been wonderful to us and to others in the past. And so we pray, “And now, God, do it again … But please, not what we want, not what I want. What do you want?”
As we face inevitable uphill challenges this week / this month / this year, let us remember that we are on this kingdom journey together. As pilgrims on the way of love, we encourage one another daily, we pray for one another, we look around for others to welcome, we sing as we go, we practice good self-care as beloved children of God, we offer self-giving love to all, we rely on the power of the Holy Spirit, we remember Jesus, we receive the good news and freely give it away: love, aka Jesus, has come – we are not alone!
A couple of verses in Philippians express so well what is in my heart for each one of you, precious Liberty Vineyard fam. I speak these verses over each of you wholeheartedly and sincerely and with tears of gratitude:
“Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.” (Philippians 1:3-6, The Message)
With you on the journey,
Pastor Karen
Liberty Vineyard Church
Karen Sculley – (404) 388-0518, karen@srsoln.com
