Looking Ahead to June 22, 2008 -- 6th Sunday After Pentecost

This Sunday we will worship put at the Teaching Place at French Lake. Our service will begin at 11:00.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• From the Gospel: Matthew 10:40-42
• Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17
• From the Jewish Scriptures: Genesis 21:8-21

This week we will sing a variety of things (mostly with guitar accompaniment)

• Uyai Mose
• This Little Light of Mine
• I've Got the Joy Joy Joy Joy
• Give Me Oil in My Lamp
• It Only Takes a Spark

The Sermon Title is Wilderness God

Early Thoughts: Life is not always easy. In fact sometimes it seems like it can't get any worse. Imagine the surprise to find God at that spot.

For some good thoughts on this topic check out this column from three years ago.

She was sent out into the desert to die. She and her son, a firstborn son but in the end only the son of the slave girl. This is where Hagar find herself in this passage from Genesis. Victimized by
Sarah's jealousy and insecurity, powerless to speak for herself, disposable along with her son. Hagar has given up, going off by herself because she can't bear to watch the inevitable death of her son.

If Scripture came with stage directions it would now read God enters. Just as she gives up to the cruelties of life and the emptiness of the wilderness Hagar becomes aware of God's presence. God provides words of comfort and promise. God hears the cries of despair and pain and behold God provides.

The wilderness is a common place in Scripture. The wilderness is a place of fear and uncertainty. It is a metaphor for being lost and in peril. And yet the wilderness is a place where people constantly are reminded of God's presence and bounty.

What is the wilderness in our lives? Where do we find ourselves lost, afraid, beyond hope? What words does God have for us in that place? What promise? What hope? What comfort?
--Gord