First Presbyterian will have a booth at the Celebration of Nations tomorrow, September 28, 2019. Common Call will join them. Stop by to find out more about us!
Topic of the Week: Actively Loving Your Neighbor
This week (September 26), we will be meeting back in the Havener Atrium to discuss ways to actively love our neighbors. It’s not enough to say you love someone in the abstract; we are called to service. We will talk about some organizations in Rolla and where we (individually or collectively) might fit into them. I leave you with Jesus’s mission statement, in which he quotes Isaiah 61:1-2:
16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
Luke 4:16-21
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Theme: Loving Difficult or Unlovable People
At our last meeting, we decided to use the theme of loving difficult people, or loving the unlovable, for the next part of the semester. “Love your neighbor” is a recurring Biblical theme; see for example Micah 6:8, Matthew 22:36-40, Mark 12:30-31 , Luke 10:25-37 , John 13:34-35 , 1 John 3:18 . One of the Common Call flyers on campus says:
Love the sinner, hate the sin.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Also, Rev. Lou Ellen Hartley’s sermon today was directly relevant. You can listen to it here:
At our next couple meetings, Dr. Stuart Baur (who is leading in Dr. Jonathan Kimball’s absence) will lead a discussion around addiction. How do we understand addiction theologically? How do we love someone who is engaged in self-destructive behavior? How does understanding it as a disease vs. considering it to be a sin affect our relationships?