Dear Guests, Members, and Friends,
Welcome!
On behalf of the Christ who gave Himself for each of us, Welcome!
On behalf of the One who called you to Himself by name, Welcome!
On behalf of the One before whom “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9), Welcome!
Today is a particularly special day! Our worship features a baptism and new membership for Princess Dawn, along with our quarterly Communion (foot washing and table ministries). I would add a special welcome to all those who have come to support Princess in her decision to put on Christ and to declare her desire to join with the Adventist Church in Hollywood. Thank you for your care, and for gathering with all of us today!
Let’s face it. At present, Christian identity is sorely challenged. Agnosticism is flourishing. Atheism has never had a greater audience. Fear of secularism has been one of the major driving forces behind the politicization of Evangelicalism. And so-called Christian Nationalism represents one of the most profound distortions of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the present age. There are myriad denominations, sects, groups, and subgroups all claiming the truth. So when we choose to follow the God of Jesus Christ, we take on an identity that’s contested today:Christian identity. It’s up to us to represent that identity for what it biblically and ethically must be.
Because time is short, my sermon today will be more of a series of short stories than anything else: snippets, tableaus from my own life’s journey and experiences, particularly around the rites of baptism and communion, two of the most sacred practices within the Church. My own experiential lens has been shaped by the concrete sorts of thoughts that characterize pre-adolescence, my journey out of strict biblical literalism and fundamentalism, legalism, and the power of ritual for invoking a sense of the sacred. It will be about realizations that have come of God’s unfathomable love, inclusion, and care for all of Earth’s children, all of the created order, everything God declared “good.” It will be about what the opportunity before us means as we practice our faith in the midst of a city with all attending graces and woes. It will be about affirmations we make as an expression of choice and identity—an identity we get to shape within the context of amazing grace.
May you find yourself truly present to the beauty that surrounds us, touched by God’s Spirit, and blessed!
Grace and Peace,
Dr., Elder, Pr. Greg
P.S. Thank you so much for the beautiful flowers you gifted us with this past week! And for your expressions of appreciation. Very kind! Love to you all!