08-01-23

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
August 1, 2023
The group attending the General Assembly is having a grand time. I don’t believe I have ever attended a General Assembly where I have been able to say, "Every speaker has been fabulous!" I know there are still other worship services and workshops today, but even if the rest of the speakers are bad (and they won’t be), it won’t dampen the experience. Our preacher the first evening, Rev. Owen Chandler, US Army Chaplain, offered a slogan that is part of his family and team of chaplains. That slogan is: "Love first, love always. We’ll figure out the rest along the way." Now I recognize that his words dance well with the Cypress Creek Christian Church Vision and Mission, while also placing a lot of trust in the first two principles: Love first, love always. That trust is built on the important theological idea that God is love, and if we are putting God first and always, then don’t you believe we’ll figure out whatever might show up? As I John 4:7 reminds us, "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God… for God is love."

​Be with us, Great and Gracious God, as we seek to love first and always and then to trust you to be with us no matter what might come our way. Amen.