Compassion in Community

Henri Nouwen, in his book, "Compassion", writes this amazing sentence: "Compassion is not an individual character trait, a personal attitude, or a special talent, but a way of living together." He goes on to say, "We witness to God's compassionate presence in the world by the way we live and work together." In other words, conveying God's compassion is community work--each of us bringing our gifts and talents for something much bigger than ourselves.

This is challenging. We live in an individualistic society where it is very easy, in practical terms, not to show such compassion to our friends and neighbors. In such a lonely world compassion calls us into community for the sake of others. We gather not to be entertained but to be sent out.

This week, Catalyst continues "Do Something" and we will get opportunities to be God's compassionate presence to a hurting world. Not alone but as a community. I am excited to see what God is going to do through us.

See you Thursday night @ 7pm. Childcare is provided.

Get ready to do something.

Happy Calvinist

Pastor Bob (who I lovingly refer to as a happy Calvinist)spoke last night, as we kicked off the "Do Something" Series. To a packed house, well over 150, Bob taught from Ephesians 2:10:

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Bob made three observations from the text:

1) We are God's poem

The word workmanship is from the same root word that we get the word poem. In Jesus, we are God's poetry. This is the foundation of everything we do. This is the essential thing we must know if we are to "do something" for Jesus.

2) Our purpose in Christ is to do good

There are only two creations spoken of in scripture. The first is the creation of the universe in Genesis. The second creation is the creation spoken of in the New Testament that happens when we say "yes" to Jesus. This is good news. No matter where we are from, our intellectual prowess, pass sin, whatever, in Jesus we have been made new; we have a second chance. We are created to do good!

3) God has been thinking about the good we will do for a very long time.

Before the foundations of the world God planned and knew the good he would do through you. The God of the universe has made a way for you to do things that you could never imagine.

Bob challenged us to trust Jesus more. If we are to do great things, we will need Jesus. We simply can't do it on our own. This was a good word and I took it to heart. The beginning of "Do Something" was amazing.

Next week, Pastor Christopher Salley from New Life Christian Fellowship will be sharing with us. Chris is a pastor from Chicago Heights and, it's my hope that, he will rock our world.

Also, we have a guest band leading worship. It is going to be a great night. Invite your friends, come, and get ready to DO SOMETHING!

This Thursday night

Hey friends,
We had to cancel last week because of snow, so this Thursday night will be our kick-off night. We are really excited about what God is going to do.

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Grace,

Ron c.

"Do Something" Promo