Predestination - Calvin V
OK, you knew that sooner or later I would have to deal with it. Predestination - it hangs to Presbyterians like fly-paper. Augustine, Luther, and others believed in it.........but Calvin "really" believed in it, such that it became central to his thought.
What is predestination?
Rather than theological terminology - let me tell you what it means personally.
It means that God loves me - not for what I do, but for who I am. It is a confident love, because it is based on God, not on me. Even when I fail, God is the constant...the world changes, I change, life changes-but God is always present, always there.
Predestination - this 'unmerited chosenness' - is my spiritual DNA.
Every Sunday morning as I stand in the pulpit, I do so with the simple prayer that you will hear this good news: You are loved; you are accepted; you are cherished by God.
I don't worry about personal salvation. I don't worry about whether or not I am saved. I don't worry about whether or not God will accept me when I die. Those anxieties were all answered definitively 2,000 years ago at Calvary. So, on one hand, my Christianity is not up-tight, nervous or anxious; God is in control. I can relax and enjoy the baseball season. But on the other hand, because God has chosen me to be his child, I want to serve wisely and use my gifts to help others.
Predestination - it is the sure and certain knowledge that I am as precious to God as any child has ever been to any parent. |
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Blessings to all,
In commemoration of the 500th anniversary of John Calvin's birth, Faith Focus has looked at how Calvin's teachings still shape us. This is the fifth and final segment - on Reformation Sunday, October 25, Calvin will join us as our guest preacher. |
| "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his children through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will."
- Ephesians 1.3-5
"We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called, he has also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us?...For I am sure that neither death, or life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
- Romans 8.28-30, 38-49 | |
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 Vacation Bible
School Wrap-Up
390 people registered
(2008: 328, 2007: 301)
152 children registered
(2008: 127, 2007: 110)
35 Preschool children
(2008:24)
40 families were not members of Faith
(2008: 26)
Served approx. 300 dinners each night
(2008:250) |
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Some of you will remember The Reverend David Hudson, who served Faith as a Parish Associate 7 years ago. David is now the overall mission director for Southern Asia. Attached is a mission update letter written by his wife Susan.
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Did you know? Per-member giving by Presbyterians to their churches increased from 1983-2007 by 240%, 64% adjusted for inflation. Average per-member giving in 2007 was $1,082. | |
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