Covenant Presbyterian Church
        

Weekend Update

from Bob Henderson       

Friday, July 18, 2014  

Dear friends:

 

Sermons are best done in close conversation with the community, with those who strive to integrate faith amidst all the other challenges and opportunities life brings their way. Your feedback, insights and observations have certainly strengthened this summer's series on prayer and I deeply appreciate your vulnerable, honest, and clear feedback.  

 

I was tempted to entitle this week's sermon "Take the Nestea Plunge" but realized that you had to enjoy a certain degree of "maturity" to understand (see example here). It's an apt image for what has been traditionally called the "prayer of relinquishment," a prayer of letting go in full trust that God will be faithful come what may.

 

I don't know about you (well, I think I do know a bit about you), but letting go instead of holding on, trusting God with matters deeply important to us - children, health, the future --  instead of frantically trying to manipulate outcomes, does not come naturally. In a recent effort to grow in this area, I turned to Michael Singer's book, "The Untethered Soul." Among the many insights he offered, I found this particularly valuable:

 

"Your relationship with God is the same as your relationship with the sun. If you hid from the sun for years and then chose to come out of your darkness, the sun would still be shining as if you had never left. You don't need to apologize. You just pick your head up and look at the sun. It's the same way when you decide to turn toward God. You just do it."

 

You can prepare for this week's sermon by reading Jesus' prayer of relinquishment here.

 

Warmly,


 

Bob Henderson's Signature