Last Sunday evening I had the privilege of being the MC at the 4th Annual Middleton Community Christmas Concert. It was an evening of music exalting the birth of the Christ Child. There were singers, musicians, pastors from many of the Middleton churches (including United Methodist, Nazarene, Latter Day Saints, Church of God, Adventist, Evangelical, Cowboy Sanctuary and Assembly of God), along with a community choir and children’s choir. It was a delightful evening. I was the “fill-in” whenever a group needed time to exit or set up.
I don’t think they realized how risky that was! Giving a microphone to a preacher, a woman preacher, a Pentecostal woman preacher in front of a large audience and telling her to “fill in” is a truly dangerous proposition.
I shared two things, two things which I have shared repeated with my own congregation and with anyone who has read these devotions for any length of time. You might say that everything I say flows from these two “passions.”
One, how much God loves us! You can discern that from the high price He was willing to offer for you – the life of His own Son, whose birth we celebrate during this season. It never ceases to overwhelm me when I think of how much God loves me.
The second “passion?” That there is more that brings us together than separates us. Our God cannot be contained in any doctrinal box. Our doctrines are merely a finite attempt to describe the indescribable, explain the unexplainable and contain the uncontainable. Our God is wild and holy and dangerous. And if His Spirit lives in us … and He does if we have come to Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior … then we are more alike than we realize. Our doctrines do not contain the Spirit of God, we do.
I thank God for that opportunity to share my passions briefly last Sunday night. I thank God for the opportunity to share my passions with you every day. God bless!
