Fairfield Presbyterian Church
Connect with us
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Programs
  • Contact

A VISION FOR STARTING OVER - from Sunday, March 12, 2017

3/13/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Starting over is no fun. There is the admission that you aren't where you need to be. Then there's the realization that you need to change your location, change your focus, and change a whole lot more. Up for that?

Abram was. He and Sarai had the good life in Haran. He had everything he needed, except one thing. An heir. Unable to have children, there was no legacy to his life, no meaning in his life. 

That is, until God discovers this one individual of exceptional faithfulness and decides to build the promise of new life in Abram. (Previous strategies had failed (see Noah and flood). This is a new gambit.) The promise from God is extravagant, as God always is; heirs galore! Abram responds without apparent question. He and Sarai and his entire household pick up and go at God's command. 

Destination? Not to worry; God will take care of everything. Does that work for you? You see, this is why Abram is regarded as the epitome of faithfulness in both Jewish and Christian traditions.

On the other hand, change is a real problem for Nicodemus in the selection from John's gospel. Playing with the imagery of light and dark as John's editor was fond of doing, this leader of the Pharisees comes to visit Jesus at night. It would be very helpful to know what Nicodemus' motivation was in making this excursion. His positive comments toward Jesus suggest that he may simply have wanted to know more about the good news that Jesus was preaching and teaching.

The conversation doesn't go well, however. Jesus' response doesn't match at all with Nicodemus's opening statement, and we find the dialogue lurching as Jesus leads Nicodemus along. However, Nicodemus can never quite catch up or catch on to what Jesus is talking about. 

Nicodemus is evidence of our own problems with seeing things in a new light, embracing life-giving change, and working our way forward to make change in our lives. It is as if we discover a prison that has captured our lives and we're unwilling to break free and move forward with the faithfulness of Abram.

Get it all sorted out for yourself in the sermon video below, and note the downloads below the video panel.

03-12-17-ff-answers.pdf
File Size: 24 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

03-12-17-a_vision_for_starting_over.pdf
File Size: 178 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly