In a recent interview with Pastor Olsen, he spoke about the upcoming sermon series, Our Life in Chirst.
What is the purpose behind the series?
The idea had been floating around for a while, but there seemed to no opportune time for a three to four week series. Then when we looked at August we saw that we had the entire month with no special events in the church year, or events at Our Savior that would break up a series. In our worship planning weekly discussions the time just seemed right for something that I have wanted to try.
What do you mean you 'wanted to try?'
This is my first foray into writing a sermon series. Pastor Maier will be gone on the mission trip to Africa for most of the month, so while it was more work, I felt that the chance was there and I would expand myself, try something new and in the end grow from the experience along with the congregation. I am always looking for ways to grow beyond myself, to push myself. Through prayer, planning and study, I believe that this will be beneficial for the congregation.
Why did you pick this topic?
Actually I didn't feel like I picked the topic, but it found me. Let me explain. I was doing my usual sermon study as well as working on upcoming TLC ministry and planning for the new Adult Bible Class year. All this while counseling, doing visits and just listening to the stories and concerns of our congregation. By putting Christ into all aspects of our lives, by putting him at the head of our table, our lives will change. I think we forget that sometimes. We are freed and forgiven people. We have the love of Christ and have been welcomed to the Father's table. Knowing this, in our hearts and minds, brings about a change, a transformation, something different in us.
But for people who may have been Christian for a long time or all their lives, we sometimes get caught up the routine, and forget the reality and joy of the love of Christ. We forget or maybe get lax in bringing Him into our everyday lives. Jesus is not just there on Sunday morning. He's there in the car on the way to work, in your home when you argue with your spouse or kids, and he is with you when you pay your bills each week. A heightened awareness of Christ in our everyday lives, will help us to fight some of Satan's age old weapons.
You can listen to self help people or read books, and while those are all well and good, only Jesus Christ can bring about real change. Our Christian lives are about living for Christ. When we put the focus back on Him, and off ourselves, we can lay these issues at the foot of the cross. And leave them there!
What happened next after you started to think about this topic?
After I took out and revisited the evaluations from our Come Thirsty Sermon series back in January, I noticed that some people had commented that it would be nice if we had something developed within our own congregation. The three topics; stress, finances, and guilt developed right out of concerns with in our families and community. I believe people living in the U.S. can probably connect with one if not all three of these.
The fourth topic, Christ in our Children, revolves around the Sunday when we will be rededicating our teachers and welcoming our new principal. What better thing to preach about than our Lord and Savior being in and among our children.
What else would you like to tell us about this series?
This is more than just a sermon series, but it is going to be an entire worship experience. I am working closely with John Horak in adding some experiences in the worship service that will enhance the message. It is an interesting process in working with new ideas and integrating them while still retaining the key parts of the service such as confession/absolution, readings, Lord's Supper, etc. We are going to try a few new ideas for our church, which will not distract, but serve to enhance the central focus of Christ in our lives.
Would you care to tell us what "new ideas" do you have?
Nice try. I don't want to give it away. I like the idea of coming to find out what is going to happen, maybe a little intrigue. I will tell you we will have children's messages each Sunday. While not necessarily new to our congregation, I believe it is good for the kids as well as the adults. You never know what those kids are going to say.
We will also need to bring our Bibles. We often put the passages on the screen, but I appreciate that in some church traditions, the members bring their Bibles to follow along, to mark in them and to study later. I am encouraging this specifically for this series. As a matter of fact, we will not be putting the passages on the screen. There is good and bad to this, but for this four weeks I want to try this out.
Any closing thoughts for people coming to this series on Sunday?
I would like to ask you to pray this week. Pray for the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to receiving the Word of God. If someone would like to look ahead the readings are from Psalm 37, Luke 12:22-34 and Phil. 4:4-7. I am encouraging discussion and interaction on this web site. To hear the stories from our members about God's hand in their lives will help the message become real for everyone. I pray that this series will lift us all up and lift our eyes up to the cross for our strength.
