Have you ever found yourself tired of eating the same thing over and over again?  The Israelites did while eating manna every day for 40 years.  Yet somehow if I eat the same meals every few weeks, I find myself getting bored with my dinner.  I really can’t complain—I have food to eat, multiple times a day!  I have options of what to eat—no manna three times a day.  Nevertheless, new variations in our diet are always exciting!  In the same cooking show that I referenced in yesterday’s sermon on “finding a focal point in a meal,” the judges also had the contestants recreate a classic Thanksgiving side dish.  They had to take a long-standing traditional dish, such as green bean casserole or mashed potatoes, and reinvent it in a new way.  The results, to say the least, looked TASTY!

This reinvention of old things had me thinking again last night.  We are called to go and share a message of love that is almost 2000 years old.  To some, the message of Jesus and His sacrificial love seems outdated.  They feel it is no longer needed in our world today.  Yet we know how “tasty” it is!  When we step out in faith to engage the world for Christ, sometimes we have to get creative.  We might need to take a traditional message of love and change up the presentation.  The message stays the same but the style that we share it evolves.  And the end result is someone experiencing the same love, joy, and forgiveness that we have found in Jesus!

This week we need to think through not only how we can focus on Jesus in our day-to-day conversations but also how we share Him.  People need to hear your passion and your experiences walking with Christ.  If you share the same way everyone else shares, there is no variety.  There is no new spice.  Be you!  Share Jesus!  Be creative!  Go and make disciples!

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Jan

PS—On a very practical note, I started working on my Christmas shopping this weekend.

(and no, this is not a violation of my “no Christmas before Turkey rule” because it’s just shopping and not decorating…it’s thin line I walk, I know!)

As you start your shopping, I wanted to remind everyone that if you shop on Amazon you can shop and give at the same time.  If you go to smile.amazon.com, you can set Hempfield Brethren in Christ as your selected charity.  Every time you shop, as long as you start at smile.amazon.com, a percentage of your bill will be donated to HBIC.  Shopping and giving all at the same time!