Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Trinity, November 19th, 2023
When you go shopping are there just certain brand-names that you trust? When you see a certain company's name on a product, does it automatically register "quality" in your mind? Or on the other hand, when you see a certain product name, do you avoid it at all costs? Very often this trust . . . or dis-trust, for that matter .. . comes from experience, doesn't it? When we get a specific brand of laundry detergent and we use it a few times and our clothes look bright and appear brand new after a wash. Or they smell fresh like spring. Well, if this experience continues to be the case for us each time we buy that product, for us that brand is a "winner." On the other hand, if we buy a product at the store and it turns out to be lousy or does not meet our expectations, our faith in that product will be lacking and we likely won't buy that brand any time soon. Again, in either case, whether we like a product or whether we do not like a product, more than likely both are based on experience. The same can be true of going to a restaurant. If we had a good experience . . . . the food was good . . . the service was excellent . . . the price was not over-whelming . . . then, by all means, our opinion of that establishment will be high. Conversely, our opinion of that same establishment will be lacking if the food was lousy or the service was poor, for example. So, very often our faith in a product, or lack of faith in a product, is based on experience.
St. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Colossians: ". . . . since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus " (Colossians 1:3 ff) In this sense, where does "faith" in God come from? Very often we learn about God from other people: our parents; our grandparents; etc. As children, our parents perhaps take us to church or we go to Sunday School or we might go to Vacation Bible School in the summer months. As we grow, we still are influenced by what we hear and see about God coming from others around us, but as we grow spiritually, we need to experience our own "faith" in God. You see, our faith life is very much like a journey that we travel on. Sometimes the road is very easy. Other times it might be rough or rocky. Sometimes there are a twists and turns that we were not expecting. Often, our journey does not match up with our expectations or what we were planning on. Faith in God is something completely different. We know that we can depend on God. We know that He will never leave us. But faith comes mainly from experience but first we have to "experience" God ourselves. So many people give up on God because their experience of Him is lacking. They have no faith because they have not seen Him. But it could be that they have not seen Him because they were not really looking to begin with. Let us tell people about God by the way in which we live our life. Let us tell people about God by the way in which we treat others around us with love and compassion. Let people see the "faith" in us by always staying constant, by always being sure no matter what befalls us. Let people know about your faith in God by letting them see the life you lead and the attitude you have.
St. Paul writes in his Epistle to the Colossians: ". . . . since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus " (Colossians 1:3 ff) In this sense, where does "faith" in God come from? Very often we learn about God from other people: our parents; our grandparents; etc. As children, our parents perhaps take us to church or we go to Sunday School or we might go to Vacation Bible School in the summer months. As we grow, we still are influenced by what we hear and see about God coming from others around us, but as we grow spiritually, we need to experience our own "faith" in God. You see, our faith life is very much like a journey that we travel on. Sometimes the road is very easy. Other times it might be rough or rocky. Sometimes there are a twists and turns that we were not expecting. Often, our journey does not match up with our expectations or what we were planning on. Faith in God is something completely different. We know that we can depend on God. We know that He will never leave us. But faith comes mainly from experience but first we have to "experience" God ourselves. So many people give up on God because their experience of Him is lacking. They have no faith because they have not seen Him. But it could be that they have not seen Him because they were not really looking to begin with. Let us tell people about God by the way in which we live our life. Let us tell people about God by the way in which we treat others around us with love and compassion. Let people see the "faith" in us by always staying constant, by always being sure no matter what befalls us. Let people know about your faith in God by letting them see the life you lead and the attitude you have.
St. Margaret Church worships every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM at the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.
NOTE: Keep in mind that we must enter in the main entrance of the lobby and sign in before we go to the chapel.
Please Join us as we gather together as God's family to: hear the Word of God; listen as God speaks to each one of us in our hearts; worship God in song and in word; listen to the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer; and, finally, receive Our Blessed Lord in Holy Communion so that we can be nourished for the journey we call life. Take one hour out of your busy schedule to worship God, to honour God, to acknowledge the need for God in your life. St. Margaret Church worships every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM at the Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.
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