This summer’s worship series features members and friends Reporting the Good News, however they see it in the world around them. We look to Jesus’ inaugural sermon (Luke 4:14-19) and Isaiah 61 for our guidance about what God’s kind of Good News looks like: liberation for all of us. Summer worship is at 10am in Willett Hall.
During the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus tells his listeners: you are the light of the world! And just as you wouldn’t hide a lamp under a basket, we shouldn’t let our lights be dimmed. Instead, Jesus exhorts us boldly:
let your light shine before people, so they can see the good things you do and praise your Parent who is in heaven. (vv. 14-16).
In Ignatian spirituality (following the teachings of Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits), there is this idea of “sealed orders.” Much like in military missions, we are given confidential orders about our life’s purpose and mission, which may take a lifetime to open and understand fully. Ultimately, if we search and live long enough, we may find them and consequently, allow God’s light to shine fully through us.
There are a lot of things that get in the way of us letting that light shine: parental expectations, bullying, poverty, lack of opportunity, shame, ignorance, misunderstanding, anxiety, trauma. With support, with hope, with help, we can find our way.
On Sunday, Robert will share a personal and vocational awakening he’s had over the past few years and how it’s brought him a kind of joy and confidence he hadn’t known before. His story will likely link up somewhere with your own, as we all continue figuring out God’s story together.
Come Sunday and we’ll lean into this promise of God’s light shining through us.
In faith,
Kent
Reporting the Good News summertime series — most available on our YouTube page here
June 21 What do Isaiah and Jesus say about the Good News?
June 28 William — God is always there and my church has my back
July 5 Carolyn — helping an ICE detainee find their way home
July 12 Michael — finding healing in relationship
July 19 Robert — letting God’s light shine through vocational change
July 26 — Jude
August 2 — Deborah Brown, Brookline Community Development Corporation
August 9 — Merle & Kent
August 16 — TBD
August 23 — Casey
August 30 — Deborah O
September 6 — Geoff
