Fear of Vulnerability

Life is made up of relationships - family, friends, work, church, God...  Unfortunately, relationships between imperfect people become imperfect relationships.  How do those imperfect relationships ever have a chance of surviving?  The answer is found in apologies and forgiveness. Sounds simple enough -- too bad it isn't.

As I've seen in others and experienced myself, apologizing is difficult and even threatening for some people.  When we admit that we were wrong, we're also seemingly losing our place of power in the relationship.  Truly saying, "I'm sorry. I was wrong." is taking on an attitude of humility that some people find very difficult.  It reminds me of this scene from the TV show  Seinfeld:

We all want the upper hand in relationships. But the problem with jockeying for the best position of power is that it's a losing game. Having "hand" is a selfish pursuit and focusing on ourselves will eventually lead to disappointment and pain. No matter what we may think or see in the actions of those around us, the place of greatness is found in humility. (Matthew 23:11)

So that brings us back to saying, "I'm sorry".  The first person each of us need to say that to each day is God.  Do you find that difficult, too?  This Sunday, August 17th, we'll be looking at a song for saying, "I'm Sorry": Psalm 130. Forgiveness is a wonderful gift to give and to receive!  I hope to see you this Sunday.

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Have you ever read through the entire Bible?  Not many of us have.  Sure, Genesis goes well and we can make it through Exodus, but usually somewhere in Leviticus we lose steam.  And the books of the prophets are hard to figure out -- who are they talking to?

Starting in September our entire congregation - from the toddlers to the grandparents - are going to read and understand the Bible as one continuing story of God and his people.  We'll be using "The Story" - a chronological Bible put together by Max Lucado and Randy Frazee.  We'll have more information and samples of the materials to you to look at on Sundays with our big launch happening on Sunday, September 7th.  In the meantime, you've welcome to check out more information at www.thestory.com.

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