During Pastor Dale's month of reflection and recovery (see here), we have had a succession of guest speakers in the church. Last week the Executive Pastor, Jim Groves, gave the message. Pastor Jim is the usual "backup" and has filled in several times before, always with good results. Last week, again, was no disappointment.
Pastor Jim spoke about Peter's journey from an impetuous young follower who thought he might show God what's what to the apostle who was, literally, the rock on which the modern church was founded. The best part, though, was that he did it in the first person, speaking as Peter. He relayed the story from Matthew 16 when Jesus rebuked Peter for denying that he would be crucified, explaining the mindset and what he may have been thinking. And he relayed the maturity found in I Peter, written with thirty more years of life experience behind it.
The point he was really making, especially with the "Get thee behind me, Satan" found in Mt. 16:23, was that while believing in God is good, we also need to just believe God. That's the home of true faith - just believe God. And the whole thing, with Pastor Jim speaking in first person, as though Jesus had just been standing next to him a few minutes ago when this happened, never really felt like a sermon.
That's when it struck me, why I'm always so moved and appreciative when Pastor Jim speaks. He doesn't preach, he just talks. I know most of you don't see the difference, but when he's done speaking I feel like I've just had an entire conversation with him, even though I never got to talk. It's a little frustrating that I don't have the words to adequately describe the experience, but I'll tell you what you can do - follow this link:
http://www.avalonchurch.org/sermon_browser/sermon_detail.php?id=329
And take a listen. Tell me if you hear what I hear.
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