February 4th, 2007\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Gerry Doerksen<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Text:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 2 Chronicles 7:14<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Good morning!\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways<\/em><\/p>\n Then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.<\/em><\/p>\n (2nd<\/span> Chronicles 7:14 )<\/p>\n This Old Testament passage has been important to me since my Bible School days. I think I like it so much because, for me, it gets to the heart of the Gospel. And, I believe it might just tell us about the attributes of a good leader, and a good Board.<\/p>\n So this morning I\u2019d like to explore this passage a little more deeply and, at the same time, share some of my thinking and ideas on the direction for the year ahead.<\/p>\n King Solomon has recently completed the building of the Temple \u2026 a magnificent edifice \u2026 architecturally stunning by all accounts. In 2nd<\/span> Chronicles, Chapter 6, Solomon offers a remarkable prayer to God to mark the opening of the Temple. Then, following that dedication service, God appears to Solomon and responds to him with these words:<\/p>\n If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n I see some ideas and themes here. Ideas like humility, being God\u2019s people, and prayer. Let\u2019s talk about these a bit.<\/p>\n Humility is an attitude \u2013 a lifestyle that God is looking for in God\u2019s people, and in me. Humility carries with it a certain softness that smoothes the rough edges of arrogance, affluence and abrasiveness. It is meant for the individual Christian as well as the congregation, I believe.<\/p>\n So in this spirit of humility let me first thank you, the congregation, for your trust in me as chair of the Board for the upcoming year. I take this responsibility seriously \u2026 but I can\u2019t do it on my own. I need God\u2019s wisdom and strength, and yours too. So I ask for your support and prayers throughout the coming year.<\/p>\n Special thanks goes to John Lobach for taking me under his wing and helping me to understand the various issues and way of doing things here at TUMC. Thank you, John.<\/p>\n I would also like to thank the outgoing board members for their gracious support this past year.\u00a0 And, of course, I must thank my wife for being with me every step of the way.<\/p>\n As a Board, we want to be accessible and show humility in all that we say and do. To this end we will endeavour to operate in an open and transparent manner. We will post the minutes for all to read, both on the bulletin board in our lobby, and also in the Place of Meeting <\/em>newsletter. Please feel free to approach me, or any board member, and seek my attention on issues that are important to you. With your support and prayers, we will do our best in accomplishing the work of the church on your behalf.<\/p>\n God, the omnipotent Creator, says:<\/p>\n If my people who are called by my name\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Am I \u2026 are we \u2026 God\u2019s people? Mennonite Church Canada had the theme \u201cGod\u2019s People Now\u201d for 2006, so the answer must be yes. I believe that the community of faith to which you and I belong — TUMC, Mennonite, Anabaptist, whatever you wish to call us \u2013 is special to God today! How thrilling is that! As God\u2019s people we are special, but by no means are we exclusive! Unique in our Anabaptist distinctives \u2026 perhaps \u2026 but exclusive \u2026 NEVER!<\/p>\n We are a wonderfully diverse congregation. This is something to celebrate! We are set in an urban environment, in the 21st<\/span> century. What then does it mean to \u201cdo church\u201d in this setting? One of my goals for the Board this year is to somehow make time for discussing questions on deeper issues and future direction. Questions like: Does our worship reflect our current diversity as well as it might? Do our structures and committees and procedures reflect this diversity, and allow for the full participation of everyone who might wish to get involved? Where do we see ourselves in 2, 5 or 10 years?<\/p>\n Here at TUMC it is quite natural that we often do things together in subgroups – like the youth, or seniors, or young adults. A personal goal for the year is to approach many of our subgroups and get to know them just a little better. I particularly enjoy being an usher, as it allows me to greet everyone, including newcomers, on Sunday mornings. Let\u2019s make a special effort to welcome newcomers to our church, and befriend them. They strengthen and enrich us, and are quite possibly our future!<\/p>\n God, the Ancient of Days, says:<\/p>\n If my people \u2026 pray and seek my face \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Each of us knows that prayer is essential to our Christian walk and spiritual growth. But it\u2019s also what the church community is to do. Someone has said:<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You don\u2019t pray for the work of the Church;<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Prayer IS the work of the Church\u201d<\/p>\n I agree!<\/p>\n Let\u2019s surround every facet of our church with prayer. This includes our Board as well. We need to be a church Board that prays\u2026 earnestly seeking God\u2019s will and direction for the future. And you need to be earnestly praying for us too. Will you do that?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Are we a church that loves to read the Scriptures?\u00a0 We come from an historical tradition of reading the Bible for ourselves. We are Biblicists! I think it\u2019s wonderful that our worship leaders, speakers, and pastors include a wide variety of Bible readings. Thank you fo \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Then \u2026God says: Then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Here it is, finally, the heart of the gospel. Forgiveness and healing for you and me!<\/p>\n All I need do is walk with God, talk with God, learn of God, make choices instructed by God \u2026 and then \u2026 God will hear \u2026 and forgive \u2026 and heal.<\/p>\n What a wonderful message of assurance for each of us today as we begin this new church year together!\u00a0\u00a0 Amen<\/em>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Humble Ourselves and Pray\u00a0 February 4th, 2007\u00a0 Gerry Doerksen \u00a0 Text:\u00a0\u00a0 2 Chronicles 7:14 \u00a0 Good morning!\u00a0 \u00a0If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways Then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land. (2nd Chronicles 7:14 ) This Old Testament passage has been important to me since my Bible School days. I think I like it so much because,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-a-worship-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nr helping us to seek God\u2019s face. Let\u2019s encourage each other to continue delving into the truths found in God\u2019s Holy book.<\/p>\n