Sorry it's been so long between posts: been busy! With what ??
Well, one Sunday, I made bread during the church service.
We wanted to have the lovely smell of baking bread wafting through the church as people arrived, but I couldn't use the church kitchen oven. So we made toast with our toaster in different parts of the building!
Then during the service we read the shortest parable Jesus told: ," He told them still another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.' ," Matthew 13:33
The yeast has to touch every part of the flour in order to produce the rising effect. And the yeast has to be activated by the warm water.
We wanted the congregation to realize that they are the yeast and they have to be out in their world making a difference. Maybe we could go as far as to say that the water which activates the yeast is the Holy Spirit! The flour is obviously the world at large. And our action and our presence will make a difference to the world we are in. This parable is Jesus' promise that the kingdom of heaven is growing inexorably and will reach every single portion of this Earth. But we have to play our part as yeast.
Our numbers are going down. We are not bringing new people into the church. We are not doing our job for Jesus. Please keep praying that the Vitality pathway we have started introducing to the churches of our Union will revitalize our congregations so they will have a definite impact on their communities.
