To be hungry…
At Kerith, you’ll often hear us speak about our vision statement. We exist to Help people find their way back to God through communities growing in their love for God and their love for people.
We also have a list of values that shape who we are as a church, that I realised recently I don’t talk about as often - but they are really core to who were are. Our values are rooted in scripture, and fall into three simple themes: Hungry, Humble and Healthy.
As we gather as a Farnborough church community across these Sundays (over in our Bracknell building), at the later time of 4pm, we are taking each week to explore these 3 areas. Last Sunday we started with what it means to be Hungry, being passionate and purposeful in pursuing Jesus: loving Him with all our hearts and choosing to live our lives in the way He taught us. Paul writes in Colossians 3:23:
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”
Paul was writing from prison, speaking to a group of people that lived in a world where many people lived under the control of a master. He reminds them in this letter that their identity and freedom were ultimately found in Jesus, and not in any human master, or system. Paul encouraged them to live in this identity now, not just in the future. They, and we today, can live this way wholeheartedly, knowing that everything we do, we can do for Him.
This summer, I have neglected gardening. It’s been a tough year to grow things what with all the heatwaves, but I can’t blame just that - I have simply not put as much effort in! I’ve left seedlings in trays long beyond the time they should have been planted out, I have not fed or watered regularly enough! As a result I haven’t seen a harvest as I have in previous years.
I was also recently considering how this summer, my work has looked different, as church has looked different for all of us as we haven’t been able to gather in the same ways to usual. However I’m certain that, as the builders have been working on the foundations of our building, God has also been working on the spiritual foundations in each of us.
We have each had to work harder at staying connected, to God and to each other – to staying hungry! Even though it may really bless us when we gather - we can’t simply rely solely on being fed by church gatherings, or other people. We need to learn how to feed ourselves, to stay connected to Jesus, spend time in His Word, to be in regular conversation with God in prayer. We’ve needed to work harder at intentionally pursuing Him in community, when our gathering may have look different to our usual way, or even our preference.
Many of us have a strong sense that God is doing something new in us as a community - that this different-to-usual few months has not just been just about a building rennovation, but a season where He is challenging us to dig deeper and assess who we are as church, to consider what we value, how hard we will ‘work’ at being the church! I am trusting that God is doing something deep beneath the surface in each of us. I had a picture that in this season we are working the soil, trusting that in the future we will see a harvest and abundance of fruit from our efforts now.
I was jotting down some of these thoughts last week, when my neighbour interrupted me with a knock on my door - and presented me with this abundance of fruit he had, from his own gardening efforts this year! It felt like a moment where God was affirming in me that yes, I will bless you all with an abundance of fruit. We are going to see a harvest from the season we are in now!
As Paul writes though - we all get to show our hunger for Jesus in whatever we do. this isn’t just about working hard ‘at church’ or ‘for church’. We are the church. When we are meeting on Sundays in our own building, and when we are not. Scattered in our jobs and homes during the week, To bring our passion for Him into our jobs, studies, families, homes, hobbies, sport, relationships and the everyday choices we make.
When we work wholeheartedly in anything and everything as if we are doing it for Jesus, we stay close to Him. When we are close to Him, we grow to be more like Him. He will produce the fruit of the Holy spirit in us, that will change us and change the world around us. We’ll be bringing glimpses of heaven to earth now – we don’t have to wait for a future harvest!
So let’s stay a hungry church - one that is always learning how to better feed ourselves. A church that remains hungry for more of Jesus. When we gather, and when we are scattered. Let’s pursue Him with passion in everything we do, with all our hearts.
Sonia
Kerith Farnborough Site Pastor