Rector’s Update: “The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem…’

For we are God’s masterpiece.
He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,
so we can do the good things
he planned for us long ago.

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

Our winter small group trimester is ending this week. Thank you so much to our adult small group leaders who have opened their homes, prayed for their groups, and created space for hospitality and friendship to happen. Thank you! Interested in leading during the spring? Let us know, here.

I was leading my small group this morning and I felt all the feels. I looked around at the guys in our circle with great gratitude for the stories of what God is doing in them. I felt very privileged to get to know them- what is hard, what is encouraging, what is scary. Grateful. We said good-bye to one of our guys because he is moving. Gratitude, but also grief. I will miss him. 

We have spent this trimester talking about John Ortberg’s book, Soul Keeping. Our discussions on what the soul needs have been particularly rich. Today we talked about how the soul needs ‘blessing’- a frustratingly nebulous term with a somewhat esoteric Ortberg definition. 
 

“Blessing is not just a word. Blessing is the projection of good into the life of another. We must think it, and feel it, and will it… The Lord bless you means, may the Lord constantly bring good into your life.”

We talked about people who had spoken blessing to us- those were sweet moments. I talked about the difference between ‘to bless’ and ‘to complement’. They are vastly different. ‘To complement’ is relatively easy and it is often self-serving. ‘To bless’ requires something of us. It is a word that is combined with a will, a volitional desire.

In the passage above from Ephesians, the apostle Paul speaks blessing: ‘We are God’s masterpiece.’ It is not a complement. It’s a fact that needs to become a reality. Thanks be to God, it can.

Paul prefaces those blessing words with:

⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. (NLT)

You are God’s masterpiece. Right now. Already.
This blessing required something of God:
His Son to die on a cross.
His power to raise Him from the dead.
His grace to say it is sufficient for sinners like me.
His invitation for me to receive it. 
You are God’s masterpiece.

It’s not a complement. It’s a deep desire for the projection of God’s good into your life.

We are coming into the week where we immerse, again, into the singular, pivotal moment that changed history, defined love, and made us blessed. I invite you to come with us for the whole story. It’s true.

You are God’s masterpiece and this is how He did it.  
 

With love,
-David