Overland Park Christian Church
(913) 677-4646
  • Home
  • About OPCC
    • Guest Information
    • Vision & Core Values
    • Our Team
    • Our Story
  • Worship
    • Worship This Week
    • Virtual Worship
    • Sunday AM Worship
    • Worship Arts
    • Children in Worship
    • Children Worship & Wonder
    • Funerals >
      • Digital Funerals
    • Communion
  • Ministries
    • Stewardship Ministries >
      • Stewardship
      • Online Giving
      • Landscape Ministries
    • Children's Ministries >
      • Nursery
      • Children Worship & Wonder
      • Children in Worship
    • Family Ministries >
      • Families, Youth & Children During COVID-19
    • Youth Ministries >
      • Youth Group
    • Young Adult Ministries
    • Adult Ministries >
      • Christian Ed for Adults
      • Empty Nesters
      • Men's Fellowship
      • Girlfriends Unlimited
    • Caring Ministries >
      • Pastoral Counseling
      • Congregational Care
      • Caregiver Support
      • Grief Support
      • 12-Step Support Groups
    • Music Ministries >
      • Choir Recordings
  • Outreach & Missions
    • Global Outreach >
      • Mission Trips
    • Local Outreach >
      • Local Assistance Info
      • OPCC Food Pantry
    • Building Use Ministries >
      • Wedding Information
      • Building Use Requests
  • Get Involved
    • Calendar
    • Opportunities to Serve >
      • Serve in the Church
      • Serve in the Community
      • Serve in the World
    • Joining our Faith Community
    • Affiliations
  • News & Media
    • Newsletter
    • Virtual Worship
    • Worship Bulletins
    • Social Media & Blogs >
      • A Community of Voices (Blog)
  • Contact Us

Wearing God's Grace

5/27/2017

 
Since Easter we’ve spent the last few weeks using the books of Acts and Galatians to remind us of the very foundations of our faith, and how the early community of believers came to be known as the church.  Next week, June 4th is Pentecost, in which we celebrate the birthday of the church, when God's people were given the Holy Spirit.  
Two weeks ago we were reminded that there is tension inherent in living out a faithful life.  We should not be afraid of tension or disagreement that might happen in a community of faith, because it is natural and innate in the life of a faith community.  It is the very life of faith that is both spiritual and human, a tension that we all experience; so to have tension within a faith community is not something of which we should be afraid. (I also want to be clear that I’m not insinuating there is tension or disagreement in our church, rather, this is a lesson we can learn from the early church about what it means to be the church together.)
Last week we talked about grace.  We reminded ourselves that there's nothing you can do to earn God's grace, it is a gift. There is absolutely no rule or law, or path in which you can follow in order to earn God's grace, so we need to avoid being bogged down with a legalistic way of approaching God's grace, because it causes us to miss the point.  
This week we continue to talk about God's grace and it's presence in the creation of the early church.  Galatians 3 reminds us that God's grace is not just for a certain few.  God's grace was present in the very beginning, when God promised Abraham and Sarah, and God continues to share that grace without respect of gender, ethnicity, status in society or the like.
As we remember that Jesus sent us out into the world to share God's love and make disciples of all nations, we have much to learn from the early days of the early church.  We can learn from their mistakes, from their growing pains, and from their successes.  Above all, we come together to learn how we can more faithfully love and serve the God of love who's presence and grace is with us through it all.
Won't you join us on Sunday morning at 10:30am for worship?  We look forward to welcoming ALL as God has welcomed ALL to this table of grace and love - you are welcome here!
Galatians 3:1-9, 23-29 (The Voice):
Galatians, don’t act like fools! Has someone cast a spell over you? Did you miss the crucifixion of Jesus the Anointed that was reenacted right in front of your eyes? Tell me this: Did the Holy Spirit come upon you because you lived according to the law? Or was it because you heard His message of grace through faith? Are you so foolish? Do you think you can perfect something God’s Spirit started with any human effort? Have you suffered so greatly for nothing—if it was indeed for nothing? You have experienced the Spirit He gave you in powerful ways. Miracle after miracle has occurred right before your eyes in this community, so tell me: did all this happen because you have kept certain provisions of God’s law, or was it because you heard the gospel and accepted it by faith?
You remember Abraham. Scripture tells us, “Abraham believed God and trusted in His promises, so God counted it to his favor as righteousness.” 
Know this: people who trust in God are the true sons and daughters of Abraham. For it was foretold to us in the Scriptures that God would set the Gentile nations right by faith when He told Abraham, “I will bless all nations through you.” So those who have faith in Him are blessed along with Abraham, our faithful ancestor.
Before faith came on the scene, the law did its best to keep us in line, restraining us until the faith that was to come was fully revealed.
 So then, the law was like a tutor, assigned to train us and point us to the Anointed, so that we will be acquitted of all wrong and made right by faith. But now that true faith has come, we have no need for a tutor. It is your faith in the Anointed Jesus that makes all of you children of God because all of you who have been initiated into the Anointed One through the ceremonial washing of baptism have put Him on. It makes no difference whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a freeman, a man or a woman, because in Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King, you are all one. Since you belong to Him and are now subject to His power, you are the descendant of Abraham and the heir of God’s glory according to the promise.

From One Hypocrite to Another...

11/7/2014

 
Picture
Compassion is God’s Glory
beyond all our dearest dreams
and that is our hope


recalling Christ’s words to the good thief

“this day you shall be
with me in paradise”


J. Janda

Scripture:
Matthew 23:1-12
Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and his disciples, “The legal experts and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat.  Therefore, you must take care to do everything they say. But don’t do what they do. For they tie together heavy packs that are impossible to carry. They put them on the shoulders of others, but are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do, they do to be noticed by others. They make extra-wide prayer bands for their arms and long tassels for their clothes. They love to sit in places of honor at banquets and in the synagogues. They love to be greeted with honor in the markets and to be addressed as ‘Rabbi.’

“But you shouldn’t be called Rabbi, because you have one teacher, and all of you are brothers and sisters. Don’t call anybody on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is heavenly.  Don’t be called teacher, because Christ is your one teacher.  But the one who is greatest among you will be your servant.  All who lift themselves up will be brought low. But all who make themselves low will be lifted up.

Reflection:
Hundreds of sermons on this passage will certainly be directed at "those hypocrites."  Whether they are celebrity preachers who are well-known, and who have fallen in the public eye, or if they are simply another group of Christians with whom someone disagrees, there will certainly be a lot of sermons directed at "those hypocrites."

So instead of adding yet another sermon to those hundreds or thousands, what about a sermon from this hypocrite to her congregation?  After all, Jesus is speaking to the religious leaders, the Pharisees, so what about a sermon talking about your "hypocrite" religious leader?  (As entertaining as that might be, I'm sure it wouldn't be particularly edifying or helpful to others in simply pointing out all my hypocritical moments.)

Instead of a sermon from one religious leader who has had her hypocritical moments to her congregation, how about we have a discussion from one hypocrite to another hypocrite?  No, I'm not simply trying to stop us from looking at my vulnerable moments, rather inviting us to consider that each and every one of us are religious leaders in our day and age, and that hypocrisy can be dangerous for all of us.  Because, after all, this isn't about titles or positions, it is about where our hearts are.  This is about what Fred Craddock calls "the love of place and preference among the servants of God."  



It's not about attire; it's about attitude.  It's not about titles; it's about a sense of religious entitlement.  It is not only about the ordained; it is about the people of God, seeking to follow God in Jesus Christ. 


How are we allowing hypocrisy to contaminate our own faith life?  Author Mick Mooney says Jesus pointed to the hypocrisy of the religious leaders, and to us, to reveal to each of us that the greatest threat of any follower of God is not the temptation to sin morally; rather the greatest temptation is using God's name to become judgmental towards others.


So how do we fix that?  


I can't promise you a fool-proof, step by step plan to fix hypocrisy in the church.  However, I can promise you a sincere conversation from one hypocrite to another hypocrite, about how we can all more honestly and earnestly follow God, together.  Won't you join us in seeking to follow God more closely?

Changing Our Focus

9/19/2014

 
Grace must find its expression in life, otherwise it's not grace.          
                                                           -Karl Barth



Picture
Reading:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. After he agreed with the workers to pay them a denarion, he sent them into his vineyard.

“Then he went out around nine in the morning and saw others standing around the marketplace doing nothing. He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I’ll pay you whatever is right.’ And they went.

“Again around noon and then at three in the afternoon, he did the same thing. Around five in the afternoon he went and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you just standing around here doing nothing all day long?’

“‘Because nobody has hired us,’ they replied.

“He responded, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’

“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and moving on finally to the first.’ When those who were hired at five in the afternoon came, each one received a denarion. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarion. When they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, ‘These who were hired last worked one hour, and they received the same pay as we did even though we had to work the whole day in the hot sun.’

“But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I did you no wrong. Didn’t I agree to pay you a denarion? Take what belongs to you and go. I want to give to this one who was hired last the same as I give to you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you resentful because I’m generous?’ So those who are last will be first. And those who are first will be last.”
                                                      -Matthew 20:1-16 (CEB)

Refection:
It is difficult not to focus on the vineyard workers and apply our economic system to the situation in this parable. Every one of the workers in this parable ends up earning the exact same pay regardless of how long they worked. Those who worked the full day were paid a denarion and they were happy to make this money. That is, until those who were hired later in the day and even those who only worked a very short time ended up being paid the exact same wage. Most of us would have grumbled in this situation because from our view point it just isn't fair!

But what happens when we change our focus? What happens if we look at this parable from the viewpoint of the landowner? The landowner gave those hired early in the day what he had promised. The landowner valued all of the workers the same, regardless of when they were called to work. They were all worthy of the denarion in the landowner's eyes. 

Let's change the word "denarion" now into the word "grace". 

At the end of the day, do we still want to argue about fairness? Or will we accept God's generous gift? It's difficult to change our focus from the way our society works but Jesus asks us time and again to see it all differently. He asks us to open our eyes and see from the viewpoint of the Kingdom of God. Might it be time to change our focus?


Springing to Life... Again!

6/6/2014

 
Picture
If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; but when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.
    - Proverbs 29.18 (The Message)

This is what God says, “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
                                  - Isaiah 43.14a, 18-19 (The Message)


READING: 
When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them. There were many Jews staying in Jerusalem just then, devout pilgrims from all over the world. When they heard the sound, they came on the run. Then when they heard, one after another, their own mother tongues being spoken, they were thunderstruck. They couldn’t for the life of them figure out what was going on, and kept saying, “Aren’t these all Galileans? How come we’re hearing them talk in our various mother tongues? Their heads were spinning; they couldn’t make head or tail of any of it. They talked back and forth, confused: “What’s going on here?” That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency: “Fellow Jews, all of you who are visiting Jerusalem, listen carefully and get this story straight. These people aren’t drunk as some of you suspect. They haven’t had time to get drunk—it’s only nine o’clock in the morning. This is what the prophet Joel announced would happen: “In the Last Days,” God says, “I will pour out my Spirit on every kind of people: Your sons will prophesy, also your daughters; Your young men will see visions, your old men dream dreams. And whoever calls out for help
 to me, God, will be saved.”
                           - Acts 2.1-21 (Selections; The Message)


REFLECTION:
To hear Isaiah report God’s intention to do something brand-new, you’d think God would be the source for the old saying “Out with the old and in with the new.” Somehow, I doubt this. It doesn’t sound like God’s style of expression. And besides, God never throws anything out; not babies with bath water, not old-stuff to make room for the new, and certainly not you or me. God doesn’t discard and replace things… God re-creates them. Paul understood this, and was able to pronounce with confidence that in Christ, all things have become new.

This is important to remember as our faith community concludes and affirms its discernment of God’s vision of what OPCC can and should be; God’s mission for us that will not be impossible if we choose to accept it. God is waiting and yearning to re-create our faith community, to re-invent our vision, illumine our understanding, and in so doing show us the WAY from here (of course, taking the babies with us!).

Our vision discernment retreats have been wonderful experiences in which the movement of Spirit has been obvious. This group, which included some 50 folk at one meeting or another, began by discerning the core values that guide, inspire, and empower our faith community; values that can and should be identified and intentionally woven into our walk in faith. From this foundation, the groups attempted to envision what a faith community based on these values would look like in the future; to discern what our faith community would look like when re-created from the insideOUT! The results of these retreats have provisionally issued in a Future Story; a fictive narrative that recounts the growth of our faith community. The story has two chapters. The first recounts the ways we will reach out into the larger community to assist folk in need, partner with others of good will to work for the common good, and stand for issues of justice and fairness. Chapter two recounts the attention we will give to our spiritual nurture and development, our efforts to be an intentionally welcoming community, and thus, to successfully welcome new folk into a dynamic faith journey with Christ, and the fellowship of our faith community.

This Future Story will be distributed to those in worship on Pentecost Sunday, and will be available as well on the web site and in the reception office on campus. We will read, pray, clarify, question, discuss, and revise if necessary the vision that inspires this story of a church that reinvents itself. As we discern consensus around the vision; as each of us recognizes the willingness to embrace this vision, we will celebrate it as the road map to the future. We will express it in summary form as a statement of vision and mission, and begin work on a strategic plan to prioritize goals, and give arms and legs to the vision. I have been amazed at the quality of the discernment process to this point (and the great work of our visioning team), and am excited to expand this discernment and prepare for something brand-new that is even now bursting out among us.

Looking For Jesus (II)

6/1/2014

 
In case you missed it this morning, we focused on the ascension of Jesus; that day not too long after Jesus had appeared to the disciples for the first time, when he would bless them, pray for them, and then rise up to be with God.

Among many other things, in the ascension we are reminded that we are called to continue this story of God's love and saving acts.  As Jesus rises to be with God, so too are we called to rise up - and to share God's story and grace with the world!

We hope you enjoy this short video shared this morning, of Maya Angelou reading portions of her poem, "And Still I Rise."  
<<Previous
    Permission to use and stream music in our worship services obtained from ONE LICENSE #A-730652
    and CCLI #36152
    and CSPL #143030. 
    All rights reserved.
    ​

    Archives

    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2019
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    Categories

    All
    Acts
    Advent
    All Saints
    Amy Luckenbill
    Ann Weems
    Bo Crowe
    Body Of Christ
    Bonhoeffer
    Children
    Compassion
    Crucifixion
    Discernment
    Early Church
    Eastertide
    Encounters With God
    Epiphany
    Faith
    Faith Community
    First Corinthians
    Forgiveness
    Fred Craddock
    Frederick Buechner
    Generosity
    Genesis
    God
    God As Present
    God In Our Image
    Gospel Of John
    Gospel Of Luke
    Gospel Of Mark
    Gospel Of Matthew
    Grace
    Holy Books
    Holy Friday
    Hope
    Humility
    Image Of God
    Isaiah
    Journey Of Faith
    Joy
    Justice
    Laura Phillips
    Lent
    Light
    Lisa-setty
    Living Faith
    Love
    Madeleine L'Engle
    Maya Angelou
    MLK Jr.
    Narrative Lectionary
    Peace
    Poetry
    Prayer
    Psalms
    Rainer Maria Rilke
    Reconciliation
    Reel Theology
    Reign Of Christ
    Resurrecting Easter
    Sacred In The Secular
    Spiritual Life
    Stewardship
    Struggle
    Thanksgiving
    The Lord's Prayer
    The Star Of Bethlehem
    Trinity
    Unity
    Vbs
    Vision
    Vision & Mission
    William Sloane Coffin
    Women In The Bible
    World Communion
    Zachariah

    RSS Feed

Donate Online
Picture
Picture
Picture
Calendar
When viewing our calendar:

OPCC
= Overland Park Christian 
RAV = Rios de Agua Viva Iglesia
IHN - Interfaith Homeless Network

CMS = Case Management Services
AIM = Advocacy in Motion
​HBCS
 = Honeybee Community Services
Monarch = Monarch Montessori Preschool
Most other names of groups are 12-step support groups.

Church Office Hours: 
Monday - Thursday: 9:30am - 4:00pm
Friday: 9:30am - 3:00pm


©2013-2022 Overland Park Christian Church
​7600 West 75th Street
Overland Park, KS  66204
(913) 677-4646
office@opccdoc.org
Worship Schedule:
10:30am Sundays In-Person
and Online Live-Stream Worship
913-299-9002 Sunday Worship by Phone