Serve One Another; Parking; Newcomer's Luncheon

There is a saying in Africa that goes, “a person becomes a person through other people.” I read that statement in a book this week and have thought long and hard about it. Being deep in a series about love and how love is the final proof of God’s existence, that statement, it seems to me, runs deep. Truth has a way of becoming abstract, does it not? Or sometimes we distort the gospel to be only about “me and Jesus.” This is why we can see people who know so much about the Bible and yet they can be incredibly off putting, or critical, or even mean-spirited. Why? They have a distorted view of truth and because they know the facts, well by golly, they're the keepers of the pure faith. That feels insane to write, but as I look around, it seems like a lot of religious people seem to fall into this.However, in Christianity, we do become persons by other persons, do we not? We can’t grow without other persons. We can’t know who we are apart from knowing and being known, can we? As attractive as it is to think how good life would be without the burden of others, the reality is that life without others would be hell. So once again, this Sunday we are talking about how love serves others. Love by definition is about people. The essence of holiness is to love God and love people. We can’t say we are being transformed by Jesus if we are not growing downward in humility and outward in love towards others. Sunday, we will talk about what that looks like.Oh, by the way, a couple of things: We are losing 14 parking this Sunday. We are losing 14 to gain over 80. So, this Sunday parking might be tight. Men, if you have trucks there will be a place indicated on the grass for you to park. Just pray we don’t have rain! The second thing is that if you are new to St. Patrick, please stay after worship for lunch. I would love to get to know you better over lunch where time is slow and conversation can linger. I would also love to introduce you to my heroes - the staff at St. Patrick. They are amazing and they really do embody what I will preach about Sunday, being servants to others.Blessings,James M. Holland