Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia invited me to preach on 27 December 2015. My topic was Living as God’s Children based upon Colossians 3:12-14. Here is a link to video of the 21-minute sermon: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=23F7331101B1C7F%21141

My wife led a Call to Worship earlier in the service that was based upon how we have been reading responsively to each other at night lately. It reflects in written form where I was coming from in my sermon…

Call to Worship:

Leader: O God, complete the work you have begun in us.

People: Release through us a flow of mercy and gentleness that will bring water where there is dessert,

Leader: healing where there is hurt,

People: peace where there is violence,

Leader: beauty where there is ugliness,

People: justice where there is brokenness,

Leader: beginnings where there are dead-ends.

People: Waken in us gratitude for our lives,

Leader: love for every living thing,

People: joy in what is human and holy,

Leader: praise for you.

People: Renew our faith that you are God beyond our grasp but within our reach;

Leader: past our knowing but within our searching;

People: disturber of the assured,

Leader: assurer of the disturbed;

People: destroyer of illusions,

Leader: creator of dreams;

People, source of silence and music,

Leader: O Keeper of Promises, Composer of Grace,

People: grant us prayer in our hearts,

Leader: trust at our core,

People: songs for our journey, and a sense of your Kingdom.

Leader: And all the people said,

People: Amen!

Adapted from Waken in Me Gratitude for My Life by Ted Loder: Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle

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