Glen Avon Presbyterian Church

Spurs of Faithfulness”

by Rev. Lon Weaver

As the Stewardship Committee worked this summer to develop the fall pledge drive, one verse of scripture seemed to stand out:

“Let us consider how we may spur one another on

toward love and good deeds." (Hebrews 10:24, NIV)

This is a verse that expresses a collective yearning to be a life-changing presence in the world in the name of Jesus Christ.

When Vladimir Horowitz coached his piano students, his repeated counsel to them was this: “Don’t simply play notes. Do something with the music!” That counsel echoes the teaching of Jesus to us: “Don’t simply listen to my words. Do something about them! Put those words into action! Change the world! Heal the world with self-sacrificial love!”

Many of us can tell stories of people who changed our lives for the better. Almost every time I preach, I tell the congregation at least one story of someone who has changed me: confronting wrong perspectives, offering life-giving support during difficult times, providing life-renewing affirmation in periods of great challenges. In each case, healing occurs. When scripture challenges us to preach the gospel of salvation, when it sends us forth to save the world, I always remember the fact that the Latin words at the heart of salvation—salus or salvus—mean healing. Salvation is, at heart, healing.

Paul Tillich taught his students that each of them had healing capacity within them. In a word, each of us can “save” others. Christ, is the cosmic Savior, offering a new vision of reality, touching all of reality, symbolized in the vision of the New Jerusalem of Revelation. Christ invites us to be humble vehicles of—and partners in—that saving mission.

This poses several questions to us as individuals and as a faith community. How am I a part of Christ’s saving work? How will I be a part of it in the year to come? How is Glen Avon serving as a Christ’s partner in that saving work right now? How will Glen Avon do so in 2012?

In this annual period of discernment, we ask you to prayerfully consider how we may be faithful healers, “spurring one another on toward love and good deeds." Amen.

Click here for more info: