Mars Hill Owatonna

When I was in grade school our principal told us riddles. Mr. Dupke created quite an entourage of students following him around during the lunch hour trying to answer his latest brainteaser. At times he would keep us guessing for weeks before he would finally yield and give us the answer. We were astounded at his wisdom.

Well, I am no Mr. Dupke. In fact, I have never written a riddle before, but thought I would give it a try:

We encourage it to stop giving us what we need in order to give us what we want and don’t need. 

It promises to give us what it can’t and then we become frustrated or disillusioned because our expectations have not been met.   

We then try to “fix” it to give us more of what we want and don’t need and less of what we really do need. 

What is it?

As most of you know, this Sunday, May 20th, will be my last teaching Sunday. I encourage you to join us as I share some “parting thoughts” and we explore this riddle.

Dave

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
but only in expressing personal opinion. (Proverbs 18.2)

For lack of wood the fire goes out,
and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. (Proverbs 26.20)

Words are a vital part of communication and relationships. They can bring healing, comfort, and wisdom. Unfortunately words can also destroy relationships and drain the life out of our “communities.”

In the Book of Proverbs we find three groups who cause damage by their words: fools, liars, and gossips.

• Fools combine words with ignorance. Their ignorance exasperates and frustrates others.
• Liars misrepresent or withhold truth (particularly from those entitled to that information). Their distortion of the truth erodes our ability to make quality decisions.
• Gossips turn sensitive information into entertainment — wounding victims and feeding conflict.

I encourage you to join us at Mars Hill this week as we explore the behavior and methods of fools, liars, and gossips and what to do about them.

In the book of Proverbs we discover Five Damaging Voices. These voices sabotage our lives and impair our families, schools, businesses, homes, and churches.

These destructive voices include:

• The voice of the violent
• The voice of the seducer
• The voice of the fool
• The voice of the gossip
• The voice of the liar

This week at Mars Hill we will talk about the Voice of the Seducer. The seducer is someone who draws us into damaging relationships, undermining family life and our connections to other healthy people.

I encourage you to join us this Sunday, April 15, as we continue to explore the impact of the voices we listen to.

In the book of Proverbs we discover Five Damaging Voices. These voices sabotage our lives and impair our families, schools, businesses, homes, and churches.

These destructive voices include:

• The voice of the violent
• The voice of the seducer
• The voice of the fool
• The voice of the gossip
• The voice of the liar

Many times these voices are overt and easily identified; other times they are subtle and catch us off-guard. Our ability to identify these voices and take steps to limit their impact is important to healthy lives and the well-being of our institutions.

I encourage you to join us this Sunday, March 25, as we explore the impact of the voices we listen to.

And love is not the easy thing….
The only baggage you can bring
Is all that you can’t leave behind  (U2)

Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. (Dallas Willard)

Effort is being intentional about our faith journey, living wisely, and being attentive to our responsibilities. Earning reduces life to performance and external accomplishments. Earning ultimately dehumanizes, assigning value to ourselves and others based on what we produce. Earning is an obstacle to receiving and extending unconditional love and grace.

Earning is a regressive approach to spirituality and encumbers us with a great deal of unnecessary baggage (e.g. shame, guilt, judging, fear, inferiority). The challenge is to leave behind the earning and the baggage that comes with it and center ourselves in the message of love, grace, and forgiveness.

This Sunday, February 26, 2012, I encourage you to join us as we explore what it means to leave behind a life of earning and embrace the voice of unconditional love and grace.

Without counsel, plans go wrong,
but with many advisers they succeed. (Proverbs 15.22)

At our Mars Hill gatherings we have been talking about the power of words with a recent focus on “important voices to embrace.”

This week our conversation will be about the “voice of wise advisors.” Included in this time will be:

• The role of advisors in developing “heuristics” or “rules of thumb” for efficient living and rapid decision-making.
• The role of advisors in problem-solving or resolving dilemmas.
• The role of a unique advisor called the “soul friend” and their importance in exploring new directions in life.

I encourage you to join us on Sunday, February 12, 2012, as we explore the “voice of wise advisors” and their important role in our lives.