Dear Family at Christ Community,

     Most, if not all, of us LOVE certainty. We prefer to know how things will go or turn out before we invest or get involved. Yet, how often do we ACTUALLY have any measure of certainty in any of the things in which we engage? Consider your various callings to and in family, community, vocation, and church. If you have been engaged in any of these for any length of time, you know that the main certainty is change which often brings greater mystery and less certainty. When you said “I do” were you certain of all that this commitment would entail? When you had children were you certain of how your children would turn out and the routes they would take to get there? When you decided your major (or majors) in college were you certain of your vocational path and all its attendant challenges? When you joined the church were you certain of how it would serve AND fail you and you it? The honest answer to each of these questions is a resounding, “NO!” In each of these, you acted in some measure of faith.

     The question becomes what we had and have faith in for each of these callings. This Sunday we will see from Mark 6:7-13 that Jesus is the Lord of our callings in His Kingdom. As part of His Lordship over these, He provides for and empowers us to glorify Him and bless others for our joy. This means that we must confess and have faith in His Lordship over our callings in our family, community, vocation, and church. We must also recognize our ongoing dependence on Him for provision and empowerment in these callings amid our weakness, failings, and uncertainty. James R. Edwards in The Gospel According to Mark succinctly confesses this:

“True service of Jesus is characterized by dependence on Jesus, and dependence on Jesus is signified by going where Jesus sends despite the material shortfalls and unanswered questions.”

     As part of our worship, we are invited to the Lord’s Table to be nourished in the Spirit by Jesus’s Lordship over our callings. We come to the table not because we’ve earned the elements or a place at the table but because of our ongoing dependence and need. Please come boldly in all your dependence and need to be provided for and empowered by Jesus in your callings in His Kingdom!

In Christ,
Cameron