100 years

No, I'm not 100 today. My church isn't 100 either; however, it is 13 years old this year. Meanwhile, our "mother" church as I'll call it, just celebrated their 75th anniversary. So I guess they're almost there. But no, today is the Nazarene denomination's 100th year in existence. Happy 100th Nazarene church!

Church was a blur. Or at least, the sermon was a blur. I don't remember what he was talking about because it seemed to happen so fast. The sermon was called God's Unique Calling to Our Congregation--Finding the Ancient Paths. The first part of that name isn't surprising to me to see because that's what our pastor has been talking about the last couple of weeks. It has had to do a lot with our mission statement: growing, serving, reaching together as followers of Jesus Christ.

I remember the pastor talking about 4 R's, and he didn't mean for them all to start with R, but I don't remember what they were. I do know that he was talking about Dr. Bresee's first sermon. He was the founding pastor of the Church of the Nazarene in case you were wondering. And I also know that this sermon went somewhere else completely than what the pastor had intended. I just don't remember all that it was about.

One thing that caught my attention was when he was talking about religion and relationship and something to pertaining to rules. On an application I have on Facebook called Pieces of Flair, I see the phrase "it's not a religion; it's a relationship" an awful lot. I might get in trouble for saying this, but sometimes I find that people get so hyped up in the church world, that they forget about why they're going to church. They forget the point of it. It's God's house people. We go there to worship and enjoy some fellowship time, not go to alternative worlds. I like that this is a relationship that I'm in and not just a religion. In a newspaper report of the Church of the Nazarene's Founding Pastor, Dr. Bresee's first sermon, it said this:

"Anything new in religion is false, and yet evertying in salvation is marvelously new to him who finds it...Luther and Wesley preached no new truths or doctrine...The modern method of educating me into salvation by refined influences and good environment is insufficient in its results. Conversion and sanctification must be experienced."

During the summer, I was struggling with religion vs. relationship. I knew and still know that it's a relationship I crave for, not just religion. You can't just go to church and expect to have a ticket into Heaven. It doesn't work that way, much like a couple of my Catholic aunts believe. You have to have a relationship or else, what is the point of even going?

Today's sermon scripture was Jeremiah 6:16, Dr. Bresee's test for the first sermon. It says this:

"Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls."

Can you imagine yourself in this verse? Imagine walking along a path when you come to a fork or split of paths in the path. You don't know which to choose. You don't want to go the wrong way, so you must ask God which is the better way to go. You find out and go the longer, more pleasant, less scary route. That's how I would imagine it.

How is God calling you to walk the ancient paths in your life today?

You know it's kinda ironic that we had this verse today. Today in my town, we had our annual CROP walk to raise money to send to other countries. There are plenty of signs telling you where to go, so you should know where you're going. There is a path you're walking down and if you don't know where to go next look for the signs that tell you where to go, much like I described up above in my description of the path I imagine walking.

Today we are sent out by a God who is making us to be like Him.