I was blessed by two events this past week at Tabernacle: The Women’s Celebration and the Kids’ Worship Arts Presentation. The Women’s Celebration event this past Thursday was a spectacular vision of God’s intention for his children to dwell together in unity. Dozens of churches were represented by women of all ages as we heard a challenging message from Karen Abercrombie. Karen was made famous by her depiction of Miss Clara in the hit movie
War Room
, but her giftedness to share the gospel should be her real claim to fame! Karen was electric as she empowered those in attendance to remember that each one is God’s unique masterpiece.
Quoting Ephesians 2:10, Karen reminded us of Paul’s encouragement:
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.”
The Greek word for “workmanship” used here is “Poema” – the very same word that we use for poem. This is an artistic form of creation. This kind of creation denotes the creative energy that God alone can exert. You were made in the likeness of God so that you may demonstrate his infinite glory. You are valuable, priceless, created with purpose.
Piggybacking off of that theme, it was powerful to see the hard work of our Kids’ Worship Arts program come to fruition as they sang songs, played instruments, and used puppets to praise our God, reinforcing the gospel reality that regardless of age, we are all God’s children. I was especially impressed with the older kids’ musical
Unselfie
. Their songs communicated truth, and the actors quoted tons of scripture during their lines. It was emotional for me watching these young children speak about faith with such confidence. I am so grateful for all of those who have helped instill the truth of our identity as Christ’s masterpieces into the heart of children.
These are the things that the family of faith should be about! We are constantly working to connect God’s children back to an identity with him. That’s what makes a difference for God’s Kingdom! Over the next two weeks, we will talk about ways that we do that. This Sunday, we’ll look at the Parable of the Good Samaritan, as Jesus commands that we have stopping points where we take care of those in need. The week afterwards, we’ll see how each of us need to connect others to our God, who loves them fully and unconditionally. I hope you make it a priority to worship with us, and we continue to follow points on the pathway towards Resurrection Sunday.
Expecting His Best,
Stephen V. Allen, Senior Pastor
