Blessed to Be a Blessing: Closing Prayer

Savior’s Blessed to Be a Blessing sermon series concluded on Saturday, but we pray that what we learned will continue to shape our lives and our interactions with others. As we reflect on the teachings and challenges offered to us from the pulpit over these past 5 weeks, Senior Warden Deb Nickerson offers the following prayer:

Father God, we thank you that on this day and in this present moment, you have called us to live and serve you in this place, right where we are. Thank you for placing our church in Wheaton. Show us how to love others here, we pray. The work before us today, the people who cross our path today, the challenges and the rewards of this day, you have set before us. Give us courage and presence of mind to press forward. 

We thank you for the example of Jesus, who demonstrated the value of slowed pace throughout His life. Provide us with the gift of seeing others not as interruptions, but as dear ones in need of healing and wholeness, worthy of our attention and love. Give us the patience to slow down. Give us the presence of mind to welcome “interruptions” as gifts and opportunities. 

Lord God, as we see the faces of those you bring into our lives each day, give us ears to hear their stories. Give us divinely inspired interest and curiosity. Rather than the desire to be heard, give us the desire to listen. Fill us with a loving concern and appreciation for each person you place in front of us today.

We are grateful that by your grace, you are already at work in the lives of those we will encounter today. We thank you that we do not have to sell them a package of faith, because you are already calling them gently. Give us discernment and wisdom to fulfill whatever part you would have us to play in each one’s life. 

Father God, we thank you for this community that you have called us to. We are not on a solitary journey, isolated from your people. We thank you for friends to confront, pray and love us as we journey. Thank you for friends to advise, support and embrace us as we offer ourselves to bless those around us. 

 Mold us in your image, El Roi, God who sees Me, that we might truly see the people you place on our path. May it be so, Lord. May it be so. Amen.

Blessed to Be a Blessing Resources: Embrace

Henri Nouwen writes, “We keep forgetting that we are being sent out two-by-two. We cannot bring good news on our own. We are called to proclaim the Gospel together, in community.” This week we are invited to examine what it means for us to go on our outward journey together.

Resources for further reflection:

• The Communal Imagination: Finding a Way to Share Life Together by Mark Votava

  • Votava encourages his readers to concentrate on our relationships and our particular place, instead of focusing on individual achievement. Our faith and spiritual practices are best undertaken together, so he emphasizes living our lives in close proximity to our local neighborhood and church and prioritizing building community and friendship with the people nearest to us.

• In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership, Henri Nouwen

  • Nouwen exposes the temptations we often experience when ministering to others, and he dismisses our insistence on defining successful leadership in individualistic terms. Instead of focusing on ourselves and our effectiveness, Nouwen reminds us that we first and foremost work together as a “called people.” True ministry can only be accomplished together from a posture of humility and reflection.

• This week we offer two activities for you to practice. Choose the one that resonates with you more.

  • Spend some time reflecting on this question: What keeps me from understanding ministry and evangelism in communal terms? Talk to God about what comes up for you in this.

  • Is there someone in your life that you are seeking to bless with God’s love, but this is proving difficult for some reason? Ask a friend to pray with and for you and/or to join you in your time with this person.

Word from Father Kevin: Savior's 14th Anniversary

This Saturday, we celebrate that on October 23, 2004, Church of the Savior began with Fr. Bill, Mtr. Linda, and 24 other founding members. The church met in West Chicago then and took the name “Church of the Savior” partly in honor of the “inward journey, outward journey" modeled by Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC.

In those early days, over a table at Houlihan’s, Alexis Beggs Olsen asked the question, “How would you like the church identified?” Linda and Bill replied with what has become our Vision: “I want us to be known as people who love God, love others, and love life with abandon.”

By year 4, one-third of all church plants have closed. But here we are, celebrating God’s goodness 14 years in. Now we all gratefully receive in this community and take our own parts, learning how to love more fully, deeply, sacrificially, joyfully.

May we always be a place where the Gospel is preached, the Sacraments are rightly administered, children dance, people are known by name, the poor are never forgotten, leaders lead humbly and collaboratively, the disabled find community, guests are welcomed as if they were Jesus, and God receives 100% of the glory.

P.S. After my sermon Saturday, Deacon Josh sent this brilliant 18-minute video by Andy Crouch which underlines so much of what we’ve been learning during our “Blessed to Be a Blessing” series.

Spotlight on Brad Lindsay

Over the next several months, we're highlighting ministry leaders at Savior. These leaders have answered some questions to help us get to know them and their ministries better.

Deacon Brad Lindsay has attended Savior for a little over a year, and in that time he has served in a variety of ways. This fall, he launched the new Welcome Team, a ministry that combines ushers with a team of people who help visitors feel welcome and comfortable at Savior.

Where do you live now and where are you from?

I live in Wheaton with one spouse, two dogs, and three daughters. I grew up mostly in Minnesota, but have lived most of my adult life in the South (North Carolina and Tennessee).

What do you do when you’re not at church?

I’m a computer programmer by trade and by hobby. I enjoy reading books and playing games of the board, card, video, and role-playing variety.

Also, I like to read N.T. Wright’s massive scholarly tomes. They may take me a few years to finish, but I especially enjoy the occasional snarky footnote.

How does the ministry you lead serve the life of our congregation?

The Welcome Team exists to help Church of the Savior cultivate an environment where everyone feels welcomed. We do this through greeting people as they come to the service, guiding them during the service, and assisting them in becoming more involved with the church body.

How can people get involved in the ministry you lead?

They can contact me at my email address: brad.lindsay@gmail.com

Blessed to Be a Blessing Resources: Grace

Affirming how God is already at work

“The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image. If in loving them we do not love what they are, but only their potential likeness to ourselves, then we do not love them: we only love the reflection of ourselves we find in them.” -- Thomas Merton

As we take the time to notice those around us, to listen to their story, how do we affirm the ways in which God is already at work in their lives? How do we allow our interactions to be a blessing?

Resources for further reflection:

• The Sacrament of Evangelism by Jerry Root and Stan Guthrie

  • These authors want to renew excitement for evangelism in the Church by focusing the reader on how God is already at work in the world, and reenvisioning the work of evangelism in sacramental terms.

• Ears to Speak podcast episodes https://www.stonecroft.org/earstospeak/

  • The goal of this podcast is to teach Christians how to be better listeners and friends as an essential element of evangelism. For the hosts, the key is cultivating solid communication skills, particularly learning how to listen well. Each episode they discuss a different aspect of evangelism, and encourage their listeners to reimagine evangelism for real relationships.

• Activity: When we pray for others, we often find our love and connection for them deepening. This week set aside time to pray for one or two people whom you would like to bless and affirm in your interactions. Maybe someone you saw only in passing, maybe a longtime friend, or perhaps a newer acquaintance whose story has stuck with you. As you pray, thank God for being at work in this person’s life, and ask God to illuminate ways you might join him in the work he is already doing.

Hear Father Kevin’s sermon on Grace by clicking here.