Today, I decided to mix it up a bit and rather than write a long piece as usual, I want to share this piece I came across on facebook.
It is from a favorite pastor of mine, Joe Novenson, of Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church. Over the years, I have had the opportunity of hearing him preach and his preaching has always touched my heart.
He is a man who has been scarred physically, and it has changed him for the good. I believe it was his first year in seminary, and his first year of marriage, that he was injured in an industrial accident where he was working. His arm and hands were crushed. I think it affected both hands but only one arm. His arm and hands were unusable for months. His new wife had to attend to all of his physical needs since his hands were totally unusable. It was humbling for him, extremely painful and the road to recovery was long and difficult. All the while, he was going to school in seminary.
His sermons come across with deep kindness, empathy and honesty. He is also easy to listen to when he speaks because of his story telling style and wonderful illustrations.
The reason, I am sharing this piece with you is that I thought there were many ways in which it put an exclamation mark on much of what I have been talking about this month. It will add so much to what I have tried to say. Of course, he says it much better too!
Blessings to you as you listen to this brief share from Joe Novenson that he is sharing with His congregation and any of the rest of us who want to listen in.
For what we proclaim is not ourselves,
but Jesus Christ as Lord,
with ourselves as your servants (slaves) for Jesus’ sake.II Corinthians 4:5
Listen in! Christians in the West often miss some of the rich insights of Scripture. Western triumphal individualism is the filter through which we read and think more than we as Christians realize. The Rev. P. T. Chandapilla, the late vicar general of the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India and founding professor of the Jubilee Memorial Bible College in Chennai, India removes our western blind spots to biblical realities with a searching precision.
Posted by Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church PCA on Thursday, October 25, 2018
