We continue our four-week worship series this week called Talking Ourselves into Being Christian. Our worship series is based on a book called Testimony: Talking Ourselves into Being Christian by Thomas G. Long, a professor of theology and preaching at Candler School of Theology. We hope this worship series will help us to talk about following Jesus in our everyday lives.
Outline of Talking Ourselves into Being Christian
July 20: Overview. Living and Talking about Faith. Psalm 139.1-12,23-24
July 27: This is the Day: Waking Up to the Joy God is Creating in the World. Psalm 105.1-11, 45b
August 3: Work Day and Lunch: Talking About Faith in the Real World. Romans 9.1-5
August 10: Bedtime Prayers: Creating Safe Places in Our Homes. Psalm 133
Reflect on a time this summer in which you experienced joy. What was happening? Who was around? What was the experience like for you?
Psalm 105 is a song of praise which creatively retells the story of the people of Israel to evoke gratefulness and joy. Read Psalm 105.1-11, 45b.
Thomas Long writes, So joy is not to be equated with either obligation or pleasure. Yet joy has very much to do with both. Joy stands between obligation and pleasure, between duty and delight, and mediates between them. To find the place of joy is to stand at that spot where obligation and pleasure meet. The place of joy is where those things that delight us and give us pleasure, the things we freely choose (“What would you like to do today?”) and the commitments we have made and the burdens we have agreed to carry (“What do you have to do today?”) ultimately become one and the same. (Testimony: Talking Ourselves into Being Christian (p. 71). John Wiley and Sons. Kindle Edition)
Where are you experiencing this kind of joy in your life right now?