40 Days of Community

Some of you may heard of Rick Warren and his book "Purpose Driven Life". Well, a couple of years ago our church - St. Paul Lutheran - did a "40 Days of Purpose" during Lent. It was awesome, and it really focused on building your relationship with God on an individual level. This year we are doing "40 Days of Community". This takes it a step further and focuses on "what in the world are WE here for". As a church, as the body of Christ, what are we called to do together? It fits perfectly with our new mission statement - Connecting the Community to Christ. I am excited about going through this study and all the wonderful things that will come from this.
The Sunday before last, everyone participated in a day of prayer and fasting to prepare us for what God will be doing in the coming weeks and ask his blessing upon this journey. This Sunday started off the first day, and so far the daily devotions have been really good. We had our first small group gathering last night and mainly focused on how we are called to love one another and what that means. How can we reach out to others in Christ's love?
It was pretty profound to really take a closer look at 1 Corin.13. It's a passage that I have read countless times and could probably recite if I had to - at least most of it. But when I really stoped and studied it, I heard God speak the words in a whole different way.
Take out your Bible and read it. God is telling us just how important it is to love. He says if we do not love, nothing we say, nothing we know, nothing we believe, nothing we give, and nothing we accomplish matters at all.
It's pretty convicting to read this and other passages regarding love. How many times have I failed to show love to others around me? Thanks be to God for His bountiful grace that covers my many sins and short comings.
May you be blessed by the love that you give and the love that you receive this week and always.