Come as you are

Come as you are. This is Jesus' invitation.

The invitation was given by Jesus in the words recorded by his disciple Matthew:

“Then Jesus said, 'Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.'” Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT)

The invitation is also repeated in a song Quest frequently sings:

Come out of sadness from wherever you've been
Come broken-hearted, let rescue begin
Come find your mercy, O sinner, come kneel
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can't heal

Hear the invitation of Jesus in the words of the song:

There's hope for the hopeless
And all those who've strayed
Come sit at the table; come taste the grace
There's rest for the weary
Rest that endures
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven can't cure

Of course Jesus' invitation is not to come as we are with all our problems, issues, and burdens, and just remain that way -- weary and heavy laden. No, the invitation is to lay down our burdens:

Lay down your burdens
Lay down your shame
All who are broken, lift up your face
O wanderer, come home; You're not too far
So lay down your hurt; lay down your heart
Come as you are

In the words of this passage (Jesus' words), you will find rest for your souls.

This is the way of Jesus: Come as you are but don't stay that way.

- Brian McMillan

you are the choir

Some churches have identified choirs. But when Quest gathers to worship, the Quest congregation is the choir.

Choirs tend to perform for audiences. The Quest choir/congregation is no different.

The only difference is that some choirs understand their audience to be the gathered congregation; the Quest choir's audience is God.

When we gather to worship on Sundays, we are all performing for an audience of One. It's as though we - congregation/choir and worship team - are all on a stage and God is in the audience. In fact, God is not in the audience, rather God is the audience.

So sing out! God is our audience! Make a joyful noise!

- Brian McMillan

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Oops.

After this Sunday, you might have come to the realization that we did beatitude three out of order. I'd love to say that it was completely intentional, but it wasn't. When I started working on this series, I just started plugging the different beatitudes into the different weeks of the series, and I accidentally got two and three turned around. My bad.

However, it ended up working out. Now, Brian, who is sitting in for me this Sunday at both Quest and The Anchor, will be sharing "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth," and next week, I'll be sharing "Blessed are the mourners, for they will be comforted." Which means that "Blessed are the mourners" ends up falling on Memorial Day weekend. So, not intentional, but super appropriate.

By the way, don't worry; I'm not going anywhere. I'm just preaching this Sunday at Iowa City Church of Christ, the church where Kim and I got baptized, that we helped to build, and that supports us financially every month. I'm going to preach on dying to self (which you guys have already heard), and I'm planning to give them an update on both Quest and The Anchor, so they know exactly what they are supporting.

So pray for me as I'm away, but also pray for Brian, and for a great turn out at both locations. You will be blessed. I promise. 

See you next week!

Pastor Ed