"Where God's Shalom Begins..." sermon preview

This Sunday our denomination is observing Peace Sunday out of which comes our focus on Seeking God's Shalom.  More than the absence of war, shalom is a peace that includes a sense of wholeness and justice.  It is a peace that begins not by changing the world, but by changing ourselves and by being formed and transformed by God through the power of the Holy Spirit.  And this is where our passage comes in, Romans 12:1-2, 9-21.

Paul, himself, experienced a transformation by the power of Christ in his life.  In Acts 9, we learn of his experience on the road to Damascus.  Paul was blinded and heard Jesus speak to him.  Several days after he arrived in Damascus, a disciple of Jesus named Ananias came to heal Paul of his blindness.  Paul who had persecuted the church was baptized and became one of the church's greatest supporters.

Perhaps it was through this experience that he came to understand the need to avoid being conformed to this world and rather to be transformed by the renewing of our minds in Christ.  Perhaps it was through this experience and the formation of the early church in his life that he came to name the importance of our transformation, the importance of experiencing our own healing, the importance of God's shalom beginning within us and from there flowing out into the world.

All to often we can focus so much on the need to change or fix "the other" when in reality our focus needs to be on changes and healing within us that come through being formed by and in the image of Christ.  As we are healed and formed, we incarnate the shalom of God.  And as we incarnate the shalom of God, we spread it to others and invite them to join us in God's kingdom reign made manifest on earth.

As you consider Paul's conversion and his words to the church in Rome, reflect on these questions in a time of silence, through journaling or in group dialogue.

1. In what ways do you experience God's peace/shalom in your life and how is God calling you to live more deeply into that?

2. How do we as a congregation incarnate the peace/shalom of God and how have you seen God working through that in the lives of people?

3. What disciplines or practices do you use to avoid conformity to the world and/or live into the transforming shalom of God's kingdom?

4. Are there things in your own life, lingering wounds perhaps, that are in need of God's healing/transforming power?  How do you experience God in the midst of those circumstances?

5. Spend time in prayer individually and/or corporately asking for God's shalom to take root in your life and in our congregation, that it's branches may spread beyond us and drop seeds of shalom in the lives of others.

May Jesus richly bless you in this week ahead, leading you in His kingdom purposes. Amen