Sara goes to Bethany Community Church, whose pastor is Richard Dahlstrom -- check out his website: www.rainycitypastor.blogspot.com. I’ve listened to his teachings before, since my friend Amy has loaned me recordings of retreats she has gone to where he was the speaker. The sermon title this week was, “Inviting people to the wholeness of rest.” He cited a portion of a letter he had received from some of the church’s missionaries, who wrote, “My first and primary vocation and obedience is my sanctifying journey towards Christ.”
I’m sure that those missionaries have challenging work, since they minister to prostitutes in the slums of El Alto, near La Paz, Bolivia. However, they recognize that their work will be ineffective if they do not remember their first love, Christ. Henri Nouwen writes in The Way of the Heart that, “Our first and foremost task is faithfully to care for the inward fire so that when it is really needed it can offer warmth and light to lost travelers.”
Dahlstrom said that instead of pursuing godly habits, we should pursue Christ who will shepherd us to those habits. “CLING TO CHRIST,” he said (emphasis mine).
He also said something really funny, especially since Eva (from Germany) was sitting next to me. He was talking about whining (I can’t remember why) and he spoke of a trip to Germany where everything seemed better, and yet Europeans come to Seattle and think Seattle is great. His example of their whining contest was: American guy, “We don’t have any castles, ” and German guy, “Well, we don’t have anyone who throws fish.” Tee-hee!
Photo of the Pike Place Market, where fish are thrown daily.
Photo of the Pike Place Market, where fish are thrown daily.
