One of the hardest things to do, I think, is letting go of beliefs and behaviours we have held to for so long. Sometimes it is just little thing, like having a particular mug that we like to drink from. Sometimes it is a long held belief about another person or even people group that isn’t even true.
Having our views challenged or discovering that we have been wrong can be a pretty tough thing to work through. How we respond is a demonstration of our openness to new ideas, to exploring new things. Often it can feel easier to hold them back, to lock ourselves into the way we ‘know’ things to be.
When Galileo promoted the idea that the earth revolved around the sun and not vice-versa the church at that time reacted by placing him under house arrest and accusing him of heresy. They believed they were right and refused to accept even the slightest possibility they might be wrong. Almost 400 years later they finally admitted they had got it wrong.
I wonder how often we are confronted with new ideas and struggle to accept them? I wonder how often we refuse to even engage with them instead locking ourselves into what we believe to be true.
Peter and the early church were faced with a big new idea – God’s acceptance of Gentiles, non-Jews into the family of God. It was a radical idea, one that broke all the rules but eventually they accepted it was true. God loves all of us.
This Sunday we return to a series we started last year based on the Book of Acts and Luke’s ongoing story of Jesus. Today we will explore the implications of peter’s visit to a gentile called Cornelius
Mainly Music - Meets this Wednesday from 10.00am. This programme is a fun way for parents and their children to spend quality time together based around music and movement. It is a way for us as a church to connect with and offer something back to the community of which we are a part. It’s also a way for us to demonstrate care, concern and support for those with young children.
Small Groups are now up and running again. Contact the church office@pb.org.nz if you would like to join one
Oh and for those who are unable to join us we will still have an on-air service for you @10.30am and again @ 8pm on Thursday evening on Coast Access Radio 104.7FM or you can livestream at
http://coastaccessradio.org.nz/Listen/index.aspx The message and prayers will also be posted to the sermon page on this website.
If at this time you need someone to chat with then please call the church office 04 2987766 or email office@pb.org.nz and we’ll get back to you.
And we are also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/paraparaumubaptist
Grace and peace