One More Thing

Hi Five Oakers, The weekend’s coming and there are a few things I don’t want you to miss:

The Weekend

This weekend we look at the connection between worship and spiritual formation—how "worship gathered" forms your outlook and your life into the image of Christ.

Links You Might Like

Loving the two new songs and music videos John Mark McMillan has released so far from his newest album. (Email subscribers: You’ll need to my website to watch this. Simply click on the title of this post.)

The second song is shown exclusively here.

One More Thing

I just started reading The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows by James Bryan Smith. Each chapter has a “Soul Training” exercise. The first exercise he recommends is surprising.

"The number one enemy of Christian spiritual formation today is exhaustion. We are living beyond our means, both financially and physically. As a result, one of the primary activities (or anti-activities) of human life is neglected: sleep."

So he recommends practicing" the discipline of sleep." Find one day this week, he writes, when you can sleep until you can’t sleep any more. Stay in bed until you feel completely rested. He offers alternatives and suggestions for those who have family members who need their care and for those who have trouble sleeping. But here’s why it’s important.

"Everything we do in our lives, including the practices of spiritual formation, we do in and with our bodies. If our bodies are not sufficiently rested, our energies will be diminished and our ability to pray, read the Bible, enter solitude or memorize scripture will be minimized."

The weekend’s coming. If there's any way possible, get some sleep. Sunday is your only day to sleep in? Come to the 11:00 or come Saturday for worship gathered.

Blessings to you all, Pastor Henry