Getting Ready to Worship, April 10, 2011

When I’m preaching, I have a pretty good idea how to help you prepare for worship. I have a sense of where the sermon is going. But today is different. On Sunday Dr. Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Theological Seminary will be preaching from Hebrews 4:12-16 with the title “The Longest Journey.” That alone is intriguing! Read the text and look for the journey. I can only guess where he’s going to go with it.

Why is Dr. Mouw at MCC Sunday? Because I have the highest regard for him as a leading voice in the church today and because our own Mary Given works with him at Fuller and agreed to find a time (last Fall) when he could come and speak.

I first heard Dr. Mouw on a cold Saturday morning in St. Paul, MN in 2003 or 2004. 9/11 created a polarizing situation in the Twin Cities where there is a very large Muslim community. We feared each other. Dr. Mouw was invited to speak on a National Public Radio show called “Speaking of Faith” with Krista Tippett. It was the show’s first broadcast and I was in the audience. The driving question for the day was “How do we talk with each other when we so disagree?” Dr. Mouw’s response held me on the edge of my seat with both its simplicity and profundity.

That’s also why the four churches of Montecito (M-4) invited him to speak to all of us Sunday night after a 6:00 p.m. shared soup supper. He will begin speaking around 7:00 p.m. in the sanctuary on “Convicted Civility: how to speak the truth in love.” This is a Sunday, both morning and evening, where you should consider inviting a friend (of faith, no faith, or anti-faith).

Grace and Peace,

Don

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