Trinity Lutheran Church

Service Times

Contemporary Worship: Sundays 9:00 am

Children's Church 9:30 am

Communion: 1st, 3rd, 5th Sunday

Traditional Worship: Sundays 10:45 am

Communion: 2nd, 4th, 5th Sunday

NEWK-IT! too! 2-22-09

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NEWK-IT! too! 2-22-09

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2009-02-22 13:31:09

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	Greetings IN Christ, 2-22-09 The Christian life is a beautiful relationship with the living Lord, who stepped into our world to reconcile the relationship between God and us. Christ's actions on our behalf were a messy proposition for the creator of the universe. He was born of woman - he came through the womb of his own creation, through blood and water. He walked this earth perfectly, being tempted in every way, yet without sin. He suffered brutal beatings at the demands of his chosen people. He died a sinners death, the death we deserved but didn't have to endure because of the love of Christ Jesus. Messy! The Christian life is a beautiful relationship with the living Lord, but it isn't a sterile, arms-length type relationship we often picture. Jesus' life, sacrifice and resurrection paved the way for intimacy with Jesus. Jesus wants a messy, glorious relationship with us - he wants to be part of every part of us, body, heart, soul, mind & spirit. His sacrifice bought our whole being into relationship with him. God created us as we are, which mirrors who he is. Our minds think pristine, God provides messy! As I think about God's creation of the human body and our human experience, I ponder the following questions about the messy characteristics of being human. God had his reasons for creating our bodies the way he did, the messes we encounter in life - they have to do with relationship - his to us, us to him, and us to one another. I don't understand it, but I certainly value and marvel at it. 1) Can a baby be born without making a mess? A child comes through its mom; through a vaginal tract; through the very vaginal tract that brought sperm and egg together; through blood and water into life. Wow! Messy! Wow! 2) Can a woman go through her menstrual cycle without making a mess? Perhaps with modern feminine products, but they have only been around for a few generations. The blood creates the soft bed in which a fetus lays for 40 weeks during gestation. Wow! Messy! Wow! 3) Can husband and wife make love without making a mess? No, not possible! The life creating, love creating act of sex, performed by male and female, creatures who were created by the master, creates what the creator intended - life, love and relationship. Wow! Messy! Wow! What was God thinking as he created this messy life we live? With modern technology and conveniences we experience far less mess than former generations. God didn't place us in a sterile environment, nor is his relationship with us sterile, homogenized or pasteurized. We can keep him at arms length, but that isn't the relationship he calls us to. He calls us into a full experience of himself. Wow! Messy! Wow! Making love with our spouse is a messy proposition, a beautiful, glorious mess. The tastes, smells, textures, feelings and sounds of love making turn some people on, but turn some people off. God desires that our human bodies, shared with our spouse turn us on in love making and in all of life in fully human fashion. We are his creation. He ordained marriage. He called it - our relationship with our spouse, our sexuality and sex good. Sex was his idea, his handiwork. It isn't neat and tidy - but it is God's creation and it is very beautifully messy! Wow! Messy! Wow! Since our one-flesh relationship with our spouse mirrors God's relationship with us, it would be wise and prudent to view sex from God's perspective - what does God really want for us? He gave us a virtual playground for a shared experience with only one other person - our spouse. God is never boring, mundane or routine! Great marriages benefit from healthy discussion and hopefully are encouraged to share their understanding of God's beautiful creation with those around them. Hopefully people who are not turned on (actually, turned off) by the messiness of God's creation - the smells, the tastes, textures, feelings and sounds of making love to their spouse will benefit from placing their sexuality and sex into the greater context of God's design and be open to discussions and growth in understanding. If you are married and God's design bothers you, perhaps, for the sake of your marriage and your faith life, its time to shift your thinking - away from negative and closed, to positive and open. Crying out to God for guidance so you can appreciate his glorious messy gifts is appropriate. Crying out to God with a voice of thanksgiving for his gifts is highly appropriate. I just went to ESV.org and typed in "mess." Wow! Beautiful! Wow! Three words appear, none of which are "mess," but use the root word. The words are: messenger, Messiah and message. One hundred forty-nine times these three words appear! The Messiah, the messenger from God has a message and it comes through messy means - bread, wine, water, word! Messy in the most beautiful sense of the word - the word of God made flesh to dwell among us. Messy, the Messiah, dwells in our hearts with his message. The word of God made flesh to draw us to himself, to live in him and the word of God to draw us to one another. The message is reconciliation. The message is relationship! The messenger is Jesus, the Messiah. Wow! Messy! Wow! - 149 times WoW! May God grant us the peace that passes understanding and may we cede our own understanding to his Wisdom - Jesus Christ, the wisdom of God, in our lives. Blessings IN Christ, Cindy Cindy Steinbeck Newkirk Steinbeck Vineyards & Winery 5940 Union Rd. Paso Robles, CA. 93446 805.238.1854 (o) 805.674.1909 (c) www.steinbeckwines.com www.thewineyard.com Your Subscription: