The Plumbline

If we really stop long enough to consider WHY we go to church, we'd all probably enjoy the experience a whole lot more!  We might actually walk away a different person!  Yet, most of us go to church in a kind of "mindless" manner. 1  Watch your step when you enter God's house.   Enter to learn. That's far better than mindlessly offering  a sacrifice, d oing more harm than good.  (Ecclesiastes 5:1) Our writer reminds us of the importance of "entering to learn" - not just to be able to "check off" one more thing on our list of weekend experiences.  There is also a "warning" to watch our step - to be cautious in what we might commit to doing - because a vow spoken in haste is really a thing we will trip on! The three words "enter to learn" tell us a great deal about how we should "approach" church.  First, we enter - we go in.  This suggest active engagement in the process of moving from one spot to another.  In...

We all have times when our days just seem to spin out of control.  It is not an easy thing for many of us - we just don't like to have control in the hands of anyone else!  Whenever control shifts, we feel "out of control" - anxiety creeps in, frustration mingles with our anxious thoughts, until we end up on the edge of wanting to just scream, "Give me back the reigns, fool!"  Okay, if this has never described your day, don't read on!  If it has...maybe you'd benefit.   1-3   God , my shepherd! I don't need a thing.  You have bedded me down in lush meadows,  you find me quiet pools to drink from.   True to your word,  you let me catch my breath  and send me in the right direction. (Psalm 23:1-3 The Message) Most of us associate the 23rd Psalm with funerals - it is the one most commonly read at the graveside.  So, why am I directing our attention to a psalm about "death" today?  Well, read it again - the very ...