Weekly Update// Pastor Chris

Dear Asbury Family,
Not long ago, I came across this post on social media and wanted to pass it along to you as food for thought. Mike Fells, who’s an English Professor, writes, “The single biggest failure of my life as an English Professor is being unable to shake my students’ belief that what we’re doing is finding ‘hidden meanings’ in a text rather than improving the quality of attention we’re giving it.” 

The above quote is good to keep in mind when it comes to Scripture. When we search the Scriptures (something John and Charles Wesley encouraged Methodists to do), our goal isn’t to look for the “hidden meanings” of a text. Rather, our goal is to slow down enough to pay attention to what’s in the text, what the writer intended for us to learn and discover about God and God’s wonderful grace. I am rarely good at slowing down, but in my experience, an intentional and careful reading of Scripture always gives way to new insight.  

We’re actually going to be providing this kind of intentional and careful reading of Scripture in our new sermon series that starts this Sunday (May 30). The name of the series is “Ruth: A Story of Redemption.” Over the next few weeks, we’ll slowly make our journey through the Old Testament book of Ruth. Along the way, we’ll discover different themes, but the primary theme we’ll discover is that of redemption (some variation of the word redemption shows up at least 23 times in Ruth). Here’s my challenge for us to complete before Sunday: read Ruth. While it’s only four chapters, there’s so much in these chapters to discuss.

Of course, this Sunday also marks Memorial Day weekend. So, in addition to starting our new series, we’ll be sure to honor fallen soldiers, those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country.  

Have a great weekend, and we’ll see you Sunday! 

Blessings,
Chris