Something to Think About This Week
Are you satisfied? Did you impulsively answer, “Of course not. Never!”? As participants in a relentlessly commercialized, competitive, capitalist culture, we’re conditioned to be discontent.
Think of the pressures we’d be rid of if we actually lived as though winning wasn’t everything and our success wasn’t measured by job title, income, looks, popularity, education, address, and innumerable other ways the world assigns worth. You know who succeeds when we get worked up about such things? The people who sell us stuff! Their satisfaction depends on our chronic dissatisfaction. They constantly send us the same message: Contentment is for people who have no ambition or drive. You need more, they insist—and you must spend all your time and energy getting it. What might happen if we turned our competitive drive down and cranked up the contentment meter?
When St. Paul famously wrote, “I have learned to be satisfied with whatever I have” (Philippians 4:11), he was talking about more than material possessions. In fact, he connected satisfaction with peace of mind, because contentment grows out of how we think. Writing these words from prison, Paul hands us the key to contentment two verses later: “Christ gives me strength,” he says. True satisfaction and peace come when we admit what we have for now is enough, because with Christ there is always more. “I can face anything,” Paul insists. Even with the likelihood of execution staring him in the eye he had the peace of mind to prove it.
This Sunday We’re All About Satisfaction
So, again: Are we satisfied? Are we at peace? This Sunday’s live worship experience will celebrate satisfaction in joyful music and testimony, sacred word and meal. Join us this Sunday at 5pm CDT at William McKinley Park, at Pershing Road between Damen and Leavitt, near the outdoor basketball courts. All you need is a chair and/or blanket for seating. We’ve got the refreshments covered. The weather outlook is beautiful—almost as beautiful as the contented, peaceful folks who make Gather what it is. And for those who can’t be with us in person, make sure you tune in to the live feed on YouTube!
Come for the worship. Stay for the dance. (And bring friends!)
I look forward to being together as we Gather in the park!
Peace and blessings,
Pastor Tim
We need your help!
As we think about the future of Gather, please let us know what gifts you bring and would like to share with the community. There are many roles that have to come together to make Gather happen every week. This includes setup, technical support, worship, managing handouts and information, coordinating drinks, and teardown. We need your help. Please let us know what type of service you’d be interested in!
Watch God Work,
Tim & Shea
As we prepare to become a vibrant worshipping community, we invite you to enjoy a Spotify playlist that captures the kind of worship we hope to embrace. Give it a spin while you’re driving. Make it your workout jam. Add it to your devotional time. Most of all, feel yourself becoming part of a sacred village of believers who love their God and one another!
Check out the Gather Worship Playlist here.
