4th of July: Day of Celebration or Mourning?
My wife and I recently moved to San Luis Obispo and have been diligently looking for a new church to attend. One lazy afternoon, she stumbled across the blog of Tim Theule, Pastor of Grace Church, SLO. While this was my first experience reading a Pastor’s blog, the experience was more pronounced by a specific post regarding the church’s 4th of July picnic.
There are two things of note that make this post well worth reading:
- The ensuing discussion regarding whether or not the 4th of July is truly a holiday to “celebrate,” and
- The candor, humility and openness with which each of the participants approach the discussion.
So often I find that people move through life in a desperate attempt to keep their bubbles sealed, or alternatively, they seek every opportunity to burst it, yet lack the sensitivity or simple politeness to make themselves receptive to others. Progress in one’s life and in society at large, depends just as greatly on how we relate, not just what we relate to. The synergy of both have the power to truly create a wonderful world.
This entry was posted on Saturday, July 23rd, 2005 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Business Ethics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
July 27th, 2005 at 12:12 am
Hi Peter,
Saw your post on Pastor Tim’s BLOG. The last three nights we have had the most awsome speaker at Grace SLO. Pastor Dan Haakenson spoke on communication. The first talk was on “Telling the Truth”, The second on “Speaking with Kindness”. Tthe thrid on “Listening Well” and the final talk was “Resolving Conflict”. Each topic was presented with many (25 or more) verses from mostly Proverbs. It really drove home how God sees these issues in communication. I wish you and your wife could have come. My husband and I loved it. It was all recorded if you want to listen and see what you think.
I wish you and your wife all the best in your search for a church home. It is so imprtant to have fellowship with other beleivers. There are a number of great churches in this area. We actually live in Atascadero. We moved from SLO, but continue to attend church at Grace in SLO so our entire family can attend Church together (we have a daughter in college in SLO).
July 27th, 2005 at 10:03 am
Suzette,
Thank you for mentioning the communication talks! They sound as if they were wonderful, and I regret that we didn’t know about them in advance. You mentioned that they were recorded — are there CDs we can purchase, or do you think they’ll appear as podcasts on Grace SLO’s website?
As an aside, I love that Grace posts sermons as podcasts online. It has been a wonderful way for us to become quickly acquainted with the Pastor’s sermon style and is also an incredible resource for those of us who may want to listen to a particular sermon more than once. We still haven’t made it to the Sunday service and unfortunately expect to be out of town this weekend again! So for us, even though the podcasts don’t replace the sermon, and certainly not the worship, we are at least able to stay a little connected!
That is wonderful that your family comes to SLO to attend church with your daughter. We’ve picked up on a more prominent “family” atmosphere here, in direct contrast to where we’ve moved from (Santa Barbara), and absolutely love it! We are expecting our first child in a week or two (could happen any time!), so as you can imagine, family concerns are front and center in our lives!