For the Pastoral Notes today, I asked Rev. Ben Griffith to tell us about the new Sunday School class he’ll be starting in the chapel in a couple of weeks!
Beginning on January 26th, I hope you’ll join me in the Chapel Class for a five-week journey through a topic that one writer says “may be the most important aspect of the Christian life you’ve never heard about.” Now, he may be overreaching in saying that you have “never heard about” this subject before, but he is putting his finger on the fact that this topic is just as important for us as it is neglected by us. He’s referring to something we find all over the pages of Scripture, a reality that is the very heart of the good news of the Gospel. He’s referring to “Union with Christ.”
In our five-week series, we’re going to use Rankin Wilbourne’s engaging and accessible book, Union with Christ, to explore how this beautiful gospel reality can close the gap that often exists between our heads and our hearts; between what we believe and what we experience. Often, if we’re honest with ourselves, we find it difficult to connect what Jesus did in the past and what he’s promised to do in the future, to the life that I’m living in the present. Sometimes we feel this disconnect acutely, as we live in this gap between the grand promises of God and the nitty-gritty details of our everyday lives. Does this gap sound familiar to you?
If it does, then I hope we will discover together, in new and fresh ways, how union with Christ is what Wilbourne calls “the way to know and enjoy God.” Coming to see your union with Christ is like putting on a pair of glasses that finally allows you to see yourself, your story, and your savior with the clarity that God intends. Union with Christ is not a new spin on the Gospel—it’s what the Bible has been saying all along. And it’s not an abstract idea—it’s a powerful reality that actually changes us and opens up new pathways of joy, obedience, and faithfulness in our walks with Christ.
Please join us! There is no need to buy or read the book, but there are copies on the book table available for purchase.
We are also very pleased to introduce to you our new female youth intern, Eva Lewis! Eva is a member of Cornerstone and has been actively volunteering in our youth ministry for the last year. In this new role, Eva will play a supportive role in the youth ministry, spending quality time discipling our junior and senior high girls. If you have not met Eva yet, please take time to introduce yourself and welcome her to the Cornerstone staff!