Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love. This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. – 1 John 4:7-9
People often ask me about sources of inspiration I tap into as a writer. I do read quite a bit, but mostly – for me – it’s about paying attention. Or, as Rebekah put it when asked how she prepares for her Sunday message, “I try to stay awake.”
Then sometimes I actually take notes during sermons. Yes, those little two-inch pencils in the pew racks turn out to be there for a reason, and I’ve been known to scribble all over my bulletin. Contrary to popular belief I do not get previews during the week, and the preacher does not do “dry runs” at home.
So she was speaking about the relationship between gratitude and belief (click here for the message). There’s some good science out there now that confirms some of what we already know, that a grateful spirit is demonstrably associated with benefits such as lower blood pressure, positive emotions, and general wellbeing.
Then Rebekah pointed out that – in a synthesis of the biological science, the social science, the theology, and the insight she brings to these messages – that “gratitude without purpose is simply a good feeling.”
“Gratitude without purpose is simply a good feeling” – Rebekah Maul
And good feelings, we know this, only get you so far.
On belief, Rebekah traced the word back through several layers of definition, meaning, origin, and etymology. It turns out that at the heart of the deepest places, “believe” carries the root “be-love.” Use that in context and we find ourselves saying “I belove in God.” “I belove this church and its ministries.” “I belove in what we are doing here.”
Love is the activating force that gives purpose to what we are grateful for, it is what turns our belief into action. I am deeply grateful for this life we embrace and enjoy, I belove Jesus and find that it is impossible to simply just sit there in church limited to feeling good, all warm and fuzzy inside with thanks and belief. No, love propels – compels – me into action. Love turns belief into service and purposeful change.
So, thanks Rebekah for preaching stuff that inspires this writer. Thanks for making good theology such a catalyst for change.
Come to think of it, I belove in us. I am grateful and I belove our life together.
In love, and because of love – DEREK
Today is Rebekah’s birthday. The first time I wished her a happy birthday she turned twenty-one. This will be the forty-second celebration I have enjoyed marking the beautiful creative moment God embraced in gifting her to this world. God must have been having a good day – pitch perfect – and the gift never gets old.
Then Rebekah preached. Over the past few months, she’s been looking at The Apostle’s Creed as a foundational declaration of faith. This week it was “I believe in The Forgiveness of Sins.”
“I think about our world that is constantly at war with itself. I don’t know who said it, or when I heard it – maybe from a wartorn veteran, or maybe it was something that has evolved in my own psyche – but it’s the thought that 
First, our “Director of Food Ministries,” Mandy – along with one of the twins, Alyssa – gave a bread-making demonstration. Warm water, yeast, flour, kneading – all this and more.
Sunday morning’s baptism had to be one of the sweetest I’ve ever witnessed. Henry is seven years old; he listened to Rebekah so intently, held onto her hand, and leaned into her when she prayed for him, taking everything in with bright, understanding eyes.
Rebekah preached about what it means to share our faith. Not in the sense of browbeating, or “hooking” someone, or looking to close the sale, but in terms of being so full up with light ourselves that some of it can’t help but spill out.
Rebekah preached about another question Jesus asked, and this time it was, “Do you have anything to eat?” Sharing food together was a vital part of Christ’s public ministry, and he wanted to make sure that the deep intimacy of breaking bread together was not lost in the disciples’ new life together, moving forward.
Everything has a time, a purpose, and a season. There is so much going on in the world, and it can be confusing to see the contradictions between war and peace, love and hate, tearing down and building up, embracing, searching, losing, crying, laughing, dancing, repairing, healing, and so much more. But God is sovereign, and somehow all the threads of history will come together and – bottom line – it’s going to be okay.
She told the congregation she had whittled the sermon down from, “A good two and a half hours of material!” Then she shared directly from her heart for thirty minutes or so – and her voice remained surprisingly strong.
It is an absolutely beautiful Sunday morning here in Wake Forest. The sun is shining, the snow is glistening white, and the temperature (14-degrees when I walked the dog) is a bracing 18! The neighborhood has turned into one solid sheet of ice, topped with a couple of inches of powdery snow.
