A City on a Hill

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill can not be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and gives light to everyone one in the house." Matthew 5:14-15

Good morning friends. First of all I just wanted to congratulate Greta on graduating this last week. As a lot of us know (or are now finding out), school is a lot of work. So yeah Congratulations!

Today looks like it is going to be amazing weather wise, so get outside and enjoy it if you can. Speaking of the weather, we missed all you guys who weren't able to make it out this last week, but don't worry, I'm about to give the cliff notes version of what went down.

A crew of us made it out to the church office to Greta's graduation party. The taco salad was amazing! And it was just a cool time of chilling and stuff.

Later we met up at my place for some coffee and discussion, and continued the story that has been on our hearts and minds for the last few months. Where we had last left off, Moses and the Israelites had made the exodus out of Egypt. God brings them out of slavery, showing the world who he is at the same time. Remember God was calling the Israelites to be a blessing to all the world( starting with Abraham). In some sense the Israelites were called to be the new humanity, to show the world how we were intended to live. A People that walked with God, knew his ways and showed the world who He was; who lived out mercy and generousity, who did justice, and valued family.

At is at this point in the story God gives the Israelites the law, or in other words, what it is going to take so that He can live among them. God sets up rules for his people and shows them his heart in the process. I want to encourage you guys to peep Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Leviticus. Because all of this beautiful stuff is in there. You really see what an amazing God it is that we follow and who He is in it.

We focused most of our attention on how He told the Israelites to handle their money. You can read about it in Deuteronomy 14, 15, and Leviticus 25. So beautiful.

So yeah, how do we live this stuff out? He do we be generous and merciful both to each other and to the people around us?

To close us out, I wanted to touch on something that I thought was really good that we talked about. When you think about it, having a people that look like God has always been the plan. It was the plan in the Garden where Man and Woman were created in his image and were there was right relationship between God and Man and Man and Woman. It was the plan with Israel, starting with Abraham. God is calling his people to be the example, walking with him, being blessed so that they could bless, and living that out practically amongst their families and tribes. And it is the plan with us today. We are the light of the world (isn't that weird). Woah.

God is building a city. He is building us into a city on a hill, a community that represents who he is. A city of people who love him and know his ways, a city where the the poor, the orphans, and widows are cared for, a city where everyone has a place and a role. So yeah, let's be that city this summer.

Grace and peace.