This weekend: A Few Tricky Topics

Just stopping by for a quick report on the weekend.

On Saturday night the church in Jesús María hosted a dinner for couples. Our temporary sanctuary was all decked out with hearts – balloons and those little corrugated decorations. We all brought food to share – chicken cordon bleu and spaghetti, for the most part.

But before eating we had some prize give-aways and chances for certain couples to publicly express their undying love (to each other, of course – but in public).

Then Pastor Erik, who comes from another church in Mexico City, shared for just over an hour on the topic of biblical marriage. He was clear, frank, and practical. He boldly hit upon some issues that were difficult and hit very close to home, and he didn’t shy away from the tough stuff.

I had the video camera on for the presentation, so I’m trying to get it copied right now for some people who missed it or want to hear it again.

Finally, I think it was around 10pm, we dug into the food.

On Sunday morning I taught my Sunday school class on the sixth commandment – You shall not murder.

I knew this would be one of the most challenging of the Ten Commandments to teach – challenging because, as I said at the beginning of the class, most people still feel that murder is wrong. And so when you really start to delve into what it means, it shows the darkness of our own hearts in a way that we’d probably rather not see.

Just think about all the things that are wrapped up in this commandment. What about these issues:

• Death through negligence
• Abortion
• Suicide
• Euthanasia
• The death penalty
• Hate and resentfulness
• Good Samaritans
• Revenge
• Looking out for the poor
• Vigilantes

That’s only a start – and we had less than an hour to talk!

I knew I had to end with a discussion of forgiveness and how we receive it, especially after the Bible declared pretty much everyone (if not 100% of everyone) in the room guilty. And I knew it would be an issue – but it was even more of an issue than I thought it would be – the question Can suicide be forgiven?

This question is actually a lot more important than it may first appear. It touches on questions like – Can you be forgiven after death? What is the nature and purpose of confession? What is salvation? How and when are we forgiven?

The heated discussion continued after the class, and it will continue some more – at the very least, I’ll clarify a few things in the next class (lot of time – next week is the easy topic of “adultery” – hah!).

In the service, Rod brought John 19 alive for us in his sermon. And – it was Fabian’s last Sunday with us! Fabian has been leading the music lately, but he’s going to go and get himself married on Saturday, and move away, and leave us. 🙁

Anyway – a full weekend. With another full weekend to come!