From the Pastor’s Desk – Nov 18 2017

We look forward to welcoming you to the Bronte Church family as we will soon celebrate another Sabbath in study, worship, and fellowship. We are grateful for each of you who meet, greet, and come together each week. We miss those of you who cannot and have not come for a while and wish to see you soon again. I often think how different it would be like if we did not have a family unit, circle of friends, or support/social group. What if that was taken away from us; how would we feel and how different would our lives be? In what ways would it affect us? Would we feel disconnected, despondent, and depressed? Thank God for our inner circles and those who accept us. Sociologist Daniel Bell once said that, “culture is the effort to provide a coherent set of answers to the existential situations that confront all human beings in the passage of their lives.” We all have a culture we belong to, one we identify with and that somewhat defines us. Apart from human, ethnic, and personal culture, what type of culture should we cultivate as Christians? The Christ culture, a Christo-centric culture, should supersede and surpass all earthly cultures, creating a sense of spiritual cohesion and unity within the body of Christ. If there is any place that we should feel comfortable, be caring, and find commonality, community, acceptance, and love, it should be in the church. The Bible says, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting (encouraging) one another so much more, as you see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25). The coming day of the Lord is fast approaching. How will the world know about your faith? How does our church represent God to the world? How do you represent God to the world? We have a culture in Christ that should make our hearts beat in unison as Jesus prays that we “may all be one even as He is with His Father” (John 17:21). Being “one” doesn’t mean we all have to look, sound, or think the same, but it does mean we are one in faith, hope, love, purpose, passion, mission, and our culture in Christ, so that we may have a deeper connection, a greater meaning to our lives, and a higher purpose we serve. The blood of Jesus binds us together by cords of love. May the world see Jesus in you and me and may all other ground be sinking sand.

– Pastor Daniel D. Saugh