From Pastor Andrew’s Desk

Greetings FCCB’ers! 

It’s been a crazy week transitioning back from the wedding and honeymoon. Like many of you, Kori and I lost power on Sunday evening and didn’t have it restored until Wednesday night! Being without power was very frustrating. We had to find places to shower and cook meals, as well as charge phones and computers so we could continue working. In this digital age it is becoming ever more difficult to function without access to electricity. At the same time, I find it important to make the most of bad situations, and look for the blessing. Not having power afforded Kori and I to transition back into our lives in a more intentional way. We had more things to figure out, but we weren’t distracted the same way we might have normally been with emails and television. We were afforded an opportunity to be intentional about starting our married life together in our new home. The power outage also gave us the opportunity to be more intentional with our time and energy. I think intention and motivation play a large role in our spiritual lives.  

This Sunday we will be exploring sections of 1 Chronicles 13 and 15, outlining some of David’s conquests and his first attempt at bringing the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, a critical aspect of David’s new kingship. The ark eventually reaching Jerusalem would consecrate it as a holy city. It is David’s first attempt…he isn’t successful on his first try, and doesn’t make another attempt for 3 months.

You might be wondering what this story has to do with the theme of worship that we have been exploring as a congregation. Good question. We’ll look at this together on Sunday. There are a number of important truths we can gather from this section of scripture. Throughout Chronicles, the author uses the term “All Israel” to refer to the people of God. At different times it is used
  • for specific groups of Israelites (13:5), and
  • when referring to the collective people of God (9:1).

This is done in order to emphasize the unity of God’s people, the idea being that “All Israel” ought to be united based on their common faith in the Lord. This is unity we now have across the globe as God’s collective people, seeking after Him and His glory. We have it here in our community in Boxford as we seek after unity in faith and mind to serve our Lord in all we say and do.

As we approach our worship service this Sunday, let’s reflect on and remember the unity we share as God’s people. 

Associate Pastor Tom Fagan