deeper
3rd Sunday 6.30pm
deeper is a monthly worship service where we take a more creative and experiential approach to worship and learning.
We aim in a deeper service to integrate the teaching theme as much as possible into every other element of the meeting, from the entrance way as you arrive, the set up and look of the main area used, the music, visuals, drama, interaction etc. We also have the Deeper Blog as a way of recording what we do each month but hopefully also as a way of helping people to continue discussing the theme after each meeting.
From September 2009 to March 2010 we will be looking at
The story of the Old Testament reaches a crescendo during the times of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. By the time of these men, the nation that God had chosen as his covenant people - the people who were to demonstrate to the world around them the blessing that it was to live under God’s rule - had so hardened its collective heart towards the LORD that it now utterly refused to listen to, obey or love God. The people were so far away from Him that the disasters God warned their forefathers of fell upon them.
Isaiah and Jeremiah warned their countrymen to prepare for exile. Ezekiel cries out to those who are far from home and mourning for what was lost. But amongst their words we can still hear God speak words of comfort, of compassion, of patience, of desire - and ultimately of his redemptive and transforming love.
Jeremiah 31:20 Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him," declares the LORD.
But the prophets also revealed a truth about God and our relationship with Him to us. Yes, the Father is loving. Yes, He longs for us to return to him - a story that Jesus would echo in the story of a shattered family. However, there must be something in us to that needs to change… and that is our hearts. We must desire our heavenly Father to shape our hearts and mould them to be after him; to take our lives and rebuild them into wholeness; to gather up our broken fragments and, like the artist who pieces together a mosaic, make them into something that is beautiful.
Maybe sometimes in our hurt, pain and brokenness we hear these words but our hearts refuse to believe that it’s possible. Maybe we feel too broken to be pieced together by anyone, even the heavenly Father who yearns for us. It’s not possible. And our hearts have hardened towards God’s redeeming love.
In this series of six services, we want to help you to unpack how your story continues from here. How can we enter into the healing and wholeness that God offers and what will it look like as our lives are transformed?
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Timelapse from Deeper
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