August 16: The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. –Genesis 3:24
A flaming sword of the justice of God protecting his holiness from us and us from his holiness…wow! No one is going to be able to get back in to the perfect presence of the Lord: not Adam, not Eve, not Abraham, not Moses, not David, no prophet or apostle, and none of us. No one is found who can pass the flaming sword to open the garden back up…well, except one.
Isaiah and the writer to the Hebrew says that Christ will be cut off out of the land of the living. He took all our sin and all his righteousness and underwent the flaming sword of God and thus opened a new, living, and narrow way back to the perfect presence of God for those who would follow him there.
That’s the gospel! Come hear it preached and enacted in the Supper with Jesus this Sunday.
The related hymns we’ll sing are:
Come, Christians, Join to Sing
The Beatitudes (Isaac Watts’ setting to the tune O Waly, Waly)
Be Thou My Vision
August 22 is the Redeemer Ladies’ Fellowship and Prayer. Use the contact page for more information.
Sunday school for children (in Genesis) and adults (on Reformed Treasures) is up and running! Coffee and other treats are served at 9:15, teaching begins at 9:30, and we break to get ready for worship at 10:15.
Visitors are always welcome!