Won’t You Be My Neighbor, part 3: The One Where Everybody Knows Your Name
Isaiah 43:1-7, Galatians 4:4-7
Neighborhoods look a little different today than they did even a few decades ago when Mister Rogers started his neighborhood:
- More backyards and fewer front porches
- More garages and fewer parks
Everybody wants to
Icelandic naming - the last name is the father’s (or mother’s) first name plus -son or -dottir depending on the gender
*people are referred to casually and formally by their first name (their
**but they’re directly understood to be the son or daughter of someone specific (their
1But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. 4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. 5 Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. 6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” —Isaiah 43:1-7
God knows
4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. (term used for legal adoption under Roman law with full rights of male heir) 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. —Galatians 4:4-7
*in other words, once you were someone who didn’t belong, and now you are someone who does belong
1. You have a name God
2. You have
People ask me all the time what the vision of our church is - and, of course, we’ve had a mantra for seven years now that says “Life is Better Together” - but how that translates into the vision God has given us is this:
As a church, we want to be a place where people can be known (belong) and also find out what it is to know and have access to the Father (believe).
We want to be a place where people can