n e w c h u r c h l i f e : j u ly / au g u s t 2 0 1 3
worldly thought are like the shadows of shaking leaves on a forest floor in
comparison with the slow, steady movement of the sun across the sky.
The use of the Church is to provide for the presence of the Divine, which
changes not, on earth. The Church, therefore, by its very nature, must be
different from the unstable, constantly changing world around it.
The Church serves as an agent of change, not by trying to keep up with the
willy-nilly “progress” of the world and its current trends, but by being steadfast
in its devotion to the Word and calling the world back to its timeless truths.
“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” It’s true: the
change the world needs most never changes – it is to return, again and again
and again, to the wisdom of the ages preserved by the Church.
(WEO)
SEVEN KEYS TO READING THE WORD
We are grateful to the Rev. Brian D. Smith, assistant pastor of the Olivet New
Church in Toronto, Canada, for offering seven simple keys to reading the
Word. It is easy to get in the habit of reading a chapter a day – or whenever we
have time – but then having no memory of what was read or what it meant to
your life. Brian offers a way to make such devotional reading meaningful and
relevant.
He starts with this powerful focus: “This book of the law shall not depart
out of your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night . . . that you may
observe to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your
way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.” (Joshua 1:8)
Don’t read more a BF