September 28 Worship - "Leviticus - Holy People"

On Sunday, we continued our Godsway 66 journey into the book of Leviticus.  Filled with detailed laws about ritual sacrifice and descriptions of things ritually clean and unclean, this book of Torah can seem long and unnecessary.  Certainly, many of its instructions are out of date -- but the underlying lesson is still vital to our faith.  The point of the instructions seems to be made explicit at the opening of Leviticus 19 -- the Israelites are to be a holy people, living in ways pleasing to God, who is holy.

This is a radical idea.  So often we believe that our faith is meant only to point out our sinfulness -- how many mistakes we make and how far we fall short of God's expectations.  But the purpose of learning about our imperfection is not to make us feel guilty, but to point us toward a different way of living and being -- to point us too toward a life that is holy.  We may not worry about the finer points of unclean foods and ritual sacrifice, but God wants us to make deep commitments to our faith and to live in ways that make us more like God's co-workers than God's lowly subjects.

If you missed the sermon, if you'd like to listen to it again, or if you'd like to share it with others, you can find an audio recording here.

You can also listen to Sunday's communion meditation and closing benediction.