Work in Progress: The Work is Messy

Matthew 21:12-17

Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, “It is written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’;
but you are making it a den of robbers.”
The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry  and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise for yourself’?”
He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

We talked about how sometimes the stories of our lives and the stories of those who lived during Biblical times get messy and complicated.

• How has God been at work in the messy places of your life?

Trust that God can and does
redeem the messes in our lives
and creates beauty.

I'm reminded of a song that is my prayer today:

https://youtu.be/1spkhp41ig4

All this pain
I wonder if I'll ever find my way?
I wonder if my life could really change at all?
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found?
Could a garden come up from this ground at all?

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us
________
This week students and adults from Elizabethtown Presbyterian Church are on engaging with God and each other while on retreat! It's a powerful time to ask BIG questions, connect with God in new ways, and grow in faith.  Pray for us!