Redeemer East Side Update

The great Protestant Reformer John Calvin begins his magnum opus Institutes of the Christian Religion with these famous opening lines:

Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other. For, in the first place, no man can survey himself without forthwith turning his thoughts towards the God in whom he lives and moves; [his] blessings which unceasingly distil to us from heaven, are like streams conducting us to the fountain … On the other hand, it is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he have previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself.

In other words, to be wise is to know God and to know self. Yet, we cannot truly know ourselves without knowledge of God; nor can we truly know God without knowledge of ourselves. Therefore while the Christian life is many things, it must be a life rooted in prayerful reflection and contemplation.

This month we come to our final Practices of PEACE: Examine. We have embarked on this journey together as a congregation — arising out of gospel rest in order to eat, ask, and commune with others like Jesus did — and now we return to our rest in Christ through the practice of Examine. Through a daily rhythm of Scripture reading and prayer, we search and examine God’s Word to encounter him while also allowing his Word to search and examine us in order to encounter ourselves. After a day of following Jesus on his mission, we return to the good news of the gospel — that we are not loved any more because of our performance, success, or productivity; neither are we loved any less because of our failures, mistakes, or sins. We turn away from what the world may say about us or what our own hearts may say about us and instead return yet again to what God has to say about us in Christ. We return to the rest of being his beloved by grace alone. So the practice of Examine is crucial for living a life on mission. To help you to build this key practice into your life, we put together the Redeemer Daily Devotional that guides you in prayer and Scripture, both morning and evening.

And I can’t think of a better person to share with us on this topic than Dr. Diane Langberg, a trauma counselor with more than 40 years of clinical experience working with issues of sexual abuse, trauma, and the church. She will draw from her wealth of experience as she shares with the power of God’s word to heal, restore, and transform when we allow it to examine us with both truth and grace. So mark your calendars and make sure to register for another great evening. You will not want to miss it!

Warmly,

Rev. Abraham Cho
East Side Senior Pastor

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PEACE: An Invitation to Examine

Join Diane Langberg, therapist and author of Suffering and the Heart of God and Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church, to explore how God’s word and prayer examines the human heart and opens us to the heart of God. Dr. Langberg draws from her experience as a trauma therapist and follower of Jesus to reveal how the practice of Examine is a deep means of experiencing grace, growth and peace.

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PEACE Stories: Examine

We invite Jesus to Examine us daily through prayer and the reading of God’s word (John 15:5). Here's Vince's story of how God opened him up to a fuller life through the practice of Examine.

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