Last Sunday we started a new series on John 15 – Life in the Vine. In this chapter, Jesus uses an extended analogy of a grape or olive vine to illustrate the way Christians are to abide or remain in Christ. Church history has an ugly mark of division and separation which has not only hurt the people in the church, but the world around the church looks at the divided church with confusion and mistrust. There is only one way to maintain unity in a church or repair fractures from the past, and that is to abide in Christ, as illustrated in this analogy. When Christians are abiding in Christ they will bear much fruit, and as they share the values of Christ it will be evident that they are connected to Christ. Join us this Sunday as we consider abiding in Christ as the only source of unity in the Church.

I hope you are having a great celebration of our nation’s independence! Happy July 4th!

We are all familiar with the concept of “The American Dream.” The phrase was made popular by James Truslow Adams in his 1931 book The Epic of America. In that book he stated that the American dream is “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement . . . It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” What a great and noble dream! As we celebrate our nation’s independence this week we must ask the question if the American Dream still exists?

When you consider the founding documents of our country, The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States, there is no question that the hope we held as a nation was rooted in the belief that all blessings came from God. I would present that the further our country moves away from belief in the God of the Bible the less dreaming happens in our country. Dreams can’t be divorced from hope, and where a society places its hopes will determine what kind of dreaming happens. If hope is not placed in God, how can we have dreams and aspirations that reflect the righteousness of God? Join me this Sunday as we consider How America Can Dream Again.