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Learning for Life: 9:30 am
Worship Service: 11:00 am
Bulletin: November 18, 2018
Newsletter: November 2018
Scripture: Esther 5-9
Songs:
- For All the Saints (lyrics & melody, YouTube w lyrics (5,000 voices), chorus group, history, meditation)
- We Are God’s People (lyrics, video, melody, background & meditation)
- 10,000 Reasons / Bless the Lord (lyrics, melody, author interview, video, 2, auditorium, for kids, artistic, acappella, background)
Rev. Joel Russell-MacLean
Esther was one of many Jewish women now scattered through the Persian Empire. She lived in a man’s world, under the attention of the most powerful man of the times. Esther was also a Jew at a time where their survival, and the survival of their faith, was uncertain. How much choice did she have?
As with the women in Ruth, Esther was not as powerless as a reader might imagine given her identity and culture. Undoubtedly, Esther is among the more heroic figures in the bible. The bible gives us no indication if Esther had a sense of God’s leading but she risked her life to do what she could.
Many Christians these days feel like they live in a hostile culture. Are we powerless, or do we have choices to make?
God has placed us in this time and place. What is God calling us to do?