Rex.Espiritu.net - a blog vox

As the praise songs go: “JESUS, You’re the Center of my joy…” ”Jesus, Be the Centre…”  How many times have I sung these lyrics in varied settings for several Christian services of worship at various venues….    I’m unable to recall exactly. 

What does it mean to have Christ be the center of one’s life?  How would I articulate such depth of meaning for Christ being the center of my very being?  How shall we then live with Christ as the center of our living together in Christ-centered community?  In what way does this affect my pastoral ministry and particularly our parenting of our own children as we are thrust into the calling and responsibility of raising them through their teenage years? 

The Navigators’ scripture verse memorization system from the Growing in Christ (Colossians 2:7) discipleship training series with topical references helps me remember a related Bible verse I committed to memory years ago: 

CHRIST THE CENTER

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me.  –Galatians 2:20 (NIV)

The above wonderings ensued through reflection upon the following: 

February 25 — “It turns out when you look at the structure of teenagers’ lives, and their schedules, religion fits in a very small piece of all that.  It’s actually amazing to me that religion has any effect in teenagers’ lives.  Part of the structure, too, is that what really matters to teenagers is their socially significant relationships.  If teenagers have socially significant relationships that cross at church, that cross with other families of believers, then that helps out a lot.  But many teenagers have their socially significant relationships almost exclusively through school; even if they have friends at church, the youth group is a satellite out there on the fringe of their life, rather than at the center.” — Christian Smith, in “What American Teenagers Believe: A Conversation with Christian Smith, Interview by Michael Cromartie” 

http://www.pcusa.org/pastorselders/dailyquote.htm#february5

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 9:49 am and is filed under CompanyOfPastors, Worship, perspectives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.