So… our last week of Core Values.  I’m going to approach Continuity through the analogy of an island.  If you lived on an island with just your family and cut off from civilization, you could avoid a lot of the hassles of being in community.  You could set your own schedule, your own guidelines, your own goals.  There would be no national issues to worry about.  No taxes.  No poverty (unless you ran out of resources), and no crime (unless your own family committed it).  You could play a very big part, but you’d be in a very small play.

Or… you could be be connected with lots of others in an actual community.  You’d have all the complications of living in society.  Laws, politics, taxes, crime, poverty, etc.  But you’d have all the advantages of mutual protection and support.  And you’d have responsibility for others outside your tribe.  You’d play a very small part in a big play.

Both of these competing desires are in us: the desire to run our own lives, and the desire to find our place in the context of His plans.  When we talk about Continuity, it’s finding ourselves in God’s big play as we hold down a small part.  We are submitting our own lives and ambitions to His.  We are not independent islands, we’re on the mainland.  We’re not in charge, but we know who is.  We’re finding our bearings not in our own accomplishments, but in how we tie into what He’s doing and his purposes.  In short, we have a King, but not our own kingdom.

Also, I will be reviewing the Four Corners and tying in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 where Pauls says we no longer live for ourselves, but for Him who died for us.  I’ll also tie in how we need each other to learn how to pray.  Praying in our “closet” is island kind of prayer, and it has an important role.  But community praying is prayer in Continuity with others and with what God has been doing for 4000+ years.