CELEBRATING OUR IDENTITY

150 years ago on October 1, 1860 pioneers of our church chose the name “Seventh-day Adventist.”  Today our church celebrates this anniversary world-wide.  Next Sabbath I will present a Biblical message on the significance and meaning of our Name and purpose of our Identity.

I invite you to look again at “what does it mean to be a Seventh-day Adventist in the twenty-first century?”  During this week our media, HopeTV, 3ABN, and other channels will provide multiple programs commemorating this anniversary, and I hope that it will help our members recover and enhance our Adventist identity as well as regain a healthy pride in being a Seventh-day Adventist.

I remember hearing a “criticism” in the past that Adventists are “more heavenly minded than earthly good,”  as people were more occupied with witnessing and sharing about God than about material things and pursuing worldly matters.  But I wonder if that pendulum swung in the opposite direction.  As I reflect on the mid-week prayer gatherings (which are growing, praise God!) I recall this paragraph written in 1871 “Some, fearing they will suffer loss of earthly treasure, neglect prayer and the assembling of themselves together for the worship of God, that they may have more time to devote to their farms or their business. They show by their works which world they place the highest estimate upon. They sacrifice religious privileges, which are essential to their spiritual advancement, for the things of this life and fail to obtain a knowledge of the divine will. They come short of perfecting Christian character and do not meet the measurement of God. They make their temporal, worldly interests first, and rob God of the time which they should devote to His service. Such persons God marks, and they will receive a curse rather than a blessing.” (Testimonies to the Church, Vol.2 p.654)

We are called to be heavenly minded and do God’s Will on earth.  What do people in our community know about Seventh-day Adventists?  Tomorrow Adventist churches across Ontario will go into community with different acts of service, from simply giving away water to people on the street to distributing literature, to raking leaves, to... you get the point – loving acts of kindness, with intent to introduce ourselves. 

What real difference are you as a Seventh-day Adventist making in the lives of your neighbours, your employees, your coworkers, customers, schoolmates, not-yet-Adventist relatives?

If our local church or school closed today would anyone in the community notice?  If not, what do we need to do to change that?  What more should our congregation do to share the good news of Christ’s soon return?

I invite you to think and pray this week about how could you as individual be more effective in inviting others to join the worldwide Adventist movement?  And how can we make our Seventh-day Adventist congregation more attractive and meaningful to the community.