PS Note
Paul Sartarelli
February 2
A Sanctuary or an Airport? Yes!
The cover of our bulletins for the next few weeks will have one of two, soon to be familiar, pictures for Chapel “nation.” You may have noticed randomly distributed bulletins adorned by a stained glass window or a parking lot of planes at an airport.
The stained glass window reminds us that we are a sanctuary. Sacred things happen within The Chapel. As we worship and exalt the triune God, we allow him to use our teaching and many other ministries to equip us to serve one another in our journey toward Christ-likeness.
As is often the case, C.S. Lewis has just the right words that help us understand the nature of things. In regards to the church and our calling to be a sanctuary, Lewis writes, “The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men [people] into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose.”
Bottom of the Page
David Fletcher
February 2
Woof. Woof. Woof. Conflict with Your Neighbors
Conflict comes in all sizes and shapes. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, there has been conflict in the world. A while back, I was teaching about conflict resolution and used one of my favorite illustrations. It is the case of the barking dog:
Your neighbor’s dog incessantly barks at night. You are losing sleep. One day you mentioned it to your neighbor, who just laughed it off. “Get some earplugs,” he said.
Of course, it wasn’t as easy as that. Earplugs didn’t work. Now what should you do? The next week, you mentioned it to your neighbor again, but with a pretty angry tone. The conversation soon became a heated exchange of words, and you made some threats that you shouldn’t have.
As I shared this, one man sat upright in his chair. His eyes were big and bulging. I finished the story and the man just had to say something. Here is what Tom said:
How did you know? That’s my story! My neighbor’s dog is barking from 2 to 4 o’clock every morning. I’ve tried shouting at the dog. Sometimes I yelled “Shut up” for five minutes! It didn’t work.
Then I saw my neighbor one afternoon. I told him about the dog and got just a little bit angry, not too much, really! But, he didn’t respond very well. I got angrier and the discussion got pretty heated. I made some threats that I’m not very proud of. He made threats back at me. But the problem was that the dog is still barking every night! Nothing changed!
