Grace Abounding

As a newly planted church, Grace Church doesn’t have many traditions yet. But this Sunday we continued one tradition of having an unconventional sermon where we read aloud a whole book of the Bible.

Jonathan Matias, our pastor, preached briefly on the overall message of the letter of James, our current sermon series. Then three readers came forward and read aloud the entire book of James as the center of our Sunday worship. This is exactly how the first recipients of the letter received it. When the letter of James originally arrived in the early church’s inbox, it was read aloud publicly from church to church. James 1:22 hints at this – “Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only.”

After each chapter or two was read, we paused as other members prayed aloud that God would cause the message of those chapters to be true in our lives individually and corporately. When spoken and read, the Word of God gives life and light, makes things new, and brings great joy (Isaiah 55:10-13; 1 Peter 1:23).

This new church tradition at Grace Church started quite by accident. One Sunday morning last year, Jonathan was going to preach on Ephesians 1 to launch a sermon series in that book. But that morning at the last minute he got sick, and so readers were assigned to come forward and read & pray through Ephesians. We hope to continue this tradition once or twice a year, for it gladdens our hearts and brings to us the words of life.