2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.

3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.

4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD ?

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness [a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

14 then you will find your joy in the LORD,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Powerful stuff. And, truly a good reminder of our purpose in worship.

After spending a few minutes in prayer, we continued our study and discussion of John Eldredge’s book Walking With God by reading the section titled “Making Room for Joy” (which begins on page 37). We read the section aloud and then talked about what it looks like to live in pursuit of the joy of the Lord. We also spent some time on the aspects of life that get in the way of being able to focus on God and seeking His joy.

After our discussion, we made our way to the nearby Marble Slab, got ice cream, and hung around out front like a strange Murrysville gang of middle class 20-somethings. It was delightful.

Next week, we’ll be back at MCC for our regular meeting date/time/location.

Stay tuned for news of an upcoming end-of-summer picnic and an early autumn white water rafting trip!

Because of our late sign-up date, we just received our Relevant Network kit in the mail today, so we spent some time looking through the books and listening to the CDs that were included this quarter.

Books

• The Vow by Ed Gungor
• The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment by Tim Challies
• Deadly Viper by Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite
• Walking With God by John Edlredge
• The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever

CDs

• Leeland Opposite Way
• The Bridge Band Love
• Jared Anderson Where Faith Comes From
• After Edmund Hello

DVDs

• Everything Is Spiritual (Rob Bell)

After some discussion and a vote, we decided to start with Walking With God by John Edlredge. We’ll create an online form over the weekend so that anyone who wants to order one can do so on Monday. I’ll order the books on Tuesday and try to have them to MCC by Thursday (we’ll see how fast shipping can be!). We don’t have the budget to purchase books for everyone, so if you want a book, we’d appreciate it if you’d chip in $16 to help cover the cost of books + shipping.

ORDER A COPY NOW »

If reading a book seems overwhelming, don’t worry… there’s also an audio book on CD or for download from Amazon. But, you’ll have to pick that up on your own if you want it.

After we picked our study book, we watched the Rob Bell Everything Is Spiritual DVD from his national speaking tour. In the video, Rob discusses creation as described in Genesis 1 and its implications to science, faith, and being a human. If you’ve got an hour or so, it’s definitely worth the time. If you watched it and liked it, check out some of his other work at Nooma or at Mars Hill.

Next meeting: Thursday, June 26 @ 7:30 pm

We had our kick-off event tonight with copious amounts of food and beverage, provided by Marissa. If you missed out on tonight’s meeting, fear not. There were leftovers, and we will bring the non-perishables to next week’s meeting.

Tonight, we played a rousing round of Apples to Apples, followed by several rounds of electronic Catch Phrase. Both of which sufficiently broke any “ice” that people may have felt. It was a great turn-out for our first meeting… we had 10 people!

For anyone who was curious about the Relevant Magazine I mentioned tonight, check out their website for more info. FYI, their weekly podcast is hilarious. I highly recommend it (especially if you think you might like random discussion involving Gary Busey and badgers).

In other news, we’re on Facebook (Thanks, Eddie)! So check us out there if that’s your kind of thing.

Next meeting: Thursday, June 19 @ 7:30 pm