{"id":102,"date":"2008-02-18T13:49:49","date_gmt":"2008-02-18T18:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marktime.org\/?p=102"},"modified":"2009-02-13T12:34:52","modified_gmt":"2009-02-13T17:34:52","slug":"four-out-of-five-dentists-approved-this-sermon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marktime.org\/?p=102","title":{"rendered":"Four out of Five Dentists Approved this Sermon"},"content":{"rendered":"

My pastor preached a sermon yesterday on Building Character.\u00a0 Audio Version Here<\/a> Written Version Here<\/a><\/p>\n

This is part 3 of a 4-part series on Character.\u00a0 The first was about Character itself and a little about virtues.\u00a0 The second part was on whether or not suffering builds character.<\/p>\n

This week’s sermon was about building character.<\/p>\n

Rev. Jeff Vamos talked a lot about practices and how we improve our character by behaving as if a desired practice or attribute were already part of our character.\u00a0 He added an illustration.\u00a0 One of the good habits that he picked up after getting married was flossing.\u00a0 Up until that point he hadn’t flossed but now he was a confirmed flosser.\u00a0 He talked about the benefits of flossing to all parts of the body (apparently flossing is correlated with good heart health).\u00a0 This portion of his sermon is the reason for the title of this blog entry.<\/p>\n

He also provided other examples.\u00a0 He quoted a story from CS Lewis’s Mere Christianity<\/a>.\u00a0 A man who was not particularly handsome wore a mask for years that was beautiful.\u00a0 At the end of those years he took off the mask and looked in a mirror.\u00a0 He discovered that his face had grown to match the shape of the mask and that he was now handsome in his own right.\u00a0 This metaphor illustrates the point – do the right thing and doing the right thing will become second nature.<\/p>\n

In Confirmation Class after this service we talked a bit about what people remembered from the sermon.\u00a0 Once we finished talking about floss it became clear that the points of the sermon and particularly the illustrations had sunk in with the confirmands and mentors.\u00a0 The Confirmation class lesson was on the Christian Worldview.\u00a0 One of the key points was that as Christians we are expected to BE the church IN the world.\u00a0 Church is not something that we put on as we park in the lot or along Route 206, and then take off as we leave the building.\u00a0 Church, Christian, Godly – these are things that we are expected to take with us into the world.\u00a0 More that that – this is what we are expected to BE to the world.\u00a0 We are called to be and do what Christ wants us to be and do with everyone.<\/p>\n

Jeff touched on this in the sermon.\u00a0 He spoke of how Steven Covey in Seven Habits of Highly Effective People<\/a> suggests that people write a mission statement for their life.\u00a0 Our pastor has challenged us to do the same<\/a>.\u00a0 (And Jeff realizes that now HE has to write one)<\/p>\n

Now, corporate mission statements tend to be short and to the point but also very vague and buzzwordy.\u00a0 My employer’s mission statement (at least it’s printed on the mug they gave us labeled “Mission Statement”) is “Enriching people’s lives through beautifully designed and crafted products.”\u00a0 Pretty vague, eh?<\/p>\n

I prefer a list of goals or rules to live by.\u00a0 I accept the challenge.\u00a0 Here they are:<\/p>\n

Mark’s Goals for How to Live His Life<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n