Sunday, May 31, 2009

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Today we talked about the Day of Pentecost. Some reflections -- An ancient festival was given present relevance when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon all people.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a bridge from the ancient practices of faith and the future realization of God's perfect will. By God's grace we may live in the present reality of the Spirit filled life.
If we are to follow the example of the early church (and we should) we will find that the Holy Spirit is to be experienced - the Holy Spirit is relational (relating us to Christ and one another) - the Holy Spirit transforms lives.
Of particular note is the way the Holy Spirit enabled the Christ followers to declare the praises of God in culturally relevant ways. All those people from various parts of the empire heard their proclamation in their own languages.
The Holy Spirit is given for all people - not just a specific few for particular tasks - all people - young and old - men and women - for living the Christian life day by day.
A contemporary church that is filled with the Spirit will be empowered to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in culturally relevant ways.
It was a good day. It's always a good day when we get to share in the sacrament of baptism. (We baptized 2 - only 2998 short of the Day of Pentecost!) More to come.
It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too.
steve

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Today I read of 16 people being injured at a Sikh temple in Austria. This was followed by more violence among castes in India at their place of worship. Then I read about a religious leader in Iran who leans on a rifle while he preaches. I am certainly glad to be where I am. It seems so strange that violence is such a part of religion in so many places in our world.

We have other things to wrestle with. We don't have such violent disagreements over worship practices or beliefs that we have to come to church armed. We struggle with more subtle things.
We have many distractions that keep us from making the full impact we could. We are free - we are able to travel freely - we have many opportunities to do many things - we run the risk of allowing many good things to crowd out the best thing - our relationship with the Lord - our service to the Lord - our worship of the Lord.

We find ourselves being pulled in so many directions it is hard to keep track of where we need to be next. Life is full of joy and opportunity. Then we look around and discover that we seem to have allowed our zeal for Christ to grow cool.

We did not come to church armed today. I am thankful! As a matter of fact we had a really good day. The baptism at 11:00 was a blessing. At 9:30 Rachel Riddel sang "Anything But Ordinary." We were blessed.

There is so much to celebrate. So much to be thankful for. On this Memorial weekend we pause to remember those who have gone before us - especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country and defense of freedom.

We gathered and worshipped. We sang the songs of faith. We prayed. We heard the Word read and proclaimed. Things were much different here than they were in Austria, India and Iran. We are blessed. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

The Shack

In a month I begin a three-week sermon series on the book, "The Shack." Sermon 1 will be "The Wound and the Lie", sermon 2 "The Road to Redemption" and sermon 3 "The Way of Forgiveness." If you have read the book I would love to have you send me any questions you would like addressed in the series. I can't promise to get everything but your input will help. I begin working on these sermons tomorrow so go ahead and let me know what you have on your mind. If you have not read "The Shack" I invite you to do so before the series begins.

Reflections From Sunday Evening

I'm still pretty jazzed over the "Change Without Compromise" conference I attended this week. Brad Powell has led Northridge Church through a period of transition that has produced a truly kingdom building place. There was a lot of information but what really stands out is how we experienced the presence of God in a conference setting. There were signs of changed lives everywhere you turned. The key to this church's (now the 15th largest in America) growth may be attributed to people experiencing the transforming grace of Jesus Christ and transitioning the church to the dynamic Christ-centered place it is today.

Early on they identified some principles that anyone would be wise to consider. They identified ...
  • Commitment to Tradition over Truth;
  • Commitment to the Past instead of the Present;
  • Commitment to Defense over Offense;
  • Commitment to Duty over Desire;
  • Commitment to Place over People;
  • Commitment to Structure over Mission; and
  • Commitment to Talk over Power.
Then they set out to correct these things. - and obviously have done so. We could obviously think through each of these (and probably will in coming sermons!).

We also heard about developing a plan for transitioning a church. They begin by laying a foundation that is descriptive of what your church is. Your "Vision" defines you; Your "Purpose" directs you; Your "Values" drive you. These are all principles that come from God as revealed in Scripture. The other important principle is "Strategy" which designs how you operate.

I invite you to think about these. I'm sure the concepts will show up in the days ahead.

The powerful part of the event rests in having an opportunity to find myself fully in God's presence. I guarantee you this is a vital part of what has literally transformed Northridge Church. When one person and then another and another and another experience the transforming power of God it spreads through the church. This creates the kind of momentum in a church that brings more people with a sense of expectancy. There is a sense that God is here and He may well step directly into my life today!

I pray to be able to share this spirit with you. It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Today at church --

The worship services at each service this weekend were top rate.

It is always a joy to recognize Mothers' Day.

We baptized two adults and an infant - that was a joy!

The choirs and praise team led us in worship.

Something that was really neat was the dedication of the prayer shawls. Pastor Ginger has been meeting with a group of women and they have been making prayer shawls. We prayed that God would use these to bring grace to those who receive them. It is yet another way to extend the ministry of the church into the lives of others.

To top off the day we went out and dedicated the new flag mall. This project began a few years ago when a memorial contribution was made in honor of Bob Salisbury. He gave many years to scouting and Troop 314. The idea was to put up a flag pole. The concept grew and eventually became an Eagle project for one of our members of the troop. Today we dedicated the results. Three flags will fly -- the American flag, the United Methodist flag (we can also use the Christian flag) and another to be rotated. Today we raised the flag of Mozambique. We have a mission relationship with Mozambique. Our sister church there is Chibo. We fly their flag as a symbol of our outreach. This flag will be changed from time to time to represent other countries where we have mission outreach. We will also fly the troop flag from time to time.

It was a blessing to have Elizabeth Salisbury and members of her family present for the ceremony.

Today was a reminder of how we gather as the people of God and continually extend our witness beyond the walls of the church into the community and world.

It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Reflections From Sunday Evening

This has been some weekend. Pastor Angie gave great leadership to the Creation Care event Saturday. We are blessed to have people call our attention to these significant environmental issues.

The youth were on retreat this weekend. I know they had a meaningful time at Wilderness.
Our worship services were alive and joy filled. If you missed Walter doing his rendition of "I've Been Everywhere" you missed a treat. Good to know God is everywhere!

This afternoon the children's arts festival kept the spirit going. Bells, children's choirs and "Splash Kingdom!" was fun.

Sometimes things just come together and God shows up. Music, worship, baptisms, new members and communion -- it all adds up to finding ourselves in the presence of God.
In addition that YouTube video from Central Station Antwerp drew us into God's place of joyful celebration.

My prayer and hope for you is that the coming week be filled with places of joyful celebration.

It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day too.

Friday, May 1, 2009

worship this weekend

Just a note of encouragement as we approach our weekend worship services. With the many issues surrounding the swine flu we want to do what we can to alleviate anxiety. We also want to continue our worship practices and sense of fellowship. With this in mind we will ...
-- have our greeting time but invite people to greet without a handshake. I am sure there are many appropriate ways to greet one another and especially our guests.
-- We will share in Holy Communion this weekend. I've looked at our General Board of Discipleship Web site and feel we will serve the sacrament in a very responsible manner. We will continue the practice of "intinction." Our servers will handle the bread and give you a large enough piece that you may dip the tip in the cup. Health officials believe our practice of holy communion does not place anyone at an extra risk.
-- I will shake your hand at the door if you desire but will certainly honor your desires to communicate verbally or in a manner of your choosing. (That hand sanitizer stuff is pretty good.)
-- We will provide a handout when you leave worship this weekend with some thoughts on dealing with this swine flu issue.

I trust you will want to be sure and be in worship this weekend. We all have the opportunity to find ourselves in the presence of God - our healer and sustainer.