Reflections From Sunday Evening

It is the start of a new season of the Church year. Advent. This time of year reminds us of Hope, Joy, Peace, Love - This is the time we prepare for the birth of Jesus Christ. This is the month when we turn the corner on winter and after Dec. 21 the days will begin to get a bit brighter and longer.

December is an interesting month (it does start in a couple of days). It may get very cold - it could snow - sometimes it seems very dark in December. But it is also the month of lights - stars - gifts - Christmas.

I would encourage intentional devotions this month. Look for stars - the sermon series this month is "Star Light Star Bright" - look for light - look for Christ. We have a great month ahead of us.

Today was a joy. It was good to gather together and worship the weekend following Thanksgiving. There was a "spark" among us. This is a wonderful place to worship the Lord.

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

Blessings.

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Taken from Leonard Sweet's blog (paraphrased) -- A pastor standing in the rain at a bus stop. Strikes up a conversation with a lady. "It's been raining for three solid days. We're going to need to build an ark." The lady responds: "What's an ark?" He says, "Haven't you heard of Noah and the great flood and all the animals going on the ark?" She says, "Honestly I've only been in town two days and haven't even read a newspaper." Insight: Welcome to the new mission field.

With that in mind I go back to the article I posted on Facebook about the Church of Scotland and their decision to allow singing hymns and using instruments in worship. (They had some lively debate you can read on their website.) They finally voted that singing hymns was not a sin.
One Christian group seeks to offer pure worship. Those yet to be reached have no idea what we are talking about.

One of the amazing points of the Christian way is the uniqueness of the various expressions of the Body of Christ. Today it was pointed out that God raises up churches that have unique personalities, practices and ways of extending the gospel of Jesus Christ into the mission field.
We generally fail the evangelistic task when we try to do things like everyone around us and present a "generic" strategy. All churches are united in Christ and at the same time unique expressions of the Body of Christ.

We have a unique style. We are unique people. We share a common faith with all those around us seeking to be faithful in our "mission field." As we claim who we are we will find ourselves offering Christ in very authentic ways. We will also discover that there are some people who are most likely to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ through our unique witness.

(Now if we can just figure out what that is!)

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

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Today we talked about a paradox in the Christian life. We live with a tension between comfort and continual change. Both are good. It is good to experience the Holy Spirit as our "Comforter." (It is not so good to fall into complacency.) At the same time it is good to experience the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit who is continually transforming our lives and keeping us authentic in changing environments.

As we consider steps prescribed during our Healthy Church consultation I hope we will be increasingly sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. I hope we will be sensitive to the whispers and nudges of grace that move us through life. I hope we sense the God "vibes" that alert us to how and where the Lord is at work.

There is no question but that God is moving in the lives of people in the mission field we are invited to reach.

The whole point of our HCI is to discover ways to more effectively and fruitfully engage the mission field that God calls us to reach.

It's been a good day. I hope you've had a good day - prayer, worship, Word - it all makes for a day of experiencing the presence of God.

Blessings.

Reflections From Sunday Evening

I wish the Chiefs had won. I wish lots of things. Today our church received something we can take beyond "wish" and move to action. We experienced the Healthy Church Initiative consultation. A team of people led by Rev. Bob Farr from our Missouri Conference office and Rev. Doug Anderson from the Reuben Job Center in Indiana worked for several weeks to gain a great understanding of our church. They worked long hours from Thursday evening through this afternoon. They had a great deal of written information we prepared and sent. They had the reports from our "secret worshippers." They had demographic information that tells a great deal about our ministry area. They had a number of interviews with a cross section of our people. With that information they prepared an action plan for us. I'll get the report posted sometime this week (actually Jennifer Simms will) -- one of the greatest strengths identified was our website - how about that?

As you receive and read - pray and discern - question and consider these prescriptions I think most will realize the steps pointed out are all things we have been thinking about, realizing or considering for some time.

We have a "town hall" meeting this Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. Kim Jensen, church council chair, will facilitate the gathering. Of course I will be present to help us think through any questions.
What it comes down to is this. We don't merely need to "wish" our friend, neighbor, loved one or world could somehow experience the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ - we have concrete action steps that will facilitate our "love in action" as we share the grace given with those God appoints for our impact.

It's been a long weekend. Been a long day but wow, what a great day at church.

I hope you've had a good day too.

Blessings.