Reflections From Sunday Evening

Just back from the Grizzell family Christmas! Had a very enjoyable day with Cindy's family. Picked up a couple of coffee mugs in the guys' gift exchange. No one tried to take them away from me (part of the rules of the game) and I'm not sure where I'll put them - but a family gift is a gift!

Watched the Chiefs take care of business and win in St. Louis. Always interesting when a team controls its own destiny. 1 down and 2 to go.

Not sure how I feel about the Royals trade of Zack Greinke. You hate to trade a homegrown legitimate star. However he seemed to lose interest in K.C. last year and there are no guarantees he will pick up his Cy Young form. So I'd say it was best to trade him. I'm not sure what we get in return. The shortstop hit .235. The other guys may or may not be good. What you'd like is somebody who will be really good. But hey, I'm glad I'm not the general manager who has to make all those decisions.

Which brings me to another point. Decisions. There were a lot of great decisions this morning at church. The large number of people who attended made a good decision. That's because everyone present had the opportunity to experience the presence of God.

Walter made a great decision when he invited Tayla to come and sing with us today. It was great.

The point was made that God entrusts us with free will, ability to make choices and the responsibilty to make decisions. None of this needs to undermine the active work of God in the world and in our lives. But we are not going through life as "robots" simply living out what was predetermined before we ever lived. (Some think this way - we Methodist type folks don't.)

My prayer for you this week is that you find God's grace at work in your life and find his power in your decision making. May your decision make it possible for you to show up at the places where God is interesting the world and the life of people.

Remember our Candlelight services. If you travel or go to Christmas Eve services with family or at other places consider coming this Wednesday, December 22 at 7:00 for our candlelight service. On Christmas Eve we start at 3:00. Curtis and Angie will lead that service with a special emphasis on children. At 5:00 we have two services. There will be a youth-led service in Memorial Hall. The message will be my Christmas Eve sermon shown on video. I hope a number of people will choose to worship in that setting. The sanctuary service will be followed by services at 7:00, 9:00, and 11:00. Plan to make this an important part of your Christmas celebration.

We will receive an offering at each service. On Christmas Eve all our offering goes to help people through the year. Your generosity will make a difference each month as we seek to work with God in redemptive ways in the life of people.

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

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Ever have one of those days? Woke this morning with the temperature in the house 10 degrees lower than the thermostat was set. After checking out a couple of things made a call. Did you know there are companies that do service 24 hours a day, seven days a week? I consider it a real blessing to have a warm home.

On the way out of our subdivision I realized (too late) the hill was pretty slick. Thankfully there was nobody else out at the time I was so I could slide through the intersection and into the field across the street. Somehow backed right out and eventually made it up to the road to church. About then the tire went flat. I appreciate Heartland Church of Christ for having a parking lot for me to leave my car in. (I left a message on their answering machine. Sorry I wasn't asking for service times or something like that. Just telling them why there was a car in their parking lot when they got to church.) A quick call and Kenny came from church to give me a ride.

So ... nice start to the day. But things certainly picked up from there.

Curtis and Ginger led us through scriptures and Christmas carols at 8:15.

The Wesleyan Choir shared the cantata at 9:30 and 11:00. (I got to be the narrator!)

Between services someone had heard about my flat tire adventure and asked if he could change my tire for me. (I figured I'd get towed after church.) What a blessing for Marty Kanne and Paul McLaughlin to go change my tire! That made it much easier to head out after church and become the proud owner of two new tires!

So ... now I'm in a warm house. I am mindful of those without these blessings I often take for granted.

I have been on the receiving end of people doing acts of kindness.

The cantata spoke and sang words of peace into my heart.

I also got a gentle reminder that many people come to church each week with a bunch of distractions in their lives. It is a miracle that we get together in the presence of God and in many unique ways experience grace.

So all in all - it's been a good day. (In spite of the beating the Chiefs are taking at the moment.) Some challenges - countered by blessings. I hope you've had a good day.

Blessings.

Reflections From Sunday Evening

Today we talked about orienting our lives by the North Star. Navigators and mapmakers locate the North Star and are able to determine their location and plot their course. For our purposes we are looking at Jesus, our true north star.

We talked about when the earth "wobbles" the appearance of the North Star will appear nearer or more distant - brighter or dimmer. The same could be said for our relationship with Christ. We all "wobble" from time to time. We may find ourselves at a moment in life where Jesus is bright and near or possibly dim and distant. The good news is that God has come near in Jesus Christ. As we orient our lives to the North Star - Jesus - we will find Him nearer and brighter.

The children had a neat program this evening. There is nothing like the joy expressed in these young lives. Thanks to all who make this possible.

We had a good day at church. I thought the highlight was recognizing Walter Bryant and the article about him in the Kansas City Star today. Check it out at http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/03/2491261/walter-bryant-he-has-a-musical.html.

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

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.