Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Sunday, November 07, 2010
Sunday, November 7
We have been doing a lot of thinking and talking lately about the direction God would have our church go in. It's right and proper that we should be deliberate about this stuff. We're going to have some difficult decisions to make and we want to make them well.
But all of that inward focus can be a real problem for us. So this Sunday we are going to focus on the person of Jesus Christ. We are going to reacquaint ourselves with him personally, doing our best to get beyond ourselves, and beyond the plastic Jesus of our careless piety. He's flesh and blood and we need to touch him. He's loud and living and we need to hear him. He's warm and moving and we need to follow him.
We are going to dispense with our usual order of service and I'll invite some participation. And after the service we'll provide an opportunity for those who aren't ready to leave to go on worshiping in the sanctuary for a time.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
But all of that inward focus can be a real problem for us. So this Sunday we are going to focus on the person of Jesus Christ. We are going to reacquaint ourselves with him personally, doing our best to get beyond ourselves, and beyond the plastic Jesus of our careless piety. He's flesh and blood and we need to touch him. He's loud and living and we need to hear him. He's warm and moving and we need to follow him.
We are going to dispense with our usual order of service and I'll invite some participation. And after the service we'll provide an opportunity for those who aren't ready to leave to go on worshiping in the sanctuary for a time.
Looking forward to seeing you there.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Readings for Sunday, October 24
This Sunday I'm going to be preaching on the three verses that follow last week's text.
Paul didn't have much patience for people whose ears needed tickling or for those who were willing to tickle those ears with soft and pleasing words. The gospel is robust and slappingly vital. It manages to be good news that still somehow offends those who need to hear it most.
There's a part of me that wants badly to tell people what they want to hear because most people will tune me out after about 15 seconds of listening to me telling them what they don't want to hear.
I have a fairly well defined political outlook. I read articles, watch television shows and listen to radio programs that reflect that outlook. And when I'm listening to the radio and someone starts talking or reporting from a political outlook that is very different from mine I seldom wait even 10 seconds before I'm reaching for the dial.
None of us are in the habit of providing or receiving hard words. And that's too bad, because hard words can save us.
Call to Repentance
1 Peter 1:14-16
Call to Worship
Psalm 124
OT Reading
Isaiah 5:18-24
NT Reading
1 Peter 1:3-13
Message
2 Timothy 4:3-5
Giddy Heads and Itching Ears
Monday, October 11, 2010
Readings for Sunday, October 17, 2010
This Sunday I will be preaching on Paul's charge to Timothy in his second letter to the young pastor. I think this is thrilling stuff and I'm grateful for it. I give my faith a significant portion of my time, resources, and energy. I want to believe that it's about something more than feeling good and behaving nicely.
So when Paul gives us this earnest, weighty charge part of me groans at the heaviness of the demand, and the rest of me thrills to the significance of the assignment. It's in that tension that I aspire to great things.
Call to Repentance
Hebrews 12:14
Call to Worship
Psalm 113
OT Reading
Amos 4:4-13
NT Reading
Ephesians 6:10-18
Message
Charged and Ready
2 Timothy 4:1-2
So when Paul gives us this earnest, weighty charge part of me groans at the heaviness of the demand, and the rest of me thrills to the significance of the assignment. It's in that tension that I aspire to great things.
Call to Repentance
Hebrews 12:14
Call to Worship
Psalm 113
OT Reading
Amos 4:4-13
NT Reading
Ephesians 6:10-18
Message
Charged and Ready
2 Timothy 4:1-2
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Readings for Sunday, October 10
This Sunday I will be preaching on 2 Timothy 3:16-17: the word is useful for teaching, reproving, correcting, and training in righteousness. That's all very well and good to say that Scripture is useful for these things, and I believe it. But . . .
If I went into my neighbor's woodworking shop and he showed me his large collection of tools, assuring me that they were all useful for making beautiful kitchen tables I would certainly agree with him. But admitting their usefulness, picking them up and handling them, learning their names and which drawers they're to be found in - none of these things will get me any closer to having made a table.
So I hope to preach a highly applicable message, one that will give us all lots to do.
Call to Repentance
James 4:8 (page 1884)
Call to Worship
Psalm 34 (page 871)
OT Reading
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (page 284)
NT Reading
James 1:19-25 (page 1881)
Message
Putting the Useful to Good Use
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (page 1855)
If I went into my neighbor's woodworking shop and he showed me his large collection of tools, assuring me that they were all useful for making beautiful kitchen tables I would certainly agree with him. But admitting their usefulness, picking them up and handling them, learning their names and which drawers they're to be found in - none of these things will get me any closer to having made a table.
So I hope to preach a highly applicable message, one that will give us all lots to do.
Call to Repentance
James 4:8 (page 1884)
Call to Worship
Psalm 34 (page 871)
OT Reading
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (page 284)
NT Reading
James 1:19-25 (page 1881)
Message
Putting the Useful to Good Use
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (page 1855)
Monday, October 04, 2010
Results of Questionnaire
On Sunday we passed out a questionnaire to try and determine the level of interest in a midweek event of some sort. I received back 11 responses. That's fewer than I was hoping for, but I wanted to share the results so far while I wait for more responses.
Of the eleven responses two indicated that they had not interest at all in a midweek service.
Of the other nine responses about half were somewhat interested and the other half very interested.
And among those who were at least a little bit interested there was not any consensus about a day of the week, a time, a location, a frequency, or a topic. The only thing that most people agreed on was a preference for a small group format.
Given the tepid response and the lack of any general preferences it might be unwise for us to proceed too vigorously. But I am still interested in getting responses and further input. If there is a need for something between Sundays it would be worth doing even if it was only a percentage of the church that took advantage of it.
So please give the matter some prayer and pray for the leadership of the church that we would have wisdom about how to proceed.
Of the eleven responses two indicated that they had not interest at all in a midweek service.
Of the other nine responses about half were somewhat interested and the other half very interested.
And among those who were at least a little bit interested there was not any consensus about a day of the week, a time, a location, a frequency, or a topic. The only thing that most people agreed on was a preference for a small group format.
Given the tepid response and the lack of any general preferences it might be unwise for us to proceed too vigorously. But I am still interested in getting responses and further input. If there is a need for something between Sundays it would be worth doing even if it was only a percentage of the church that took advantage of it.
So please give the matter some prayer and pray for the leadership of the church that we would have wisdom about how to proceed.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Readings for Sunday, October 3
This Sunday I will be preaching on Galatians 6:1-10 with a special emphasis on verse 9.
I am results oriented. I like to see the progress I'm making, which is why mowing the lawn has a certain appeal to me. There is something wonderfully satisfying about that strip of uniformly cropped blades next to the untidy overgrown tangle of green next to it.
But there comes a point late in the summer when I feel like sabotaging my lawn mower and giving up in disgust. The grass never gets the message, never stays put at the height that my revolving blades have set for it.
That frustration is bad enough when it takes a week for the grass to get shaggy again: it would be unbearable if it only took a few minutes after I'd passed over it to grow back to its previous height.
That's what it feels like when we throw our best efforts at healing the world and making war on the sin lurking in our dark corners. Throw everything you have at the hunger in the world, and even if you were capable of filling all the bellies in a two mile radius at lunch you'd be facing the same amount of hunger again at dinner. Throw everything you have at the sin in your life; pull all the weeds of wrong thinking and wrong behavior; get done, turn around, and discover that it only took a minute of inattention for all those weeds to grow back thicker and more deeply rooted than before.
But Paul tells us not to grow weary, and assures us that we're going to be glad and rewarded if we keep it up. If that's the case, the good we do has got to be about more than the good that gets done.
Call to Repentance
1 Peter 2:11
Call to Worship
Psalm 111
OT Reading
Proverbs 3:21-32
NT Reading
1 Corinthians 15:50-58
Message
The Good Done
Galatians 6:1-10
I am results oriented. I like to see the progress I'm making, which is why mowing the lawn has a certain appeal to me. There is something wonderfully satisfying about that strip of uniformly cropped blades next to the untidy overgrown tangle of green next to it.
But there comes a point late in the summer when I feel like sabotaging my lawn mower and giving up in disgust. The grass never gets the message, never stays put at the height that my revolving blades have set for it.
That frustration is bad enough when it takes a week for the grass to get shaggy again: it would be unbearable if it only took a few minutes after I'd passed over it to grow back to its previous height.
That's what it feels like when we throw our best efforts at healing the world and making war on the sin lurking in our dark corners. Throw everything you have at the hunger in the world, and even if you were capable of filling all the bellies in a two mile radius at lunch you'd be facing the same amount of hunger again at dinner. Throw everything you have at the sin in your life; pull all the weeds of wrong thinking and wrong behavior; get done, turn around, and discover that it only took a minute of inattention for all those weeds to grow back thicker and more deeply rooted than before.
But Paul tells us not to grow weary, and assures us that we're going to be glad and rewarded if we keep it up. If that's the case, the good we do has got to be about more than the good that gets done.
Call to Repentance
1 Peter 2:11
Call to Worship
Psalm 111
OT Reading
Proverbs 3:21-32
NT Reading
1 Corinthians 15:50-58
Message
The Good Done
Galatians 6:1-10
Monday, April 19, 2010
Readings for Sunday, April 25
Sorry about the hiatus! Back to due diligence, right?
This Sunday I'll be preaching on the intersection of submission and freedom. We should make it our goal to be no less submissive here than we will be in heaven, and no less free here than we will be in glory. In the passage I'll be preaching on Peter tells us to be subject to all earthly authorities in verse 13, but then a few verses later we're told to "live as people who are free."
These wrinkles of contradiction don't get ironed out naturally. It takes some practice to get it right. But fundamentally it is our eternal condition that makes it possible. People who anticipate casting their crown before the throne of God in glory will feel that they can afford to submit to (relatively puny) authorities here. And people who look forward to an eternity of freedom unshadowed by even the cloud of sin's awareness, will feel that they can take the risk of behaving free now.
Call to Repentance
1 Peter 2:11 (page 1888)
Call to Worship
Psalm 138 (page 973)
OT Reading
Psalm 119:41-48 (page 959)
NT Reading
Titus 3:1-8 (page 1859)
Message
Free, and Free To Not Be
1 Peter 2:13-17 (page 1888)
This Sunday I'll be preaching on the intersection of submission and freedom. We should make it our goal to be no less submissive here than we will be in heaven, and no less free here than we will be in glory. In the passage I'll be preaching on Peter tells us to be subject to all earthly authorities in verse 13, but then a few verses later we're told to "live as people who are free."
These wrinkles of contradiction don't get ironed out naturally. It takes some practice to get it right. But fundamentally it is our eternal condition that makes it possible. People who anticipate casting their crown before the throne of God in glory will feel that they can afford to submit to (relatively puny) authorities here. And people who look forward to an eternity of freedom unshadowed by even the cloud of sin's awareness, will feel that they can take the risk of behaving free now.
Call to Repentance
1 Peter 2:11 (page 1888)
Call to Worship
Psalm 138 (page 973)
OT Reading
Psalm 119:41-48 (page 959)
NT Reading
Titus 3:1-8 (page 1859)
Message
Free, and Free To Not Be
1 Peter 2:13-17 (page 1888)
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