Pastor's article
This July is going to be different, not only is it Independence Day, it is also our 250th anniversary. I remember in 1976, our country celebrated its bicentennial (200 years) and now I have come to experience its 250th . The anniversary has a lot of plans but, one thing that caught my eye was a time capsule. The committee that was designated by Congress to organize the celebration, decided a time capsule should be buried in Philadelphia on July 4. The time capsule is a 900-pound cylinder, and it contains over 200 artifacts, records and other objects to tell America’s story when opened 250 years later. That means our country would be five hundred years old…. Wow!
So, what is in the time capsule? It seems each state had an opportunity to put something in it. As I read the list, I wondered if it was the best choice, but they did not ask me. Maine contributed a whale bone (an endangered species) and a woven bookmark. Utah contributed tickets to their amusement parks and George Washington prayer medal. California contributed a NASA photo, an AI prediction, Arizona a copper ingot and Nebraska decided to put something useful, Vice Grip pliers. As for Texas, we added the state seal on a chiseled glass paperweight. The seal was designed in 1836 during the Texas revolution.
As the 250th celebration comes, it reminds me we will be celebrating our churches 150th anniversary next year. When amazing things happen, we should celebrate them. It is important to always recognize the great things God is doing and thank him for those things. A perfect example of this is David when the ark was returned to Jerusalem. The ark, if you remember, was taken into a battle thinking it would ensure victory, instead it not only brought huge casualties, and the ark was taken by the Philistines. The ark remained all through Saul’s reign and now David is bringing it back to Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 6:16-22 says;
16 As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.
17 They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. 18 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. 19 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”
21 David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”
This was a celebration! The ark, of course, was the presence of God so David had every right to celebrate with everything he had. Two things I see in this story I want to point out. First, it is important that we celebrate what God is doing. David knew this was an important event and celebrating it was giving thanks to God. Second, some did not celebrate it, rather they looked at distain upon it. No matter what anyone else did, David worshiped. Should we take the same attitude in worship?
God is doing miraculous things in our midst. We still live in an amazing country that allows us to worship every week. We still can come to church and worship. While I would ask you don’t worship “half naked”, we do want you to feel like real worship is between us and God. We need to feel free to express our thanks and concerns to the living and listening God. So, as we all celebrate our countries 250th anniversary and get ready to celebrate our churches 150th, I pray that we all will gather and celebrate this Sunday to worship the God of all time!
See you Sunday!
In Christ,
Brother Alan
MUSIC MINISTER's article
One of mine and Patience’s favorite shows is The Amazing Race. We love the excitement and the rush of the participants running to get to the finish line. Season after season her and I watch and tell ourselves “we can do that no problem!” That is until a couple weeks ago when we went to San Antonio to the riverwalk, we had a show time for a movie at 4:30. Little did we know the theater was inside the labyrinth of a mall called the Rivercenter. We are running around looking for the correct theater, because if you didn’t know there was more than one, we are asking everybody for directions. Men, women, children, dogs, cats, everybody! And then finally we arrive at 4:20! Enough time to still watch the previews!
On our way home I wondered, do some people treat their walk with God like the amazing race? Not truly experiencing the now that God has blessed us with. Just trying to get to the finish line and not realizing that the person who is running the race with them is the Prize. Paul in Philippians 3:12-14 shows us this by saying,
“Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect but make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken ahold of by Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.”
Paul admits he isn’t finished. He is not perfected. Not until Jesus comes back. That is the “not yet” of the kingdom. But the “now” part of the kingdom is what Paul mentions by saying he is “pressing on” or “one thing I do” and “straining toward what is ahead." The now is the daily walk with Jesus not a sprint towards the finish line. We get to participate in life with the maker of the cosmos! Hand in hand. Keeping in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25). And this is where worship comes in. Worship is how we slow down enough to walk with God instead of sprinting past Him. It’s the moment in our week when we stop chasing the finish line and remember that the One running beside us is the real Prize. When we sing, when we pray, when we gather we’re not trying to “win” anything. We’re simply keeping in step with the Spirit, enjoying the God who has already taken hold of us.
The choir is preparing for our worship night August 9th at 6:00pm! We hope you can make it! There will be solos and congregational worship, along with time for prayer! It is going to be a good time! If you have any suggestions or would like to hear a song you haven’t heard in a while, please let me know! It has been amazing to see our youth involved in our choir Sunday mornings and I hope and pray alongside the rest of the church, to encourage them to continue to worship freely!
Much love y’all,
Tyler
Children's Minister's article
A week ago we were arriving back in Buffalo after having taken twenty-two 3rd - 6th graders to Preteen Camp. We were hot, tired, (tired of being hot!) and thoroughly excited to do it again next year! The irony is not lost on me that while I was the kid who shied away from camp trips and being away from home...I am now the adult who loves every minute and encourages the homesick to "just stick it out one more day!" God really must just shake His head every time He looks at me!
Our camp theme this year was "100 -- All In!" Pastors, worship leaders and bible studies encouraged kids to live their lives "all in" for Jesus, serving and following him with everything we have: our heart, our mind, our soul and our strength. The focus scripture came from Mark 12:28-31:
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” 29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Kids were instructed that since Jesus went "all in" for us by dying on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins so that we be reconciled to our Father, then we should return that love and sacrifice by living "all in" for Him. That's not a difficult concept to get behind! I could never repay what God did to sacrifice His only Son and what Jesus did to die for me. This "greatest commandment," while it doesn't sound easy to do, it does seem fair. Jesus' sacrifice should result in my thankfulness and subsequent devotion of my own life to Him.
But Jesus didn't stop there...He kinda went to meddlin'. I've got no problem loving You, Jesus! But then you say I need to love my neighbor as myself? Really? Just who qualifies as my neighbor? Did you say...everyone?
Preteens (like preschoolers) are still pretty entrenched in the idea of fairness and equality. Loving parents, siblings, friends -- those are all concepts we can get behind. But to love the kid who picks on me and makes fun of me---that's not FAIR! And as adults, we pretty much fall in the same category. Are you really telling me I need to LOVE my enemy -- the person who broke up my marriage; the one who campaigns behind my back at work; the group who spread rumors that
affected my business? Them, Jesus?
Yes, them. In fact, Jesus made it really clear in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:43-47 says:
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
If we can't love our neighbors, specifically our enemies, Jesus says we are no better than the pagans, those who do not even believe in God. "But that's not FAIR! (insert whiney voice) WHY??"
Here's why: 1 John 4:20-21 tells us that if we say we love God but hate our brother then we are a "liar," claiming we can love an unseen God but not a real, live, in-our-face human being. Love God = Love People.
When we step back and try to tell God why we just can't "love" this or that neighbor, we are really just taking our own salvation for granted. How selfish to accept Jesus' sacrifice like it's something we've been due or something we deserve. We would do well to remember that there is no one righteous, no not one! Maybe that's why God used Paul, one who truly understood his own unworthiness in light of God's
great mercy, to really hit it home for us. He wrote to the Roman Christians:
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. (Me and you!) 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:6-8
God gave us salvation as a free gift -- no strings attached. How could we not want to follow His commandments, the greatest of which is to love Him back with everything we are? And in the same breath, He asks us to love our neighbor as ourselves. That is way more than fair in God's economy.
So, application time! What does loving our neighbor, even our enemy, look like? It may be mowing the widow's yard next door when you mow your own...even thought it's so stinkin' hot and her little dog does his business in YOUR yard. It may mean praying for the one campaigning behind your back at work, asking God to change their heart and show you how you can see them like He does. Or it may mean forgiving the one who hurt you so you can let go of the feelings you hold against them. Whatever it is, it's really small in light of what God has done for you and me. And that's not fair, but aren't you thankful?! Jesus has always been ALL IN for us, the precious ones He loves and died for. Can you do it? Can you be ALL IN for Jesus?
In Christ,
Marie Dittmar