Son Castle Faire Vacation Bible School
May 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Hear Ye! Hear Ye!The King hereby decrees that your are invited to Son Castle Faire Vacation Bible School! Come and relive the time of castles and kings at Son Castle Faire. You’ll use your talents to serve God, the King, and you’ll enjoy roally entertaining Bible stories, crafts, games and music. Be here June 22nd – 26th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. All kids in kindergarten through 6th grade are invited to attend. Reserve your child’s spot by registering online or calling the church office today.
Memorial Day
May 24, 2009 | 1 Comment
It’s Memorial Day weekend. Tomorrow, grills will be fired up. Flags will be flown. There will be parades in every city. And, yes, people will also visit cemeteries. My Grandmother will no doubt pay a visit to the Maness family graveyard. Her late husband and two of her brothers were World War II veterans. She still calls it “Decoration Day.”
Memorial Day was originally designated as a day to mourn Union Soldiers killed during the Civil War. But soon the whole country was observing the day, remembering Union and Confederates alike. Following World War I the day was expanded to include anyone killed while in the military service. By the way, the nation’s oldest annually held parade is the one in Portsmouth, and tomorrow our own Bob Kiser will be the Grand Marshal of the 125th event.
Scripture is full of opportunities to remember. From the very beginning, it’s clear that God understands our need to make sure we don’t forget. The Passover Feast is a remembrance of God’s acts on behalf of the people of Israel. It’s a recollection of how God brought them out of Egypt. Numerous times in the Old Testament, the people are commanded to remember where they have come from and Who has brought them.
Of course, the New Testament picks up the same theme with the Lord’s Supper. It used to be that just about every communion table I ever saw had Jesus’ words, “Do this in remembrance of me,” etched into its front. Jesus takes the memorial service of the nation of Israel and creates with it a memorial service that can be observed by all of the people of God.
As most of you know by now, Rachel and I are out of town today. Mike Dossett is very kindly stepping in. He had some opportunities to preach while he was stationed in Germany. I love it when our elders preach. And not just because it means I’m getting a break. I love it because it is an opportunity for the leaders of our church to speak to the congregation. I don’t know about you, but as one of the sheep, I need that. I’ll look forward to listening to Mike’s message online.
In the meantime, pray for our safe travel, and I look forward to worshiping with you next Sunday. Today, I hope you will have your own Memorial Day service. I hope you will look back and remember all of the sacrifices that have been made for you. I hope you’ll remember those people who sacrificed in order to serve you: parents, friends, mentors. And I hope you’ll remember the one who paid the ultimate sacrifice to make us all children of God.
Just don’t go looking to visit Him in a cemetery. There is no grave to decorate. As the angel said, “Why would you look for the living among the dead?”
Leap of Faith
May 24, 2009 | 1 Comment
The following quotes are taken from a series of journal entries written by a man who has recently lost his wife (H.) to bone cancer. They are just a few of the raw, honest reflections on pain and suffering that are to be found in the memoir. Read the quotes and see what kind of impression of the author forms in your mind. Would this be someone you’d like to know? How strong would you say his faith is? Check out these quotes:
- Talk to me about the truth of religion and I’ll listen gladly. Talk to me about the duty of religion and I’ll listen submissively. But don’t come talking about the consolations of religion or I shall suspect that you don’t understand.
- They tell me H. is happy now, they tell me she is at peace. What makes them so sure of this? …”Because she is in God’s hands.” But if so, she was in God’s hands all the time, and I have seen what they did to her here.
- Sooner or later I must face the question in plain language. What reason have we, except our own desperate wishes, to believe that God is, by any standard we can conceive “good”? Doesn’t all the…evidence suggest exactly the obvious?
- What chokes every prayer and every hope is the memory of all the prayers H. and I offered and all the false hopes we had…hopes encouraged…by strange remissions, by one temporary recovery that might have ranked as a miracle…Time after time, when He seemed most gracious He was really preparing the next torture.
The author? C.S. Lewis-the prolific Christian author known for his incisive defenses and explanations of the Christian faith and for his fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia. They are part of a personal diary called A Grief Observed. Would you have imagined these thoughts to be the work of a Christian artist? For the record, we get to see some healing take place. In the end, his faith is changed but not obliterated.
Also for the record, reading these quotes only makes me want to know Lewis more. His bravery and honesty are to be admired. He does not flinch in examining the problem of pain.
Neither does the writer Paul. It is hard to read Romans 7 and 8 while wearing rose-colored glasses. Today we’re going to read a reflection that Paul has on suffering. But it also leads us to another one of the passages that I’m referring to as “security blankets,” because they give us hope even in the most difficult of situations. These passages remind us of our theme. They encourage us with the knowledge that “His divine power has given us everything we need” (2 Peter 1:3).
A Brief Follow-up and a Briefer Taunt
May 20, 2009 | 3 Comments
First for the follow up:
More than one person has said that Sunday’s message got them to thinking. It also got them talking with each other. That’s about the best thing I could hope for in a sermon. The egotistical side of me also hopes that you think I’m brilliant, but I’m learning to let that go.
What I hope for is a message that stays with you and makes you want to talk about it with others. I’d love for you to talk about it with me if you want. I’ve said this before: My big problem with the idea of preaching is that it’s such a one-way enterprise. It’s necessary and important and there are people who are really good at that kind of communication. But I still prefer teaching, because dialogue is possible.
My other problem with preaching is that it pushes me to be simple rather than complex. There’s something to be said for simplicity and clarity. But it’s harder for me. I prefer being able to talk to both sides of the issue.
All that to say, I realize that the way God is working in our world can’t be reduced to one analogy (card game, GPS, or anything else). God works in a bunch of different ways. I further realize that “why” isn’t always a bad question to ask. I just think it’s important to ask the “what” question alongside it.
Now for the taunt:
You probably won’t hear much from me between now and the end of the month. Most of you know that we’re leaving tomorrow on a Caribbean cruise. I’ll be much too busy snorkeling, swimming, eating, drinking, playing, sightseeing, reading, shuffleboarding, etc. All of that leisure is not to be taken lightly and will thus demand my utmost attention.
I will miss being with you this Sunday, but not enough to cancel the cruise. See you on the 31st.
God Work
May 15, 2009 | 2 Comments
I’m reading a book by Randy Harris called God Work. Now a professor at ACU, he was at Lipscomb when I was there. In fact, Rachel and I met in one of his classes. The book reads like a “Greatest Hits.” Some of the things in the book I remember him saying in class. The rest I can hear him saying. I would imagine anyone who’s had him can hear that Harris style coming through.
We might be reading this book together on Wednesday nights some time soon. But don’t wait for that. Go ahead and order it.
I will probably be sharing quotes from this book on and off. Let me start with this one:
Hans Georg-Gadamer somewhere said “Conversation is not me trying to convince you to my point of view or you trying to convince me to yours. It’s both of us trying to be convinced by a third thing, which is, the truth.” I’m not tying to win you over, and you’re not trying to win me over. We’re both trying to be won over by the truth which can happen when we take a humble position before God and the truth and which tends to make our conversations go so much better.
What do you think? Leave a comment. I’ve got something to say about it, but I want to hear from you first. Have a good weekend. Looking forward to seeing everyone on Sunday. We’ll be talking about Romans 8:28.
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