Discovering Joy Wrap-Up

Greetings All!

These past three weeks have been such a meaningful time in the life of our congregation. We have explored how we can manage our financial resources and truly experience simplicity, generosity, and joy. And we have responded to all that we have learned by setting personal goals and making commitments. Two weeks ago, we consecrated our commitments of giving to support God’s work through our church.

If you have already made your estimate of giving, thank you. If you have not yet had an opportunity to do so, it’s not too late. Simply drop your commitment card in the mail, bring it by the church office, or put it the offering plate during any worship service. If you need another card, extras are available in the office and in the narthex.

We are grateful for your financial support of our church. Your giving in the coming year will make a difference in the lives of children, youth, and adults in our church, as well as in the lives of people everywhere we are in mission and ministry in the world.

Thank you and blessings on you!

December 2010 Church Newsletter

Here it is...hot off the presses! Actually as of right now it is still running through the presses! Hope you enjoy!


Dec10NwsLtr

Consecration Sunday

Greetings All!

Last Sunday concluded our churchwide worship emphasis called Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity. The final topic of our series was “Defined by Generosity.” We considered the futility and emptiness of accumulating and hoarding possessions and wealth, and we saw that God promises blessings and joy to those who choose to live a life of generosity and self-sacrifice. We also took action to change our lives by setting five specific personal goals to work toward over the next year. If you were unable to be with us, you can find the sermon message and goals worksheet right here on my blog.

Over the past several weeks, estimate of giving or pledge cards were made available during worship. On a practical level, we ask our members to turn in estimate of giving cards each year so that our Finance Committee is able to set an accurate ministry budget for the coming year. This allows us to make the most of every dollar given to the church. On a personal level, the commitment card is an opportunity for you to spend time in prayer and reflection, considering what offering you would make to God through our church in the coming year. Last Sunday we had a time of dedication as we brought those cards up to the altar rail to consecrate our commitment to God. This Sunday, we will have another opportunity to consecrate our commitments of giving for the coming year. If you were unable to attend last week’s service or did not bring forward your estimate of giving card, I invite you to do so this week. If you have misplaced your commitment card, additional cards will be available in the narthex. I hope you will join us for this meaningful time of commitment and celebration. My prayer is that you will come to experience the joy that comes from knowing that your giving honors God and changes lives!

May God bless you in all that you do!

Five Goals for 2011

Here is the take home from yesterday's service. If you need more copies or know of anyone who might benefit from this, please share it. I pray this will help you in 2011 experience the joy that God desires for all of us to have.

Enough - Five Goals for 2011

Christ the King Sunday

Yesterday we celebrated Christ the King Sunday as we walked through the Christian Liturgical Year. Several people have commented that they enjoyed hearing some of those facts.  So I have decided to post below the script that Carole and I read from.  These descriptions were written by Dennis Bratcher and published on the website, The Voice Institute. As you read through them I pray you will be moved and to a deeper understanding of our risen Lord and Savior!
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Introduction
Christ the King Sunday is celebrated on the Sunday before the beginning of Advent that starts the new Church Year. As the last Sunday of the Christian Church Year, Christ the King Sunday is the climax and conclusion of the Church’s liturgical journey through the life of Christ and the Gospel message. Its purpose is to celebrate the coming reign of Christ as King of the Earth and his completion of the renewed creation that marks the fullness of the Kingdom of God. That hope is born from the entire life of Christ and his teachings that have been celebrated in the seasons of the Church Year during the past twelve months. In celebrating the Reign of Christ the King, this Sunday also provides an appropriate bridge to the new Church Year that begins next week on the first Sunday of Advent with an emphasis on hope and expectation, the longing for the coming of the Kingdom of God amid the darkness of a sinful world.

So today we will look back at this past year’s journey with Jesus. But we are also looking forward to our journey this coming year, as we express each week our faith in the transforming power of God at work in our world, and in our Church, and in our lives to restore all of creation to his purposes.

Advent 

The royal color of purple begins the Church Year in Advent, a word that means "coming". We pace this season of four Sundays hearing again the silence of the prophets, experiencing the breathless waiting of the Israelites hoping for a Messiah. We sing the song "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" with longing, not because we seek a Messiah yet to come to the world, but because the Christ has come and we long for him to come to us again. The quiet pace of Advent is in direct contrast to the bustling commercialism of the secular holidays. And so we begin our new year in Advent, reminding ourselves that in the midst of the worldliness of our lives we need to renew our relationship to this King who has come.

Christmas

In the season of Christmas we change the sanctuary colors to White and Gold, a celebration of the purity of the infant who was born in a manger, and yet a King with all the splendor of God come to dwell with his people. Christmas Day is both the culmination of the waiting of the Advent season, and the beginning of twelve days of celebration as we rejoice in the gift of our Savior and the daily rebirth of grace in our own lives.

Epiphany 

Epiphany means "to make known," and in the season of Epiphany we remember the ways and events through which God revealed himself through Jesus Christ. The colors, white and gold, the colors of celebration, newness, and hope mark these sacred days of the church year. In traditions that only observe a single day for Epiphany, the colors are often changed after Epiphany to the colors of green. Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday before the beginning of Lent, is once again marked by the colors White and Gold.

As with most aspects of the Christian liturgical calendar, Epiphany has significance as a teaching tool in the church. The Wise Men or Magi who brought gifts to the infant Jesus were the first Gentiles to acknowledge Jesus as "King" and so were the first to "show" or "reveal" Jesus to a wider world as the incarnate Christ. This act of worship by the Magi, which corresponded to Simeon’s blessing that this child Jesus would be "a light for revelation to the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32), was one of the first indications that Jesus came for all people, of all nations, of all races, and that the work of God in the world would not be limited to only a few.

The day is now observed as a time of focusing on the mission of the church in reaching others by "showing" Jesus as the Savior of all people. It is also a time of focusing on Christian brotherhood and fellowship, especially in healing the divisions of prejudice and bigotry that we all too often create between God’s children.

Lent 

With the ashes on our heads after the service of Ash Wednesday, the sanctuary colors for Lent turn to a somber Purple and to Black at the end of the Passion Week. Throughout the six weeks of Lent we pace the length of Jesus’ three years of ministry. Throughout the weeks we relearn the faces and names of people who, like you and me, were sometimes faithful and sometimes selfish; people who heard the good news and responded and others who laughed and scorned; men, women, and children who heard Jesus’ words and watched his life and came hungry and were fulfilled, or who walked away because they could not use him for their own ends.

It is a long season, a season that calls us to stop and take a look at our life in the light of Christlikeness, and humble ourselves before our God who says to us gently, "Come, let us talk this over. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing to obey, you shall eat the good things of the earth." (Isaiah 1:18-19 NJB)

Holy Week

The season of Lent culminates in "Passion Week," from a Latin word that means "to suffer." Starting with Palm Sunday and the joyful entry of Israel’s Messiah-King into Jerusalem, it ends with that very same crowd yelling "Crucify him, crucify him." In between these two days, the week’s events are remembered with various services that pace the Passion Week: A Seder meal, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Tenebrae, and the Holy Saturday Vigil.

Easter

Morning dawns and Mary Magdalene weeps at the tomb until she is told the good news "He is not dead! He has risen!" And that call echoes down through the centuries as Christians around the world joyfully cry out "Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen indeed!" year after year on the highest and holiest day of the Christian calendar.

Easter lilies adorn the sanctuary, the colors change to the brightness of White and Gold to portray the purity and kingliness of our Risen Savior. There is no joy compared to an Easter Sunday after the solemn pace of Lent. Three days before we buried our beloved Jesus; today He lives! We wept with Peter on the night he was crucified, and on Easter we are awed anew by the great news that He Lives!

And the fifty days of Easter ring jubilantly with the new life and new hope that the Risen Savior brings to us, to our world, and to all peoples who open their hearts to him. We listen in on the conversations of the disciples as they struggle to wrap their human hearts and minds around this new revelation. We watch as those who previously had persecuted the people of God now fall on their knees in awe and wonder. We experience anew for ourselves in this season the freedom and joy and the power, strength, and life that is our heritage as the people of God.

Pentecost

The Red of flames is the sanctuary color of Pentecost as we remember the great rushing wind and the dancing flames like fire, and the words of Jesus, baptizing his disciples with the Holy Fire of the Spirit. The disciples and followers of Jesus were one moment huddled in fear in a small upper room. Then the Holy Spirit came in power and they rushed out of the building and into the streets, telling everyone about the good news in ways that all could understand. Today? Well, one day we are ordinary people, the next we are his evangelists, and pastors, and healers, and mercy-bringers, and the Body of Christ, redeemed by his blood, one in ministry to the entire world.

Christ the King/Eucharist

It is Christ the Savior-Shepherd-King who presides over the Eucharist table. At the Eucharist table we can all gather, "neither Jew nor Greek, male or female, slave or free", but one in Christ. Here we can all come freely to experience and to participate in this means of grace that visibly exhibits the heart and mind of our Creator, our Savior, and our Sustainer.

On this "Christ the King" Sunday we are reminded that God is with us through all the seasons of life as the writer of Ecclesiastes so poignantly reminds us. Next time you gather around the table may you feel the freedom, the joy, the strength of Jesus’ presence in your spirit. Remember his words, "Look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time." (Matthew 28:20 NJB)

Enough: Defined by Generosity 1 Timothy 6:17-19 and Proverbs 11:24-25

Introduction
Two weeks ago we began our preaching series on the idea of discovering joy through simplicity and generosity. We have focused out time looking at how God calls us to find joy and not to be controlled by money or material possessions. Two weeks ago we looked at how dreams can become nightmares, specifically how the pursuit of the “American Dream” can ruin a person's life. Last week we looked at a few practices we can adopt financially to help us find that wisdom and contentment that God desires for us to have. Today, as we conclude this series, we are going to look at what defines our life, how the Bible promises both God's blessings and joy for those who choose to live God's way, and five specific personal goals we can all work toward over the next year.

Would You Give?
As the story goes, the elementary Sunday school teacher wanted to talk about giving with her class. She asked her eight eager 10-year-olds if they would give $1,000,000 to the missionaries. “YES!” they all screamed!! “Would you give $1,000?” Again they shouted “YES!” “How about $100?” “Oh, YES we would!” they all agreed!! “Would you give just a dollar to the missionaries?” she asked. The boys exclaimed “YES!” just as before except for Johnnie. “Johnnie,” the teacher said as she noticed the boy clutching his pocket, “why didn’t you say 'YES’ this time?” “Well,” he stammered, “I HAVE a dollar.

Theology as a Reason for Giving
Giving in principle is easy. Giving in reality can be more of a challenge. However, we are all called to give. God created us with the willingness to give—to God and to others. This design is part of our makeup; we actually have the need to be generous. Yet there are two voices that “war” against our God-given impulse toward generosity, tempting us to keep or hoard what we have.

• One is the voice of fear.

Fear, of what might happen to us, along with a misplaced idea about the true source of our security, keeps us from being generous and leads us to hoard what we have. The truth is that hoarding offers us no real security in this world.

• The other is the voice of self-gratification.

Our culture tells us that our lives consist in the abundance of our possessions and pleasurable experiences. So we find ourselves thinking, If I give, there won’t be enough left for me.

That makes our goal clear. We need to defeat those voices. When we give our lives to Christ, invite him to be Lord, and allow the Holy Spirit to begin changing us from the inside out, we find that our fears begin to dissipate and our aim in life shifts from seeking personal pleasure to pleasing God and caring for others. Although we still may wrestle with the voices from time to time, we are able to silence them more readily and effectively the more we grow in Christ. And the more we grow in Christ, realizing that our lives belong to him, the more generous we become. Because generosity is a fruit of spiritual growth.

Scripture as a Reason for Giving
That theology of giving is just the beginning, the premise. Scripture calls us to give.

• We find more joy in doing things for other people and for God than we ever did in doing things for ourselves. (Acts 20:35)

• In the very act of losing our lives, we find life. (Matthew 16:25)

• Life is a gift, and everything belongs to God. (Psalm 24:1; Leviticus 25:23)

Do you see how these passages not only show us it is a good idea but show us the way to God-given joy? They show us that giving is not something to be feared, but rather embraced, championed, pursued. We were created to give, we are called to give.

The Affect Giving Has on Humanity
And when we give, our hearts are changed. When we are generous—to God and to our families, friends, neighbors, and others who are in need—our hearts are filled with joy. They are enlarged by the very act of giving. When we give generously, we become more generous.

The Affect Humanity's Giving Has on God
This generosity not only affects those we share with, it affects God! From the earliest biblical times, the primary way people worshipped God was by building an altar and offering the fruit of one’s labors upon it to God. They would burn the sacrifice of an animal or grain as a way of expressing their gratitude, devotion, and desire to honor God. The scent of the offering was said to be pleasing to God. It wasn’t that God loved the smell of burnt meat and grain. Rather, God saw that people were giving a gift that expressed love, faith, and the desire to please and honor God; and this moved God’s heart. When given in this spirit, our offerings bless the Lord.

They also cause a reaction from God. Luke 6:38 tells us, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

From the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, when the servants that were entrusted with the numerous talents used them wisely they were told, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!...For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance.”

When you are generous with the blessings given to you by God, and everything you have is from God, God will have you share in God's happiness. But I want to offer you a word of caution here. Many Christians get something wrong here. They say that if you give, then God will give more back to you. But that is not how it works. We do not give to God so that we can get something in return. The amazing thing is that when we give to God and to others, the blessings just seem to come back to us. Of course, there is no guarantee that if you tithe you will never lose your job or never have other bad things happen to you. Nevertheless, when we give generously, the unmistakable blessings of God flow into our lives.

Biblical Guidelines for Giving
Understanding now the reasons to give, the affect our giving has on us and on God, I want us to turn our attention to how we are to give. From the early days of the Old Testament, God’s people observed the practice of giving some portion of the best of what they had to God. A gift offered to God was called the first fruits or the tithe, and it equaled one-tenth of one’s flocks or crops or income. Abraham was the first to give a tithe or tenth as recorded in Genesis. That same book also records Jacob vowing to give a tenth of all that he owned. Leviticus records God's commandments being giving to Moses for the Israelites saying that a tithe of everything belongs to the Lord.

• Giving a tithe.

As Christians who live under the new covenant, we are not bound by the Law of Moses; but we do look to it as a guide. Yet most Christians agree that the tithe is a good guideline for our lives, and one that is pleasing to God. (“Tithing and the Ten Apples.”) Though tithing can be a struggle, it is possible at virtually every income level. If you cannot tithe right away, take a step in that direction. Perhaps you can give 2 percent or 5 percent or 7 percent. God understands where you are, and God will help you make the adjustments necessary for you to become more and more generous.

• Giving beyond the tithe.

Tithing is a floor, not a ceiling. God calls us to grow beyond the tithe. We should strive to set aside an additional percentage of our income as offerings for other things that are important to us, such as mission projects, schools, church building funds, and other nonprofit organizations.

Do not fear the practice of tithing. Malachi 3:10 tells us, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

Will You Do It?
I encourage you to take this step of faith. God calls all of us to give. God created us to give. When we act responsibly with our money we are not robbing ourselves of pleasure, we are granting ourselves the opportunity for joy. God does not want you to have to deal with the burden and stress of debt. Take steps now to free yourself, following some of the principles we talked about these past several weeks. Seek God's joy, take steps to experience God's joy. It is there for you!

Bible Challenge 11/21 - 11/27

Greetings All!

This week our challenge has us finish Acts, move through Romans and begin 1 Corinthians. We are reading about the beginnings of the early church and one of our greatest Biblical heroes, Paul.

11/21, Sunday: Acts 20-23

11/22, Monday: Acts 24-27

11/23, Tuesday: Acts 28 - Romans 3

11/24, Wednesday: Romans 4-7

11/25, Thursday: Romans 8-11

11/26, Friday: Romans 12-15

11/27, Saturday: Romans 16 - 1 Corinthians 3

Be Blessed!