Interactive Sermon

Change In Plans

Well, it was an interesting Sunday morning for me, to say the least.  For those of you who were not here to experience the goings-on, things went a little different than I had planned.

I had planned a study for us in Genesis 21.  When I went to bed Saturday night I was pretty psyched about it, actually.  Then I woke up at about 2AM with pretty significant pain when I took in a breath.  I wrenched around to find a position that seemed to lessen the pain, and dozed back off for about an hour when I was awakened again.  I replayed this cycle a couple of more times - until I couldn't find a position that lessened the pain.

When I was on my way to the church building with Shari, the pain was pretty much constant - and growing unbearable.  I was getting scared.  So, I saw Richard and Jesse - and they were up to the task of winging it without me (thanks guys!) and Shari and I were off to Urgent Care to find out what was going on.

Amazing how this stuff plays in your mind.  I must tell you, a few months ago a friend of mine had a heart attack.  When he listed his symptoms for me... let's just say I'm having a heart attack every day of my life.

After sufficient poking and prodding, the doctor became convinced that I either have Pleurisy (some form of liquid build-up in the lining of my rib cage that is common in people who have had lung issues, like asthma and pneumonia - that's me), or a muscle issue in-between my ribs.  Ibuprofen is the remedy.  Coincidentally, I was on an anti-biotic as I had some oral surgery a few days ago and my dentist wanted me to take it as a precaution.  So there you have it.  Rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated, to say nothing of my own anxieties.

But - and this is a big but - the change in plans seems to me to have been a real God send.  As the doc assured me I'd survive, I made it to church in time for the second service.  I thoroughly enjoyed Richard's talk because it involved many of our congregation sharing where God had shown up in their lives.  Wow, what a picture that painted.  I'm not thrilled with the pain as it really hurt, but I am thrilled with what resulted - a chance for us all to share with one another about what God is doing in our midst.  It's probably worth me pulling a last minute disappearing act again.

Thanks to all of you who shared.  You made my morning a blessing in real praise and worship.

Preparing Our Hearts

What a glorious Resurrection celebration we had together last Sunday!  Thank you to all the many people who worked and participated to make the morning as wonderful as it was. 

As we prepare our hearts to gather together to worship the Lord tomorrow, I'd encourage you to spend some time in the 'Songs of Ascent' section of the Psalms (Psalms 120-134).  These were songs that were sung and recited as people made their way 'up' to Jerusalem to worship - in other words, Psalms aimed at preparing the hearts of worshipers. 

Jesse and the music team has a great set of songs selected for our ascent tomorrow.  I see a couple of great hymns, some Matt Redman and David Crowder on the list among others.

If you would like an advance look at the texts we will consider together, give Genesis chapters 15 thru 21 a summary read tonight.  We're going to talk more about Calling, and specifically God's having chosen. 

Whether you choose the 9AM or 11AM service tomorrow, as usual, I look forward to gathering with you to worship the Lord!

Parson To Person

A friend sent me an email this week and mentioned this fictional/creative non-fictional story I've added to over the last few years.  Here's some more.  You can find previous entries under the category 'Parson To Person'.

Lois greeted me as I walked in the office with my usual stack of junk mail and a printout of my schedule for the week. She followed me into my office and sat down across from me.

“How do you think yesterday’s meeting went?”

“I don’t know. It’s kind of a blur. How did you think it went?”

Lois looked at her feet and sort of wrinkled her lip; she appeared to be searching for the right words. “I think you did very well. I’m not so sure I think that these denominational guys are going to be your allies as this thing drags on.”

I confided, “I have been concerned about that, too. But, I did have a little glimmer of hope yesterday where Dan Hiles is concerned.”

“Oh?” Lois looked up.

“Yeah. You know that file that they handed out? Well, I had left myself pretty vulnerable in some of those emails to Dan. I’m sure some of it would provide a pile of ammo for the other side. So, I just about choked when I realized they had created that file. Then I looked through it and saw that Dan must have edited those emails. So, that was encouraging. I think he’s out to help me.”

“That is a good thing, Brian.” Lois rose to return to her desk, and looked back over her shoulder with a smile. “Keep your chin up. It will be okay. There are a lot of folks who still love you here.”

I glanced down at the schedule Lois had handed me. ‘Father Dom’ was written next to the lunch hour. I had totally forgotten that Hector had set up an appointment for me to meet the new priest at St. Boniface. He had just arrived in this parish. I could call him and beg out. Excuses ran through my mind a mile a minute. Or, I could just go. What to do?

As I entered the Soup Spoon, I scanned the tables. Father Dom stood out. He was a very large man – “he actually looks like the actor Dom Deluise” is how Hector had described him to me – wearing all black. Most of his clerical collar was lost behind a series of chins. He stood to shake my hand as I approached the table.

“You must be Father Dom?” I began.

“What gave me away?” he asked with a chuckle?

“Welcome to town. It’s a pleasure to meet you”, I continued. “I’ve visited your church a few times with the Santiago family. It is a wonderful and worshipful setting.”

“Thank you”, Dom replied. “It’s not my church, though. The Diocese owns the place. Jesus owns the people. He paid a steep price for them! I’m just thrilled to be a part of it.”

With that response, I could tell that I was going to like Father Dom.

Technorati Tags: Creative Non-Fiction,Writing,Parson To Person

The Grand Weaver pt. 12

Concluding my read and review of Ravi Zacharias' book The Grand Weaver.  All prior segments can be found together under the 'Books' category.

The eighth and final chapter (allowing for an Epilogue) of Ravi Zacharias' book is entitled 'Your Destiny Matters'.  Once again chock full of illustrations, he begins this one with a very personal story that sets the matter squarely before us - God provides the destiny we must reach, being at home with the Father.  He spends a fair amount of time and paragraph to define home.  He includes a very touching story that paints a picture of the church as a gateway to home. 

This chapter seems to tie together all the preceding chapters into a single landing, that the purpose for which God is doing this work of weaving our lives together is that we would live for His glory.  The point, in the end, is that we must search for God with all our hearts - in and through every experience of this life - and we will know Him.

The Epilogue is simply one more personal story and the lyrics to a great old hymn, woven together to emphasize that as God's design is worked out in you it will have an impact on others.  His picture, that is you, will change the world.

All in all, I'd recommend The Grand Weaver.  If you've read it, chime in.  What's your take?

Technorati Tags: Ravi Zacharias,The Grand Weaver,Interactive Sermon

Separated At Birth?

Technorati Tags: Nicolas Sarkozy,Mr. Bean

Chronicles of War pt. 4

Another piece of my historical creative non-fiction story.  You can sound off in comments as to whether I should continue to post portions of the story here on the blog, or spare you.

“Fall back to the river!” Shouts wrestled Job back into the moment. “Fall back to the river! Move!” The voice belonged to First Lieutenant James Patterson. With his reputation as a man of great courage for his part in the Utah Blackhawk Indian War, to hear Patterson sounding a call for retreat left Job certain that the assault on Arkansas Post had been a complete failure. Bending down over young Thomas’ lifeless body, Job offered a prayer, “Father, into Your hands I commend young Thomas. Dust to dust; ashes to ashes. Father, have mercy on his soul.”

“Move, Trites!” another voice called, and with that someone snatched Job under an arm and began to drag him forward into a dead-run. “We’ve got to clear that tree-line!” this man yelled as the two ran. As they cleared the tree-line, they found themselves stumbling headlong into the marsh and swampland that occupied the last hundred or so yards to the river’s edge – the same muck that had taken H Company a full hour to negotiate inland from their landing. From this vantage point the men could see Admiral Porter’s fleet repeatedly firing their 32 pound smooth barrels at the Post. They trudged on through thigh and waist deep mud and mire, all the while in the teeth of freezing winds. Utterly exhausted, but thankful to be alive, Job and the rest of the men gathered at the landing. This was their first chance to take an inventory of who was missing. Twenty-six men from Iowa’s 26^th were no more.

“You Private Trites?” Patterson’s voice startled Job.

“Yes, Sir.”

“Trites, I’m giving you a field promotion to 1^st Corporal.”

Job nodded but couldn’t speak. The whole scene seemed ridiculous to him. A promotion? For what? For making it through the marsh not once, but twice? For having carried himself slightly lower than young Thomas did at the moment a Rebel ball ripped through his rib cage? His mind recalled the scene. When they had made their way into the left flank of the Post, where were all the finely uniformed officers? Privates, Corporals and Sergeants were everywhere, their uniforms torn and tattered – as a lot they appeared anything but uniform. Where were the West Point grads when the pickets came under heavy fire?

Job would spend the rest of the afternoon and into the evening struggling to get warm. There simply were not enough blankets to remove the chill that had settled in. He decided to put his energy into scratching out a note to his beloved bride. Pulling one more scrap of paper from his sack, he grabbed his lead and began, ‘My dearest heart’…

Meanwhile, the men of the Third Brigade – and thereby the men of Iowa’s 26^th V.I. – were being penciled in by commanders to take the lead in an early morning assault on the Post. Many lives would be lost on the morrow, and no unit would pay a heavier price than the 26^th.

Technorati Tags: Job Trites,Iowa 26th V.I.,Civil War,Creative Non-Fiction

Unequally Yoked

Yesterday marked another great Christ's Church Resurrection Sunday celebration.  Moments before the service was to begin I bumped into a dear friend with a less than celebratory look on her face.  Even when we exchanged the traditional "He is risen! He is risen, indeed!" greeting, she only broke the slightest and briefest of smiles before returning to a discouraged countenance.  After the service I caught that same dear lady and asked if she was okay.  "I really had hoped that my husband might come to church with me this morning, being that it is Easter Sunday", was her reply.  Her husband is not a believer in Christ and hasn't attended church with her in many, many years.  It occurred to me as we talked that Christmas and Easter services, for her, are tied to a heightened hope that maybe he will choose to join her.  And, this was a disappointing morning.

As the day went on I spent time thinking about that phrase often attached to dating and marriage where followers of Christ are concerned - unequally yoked.  Do the scriptures clearly teach that a believer should not marry an unbeliever?  Does the passage where the 'yoked' phrase originates (2 Cor. 6:14) speak of the marriage relationship?  What do you think?  Weigh in on this.

My thoughts moved beyond the phrase and the 2 Corinthians text to consider the actual experience of those whose spouses don't share their faith in Jesus.  It would seem to me that while they can have marvelous marriages that include physical, emotional and relational intimacy - they cannot share spiritual intimacy.  When I think of that, it causes me to feel sadness and a sense of loss for others' experience.  It would seem to me to be a very hard thing - evidenced by my conversation at church yesterday and many others over the years - that something of life-and-death importance to one marriage partner could be largely looked upon with indifference by the other.  Again, your thoughts?  Any experiences along these lines that you can share? 

More than attending church services together, what of sharing life's experiences in general?  For one partner to see God's fingerprints in the everyday happenings of life, and the other to see things as coincidence, or chance - how would that be experienced?  What of one spouse sensing a calling or direction from the Lord and trying to explain that to the other?  What of a spouse simply needing to share of God's blessings with their partner?  Would they understand?  How heavy this would seem to me to bear.

Married?  To someone who shares your faith?  Someone who doesn't?  Any thoughts you care to share on the subject?

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon,Marriage,Christian Marriage,Unequally Yoked

Preparing Our Hearts

As we ready ourselves to gather tomorrow, it is with great anticipation - we gather tomorrow to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus! 

At Christ's Church tomorrow, an Easter breakfast will be served between 9AM and about 10:30AM.  A great number of hands are on deck to present an amazing assortment of goodies and to serve a crowd.  I hope that you'll plan to join us for breakfast.

A reminder, that breakfast is replacing our normal 9AM service.  We will only have one service tomorrow, and that will be at 11AM.  Jesse and a team of our musicians are ready to lead us in song, and have a set of all of our Easter standards and some new favorites as well.  As usual at CCA, there are some special additions to accent our celebration.

If you would like an advance read of the text we will consider, give Luke 24 a look tonight.

I look forward to gathering as the Body of Christ tomorrow.  He is risen.  He is risen, indeed!

There Will Be 2 Kinds Of People...

...in Southern New Hampshire come Sunday afternoon: those who experienced Easter Sunday at Christ's Church, and those who didn't.

It occurs to me that, as we prepare to celebrate our Lord's resurrection with the rest of Christendom this weekend, a little background may be in order for some concerning that celebration at Christ's Church.

If someone you loved died before your very eyes and then three days later walked out of the grave and into the room you were sitting, what would that look like?  One day in 2004 a handful of Christ's Church worship music leaders sat around a table planning a worship calendar for the coming months when the conversation turned to Easter Sunday.  We tried to imagine an answer to that question.  It was all the more poignant as we considered that we had experienced, as a congregation, a handful of losses the past twelve months - loved ones we lost and memorial services we shared.  How precious an expectation is a resurrection?  What would it look like?  We were certain that there would be unbridled expressions of joy.  We imagined that people would be likely to act in ways that they normally didn't, simply because of the joy that the occasion would bring.  We imagined the most reserved person breaking into dance; the most stoic person shedding tears; the most expressive person completely dumbstruck - it would be an altogether different scene.  Kathy was on the calendar to lead the music for that year's Easter Sunday.  I asked her if she could try to create, in the worship music set, a scene like that.  A handful of our more drama-gifted folks were enlisted to portray those scenes for us, and the musicians accented it all with enthusiastic praise choruses, and the people at Christ's Church walked away from that service certain that they'd experienced a Resurrection Sunday service like no other.  Many of you were there, and remember it still.

What are we going to do this year?  That has been the question as each subsequent Easter Sunday has approached.  It is the question, not only of those who are planning the service, but from members of the congregation eager to celebrate and rejoice in Christ's resurrection like that again.  It's even become the question of folks outside Christ's Church as has been evidenced in people visiting for the Sunday, saying things like, "Our neighbors told us that we had to visit Christ's Church on Easter Sunday."  Those planning the service consider ways to expand the participation of the congregation in joyous celebration every year.  They've stretched us.  Special music.  Dance.  Do you remember the year the Benediction was followed with a bluegrass hoe-down?  How about the year that a horn line was added to the music team?  And, as far as we know, we are the only congregation in Southern New Hampshire that owns our own confetti cannon, designed and built by one of our engineering types for our celebration!  (A side note: there is a Facebook Group called "My church has a Confetti Cannon, how about yours?"  Check it out.  Unbelievable!)

Resurrection Sunday 2008 is upon us.  Once again we arrive here having shared in a difficult year, experiencing the painful loss of dear loved ones the last twelve months, and so celebrating resurrection will be most meaningful and hope inspiring for us.  But, we celebrate Jesus' resurrection as more than a matter of apologetics - proving that Jesus was raised and there is therefore life after death.  We celebrate it to announce the fact that the world is a different place - this was the turning point in all of human history! 

So what's in store for Sunday morning?  You'll have to come and experience it for yourself.  Suffice to say, as we do every year - there will be two kinds of people come Sunday afternoon...

Note: Christ's Church's Resurrection Sunday 2008 schedule is a little different than normal.  We will not have a 9AM service.  We plan to begin Easter Sunday with a full breakfast offered between 9AM and 10:30AM.  We will celebrate our Lord's resurrection together in one worship service at 11AM.  We will return to our normal two service schedule March 30th.  If you don't have other plans, we would love to have you join us for worship!

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon,Christ's Church,Easter Sunday,Resurrection,Worship

Thought Provocation

I spent some time this morning talking with a friend about helping others who are hurting.  As we conversed this morning, I realized that early in my pastoral ministry I thought that it was my job to provide answers for people - and try, I did - but that more recently I've become content not to have answers for any season or suffering.  Now I'd rather be present with people while they ask questions, and indeed, ask questions with them.

Coincidentally (you ALL know that I smile when I type that word), I ran across a passage from Henri Nouwen on this subject in some casual reading over lunch.  Nouwen summarized the lament of Job: "Job cries out, 'God, damn the day of my birth and the night I was thrust forth from the womb!  Why couldn't I have died when they pulled me out of the womb?  Why were there arms to hold me and breasts to nurse me?  Why couldn't I have been strangled on my way into the light?'"  Then, Nouwen observed that Job's friends could not endure his questions but rebuked him.  Bypassing his cries, they turned immediately to defending God and themselves.  By denying his painful questions they drove him deeper into despair.  The book of Job bears that all out.

I've concluded that I was there - wanting to defend God and have a sensible answer for every question.  I wanted to make sense of an infant's death for a hurting couple; explain away the sting of betrayal in some palatable formula; offer answers to 'why' questions as if there were an answer grid I could consult, all to the end that I could say, 'See, with God, it makes sense!'

I'm over it.  I can't do it.  I can't answer for an Infinite God.  The heavy questions are over my head.  And, man, it feels great to admit that! 

Now I can say, 'I don't know why this happened, but I'll sit here with you.  What's more, I'm confident that He does something with questions like these.  I don't pretend to know what, but I'll wait with you, confident that someday we'll see something that surprises us.'

Those agonizing questions and longings of the soul are life-forming.  They can be extremely painful - even excruciating.  I'm convinced that if we ignore them or suppress them we will miss a most fertile opportunity for healing.  We live in a day when there is a 3 step sermon, a 5 point outline or a bottle of pills to address every dark hour of the soul.  When did we become so uncomfortable to hear unanswerable questions?  Couldn't waiting, longing, and even pleading for relief be a God-send?

What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Interactive Sermon,Pastoral Counsel