Tag: The Church

Looking Out

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In the world of church life, this is the one Sunday that often gets forgotten about. It’s like a throwaway Sunday. I know of some churches that don’t even meet this week. Sitting between Christmas and New Year’s, most people are ready to just lie low, resting from the year past and preparing for the one that lies ahead. Yet rather than wasting such a time like this, it seems like a wiser play to redeem it. So, let’s look back and look forward at the same time; reflecting with gratitude on what has been, while anticipating with joyfulness what still lies ahead. Let’s talk about how we can be the kind of church God has made us to be.

Looking Out

So, I’m going to run out on a limb and be honest with you about something this morning. I went back and forth on this because of how it would be received, but decided that transparency is the best option. Before your minds race too far ahead of me with a list of all the things I could follow that opener with, I’ll just tell you: The idea for this message came to me in a dream. If you had a copy of the message and already read ahead, you were spared a bit of suspense there. I’m honestly not sure what it means that the idea came to me in a dream. I’m not sure how much weight to put on that. I am certain that it doesn’t mean anything significant about me. I normally have sermon subjects and passages planned out months ahead of time. But I had recently shifted some things around, and had been praying through what the message for this morning was going to be. For some reason, God seems to have chosen this way to communicate it. Prayerfully I’m getting it right. Again, I don’t know why. I don’t honestly remember any of the rest of the dream. I just remember the one idea that gave birth to what we’re going to be talking about today. I am pretty sure it is from God’s Spirit, though, because I hadn’t been thinking in this direction at all before, and the message is consistent with the Scriptures as we are going to see. All of that is to say this: I think what we are going to talk about this morning together is something God wanted to set before us as we wrap up this year and get ready for the new one arriving on Wednesday. 

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Digging in Deeper: Matthew 11:25-30

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“At that time, Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure. All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him. Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke up on you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Well, we made it. This past Tuesday was election day in the U.S., and from all reports, it came off without a hitch. That doesn’t mean everyone was happy with the results, but it nonetheless came and went, and the sun still rose on Wednesday morning. As far as I have heard, there weren’t any violent protests of the results. In fact, perhaps the biggest surprise (beyond the results themselves) was that we fairly well knew the outcome by Wednesday morning. I was fully mentally prepared for chaos of some sort and a season of national uncertainty that lasted through at least Friday. But that didn’t happen. After all the turmoil of the last two presidential elections, this one felt normal. Everyone voted, we had results by morning, and now the country is preparing to move forward. Today, in light of the election, I want to talk about something else entirely. Well, that’s not totally true. We’ll still have the election in mind, but let’s take a moment today to remember there are things bigger than politics.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 35:10-19

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“Let all the skilled artisans among you come and make everything that the Lord has commanded: the tabernacle — its tent and covering, its clasps and supports, its crossbars, its pillars and bases; the ark with its poles, the mercy seat, and the curtain for the screen; the table with its poles, all its utensils, and the Bread of the Presence; the lampstand for light with its utensils and lamps as well as the oil for the light; the altar of incense with its poles; the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; the entryway screen for the entrance to the tabernacle; the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grate, its poles, and all its utensils; the basin with its stand; the hangings of the courtyard, its posts and bases, and the screen for the gate of the courtyard; the tent pegs for the tabernacle and the tent pegs for the courtyard, along with their ropes; and the specially woven garments for ministering in the sanctuary — the holy garments for the priest Aaron and the garments for his sons to serve as priests.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Although I’ve never read it, there’s a rather famous from several years ago called “I, Pencil.” The whole thing is about how a pencil is made from the standpoint of the pencil itself. Pencils seem like remarkably simple things, but their construction is far more complicated and convoluted of a process than you might imagine. The whole argument of the author is that no one really knows how to make a pencil. It takes all of the different people involved each doing what they know how to do in order to bring one into reality. God was directing the people to build a place for worship, where they could go and experience His presence. Putting it together was going to be a group effort.

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Morning Musing: Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

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“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’m certain I have talked before about the movie Into the Wild starring Emile Hirsch. It’s the true story of a young man who graduated college with the world at his fingertips. He came from a wealthy family, he was a great student, he was a gifted athlete, he could have done just about whatever his heart desired. As it turns out, and much to the chagrin of his parents, what his heart desired was to rid himself of all of his possessions and to then make his way to Alaskan wilderness where he would live off the land in peace and harmony with nature. Along the way, he made a number of different relationships that could have been life changing both for him and the folks on the other side of them, but each time he walked away from them in order to pursue his Alaskan vision. Well, lately I have been watching a lot of the series, Life Below Zero with my bride. It follows the lives of a handful of people living mostly off-the-grid and mostly lonely lives in the Alaskan wilderness. As with Into the Wild before it, Life Below Zero has not been for me an inspirational or idealized look at the spirit of adventure and a noble desire to leave as small a footprint on this world as possible. Instead, it has been a powerful reminder to me of just how important community really is.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 13:1

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“Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We don’t know what’s coming next. We can’t. Technically speaking, everything that happens is a surprise. Some of it is less surprising than others; some falls more in line with our predictions, but none of it we can say we knew with absolute certainty because, again, we don’t know what’s coming next. The result of this is that sometimes a moment occurs that changes everything. Sometimes a moment occurs that, rather than passing unremarkably by us like so many other moments do, will instantly become fixed in our minds such that we will always know where we were when it happened. The country experienced such a moment this past Saturday, and we were millimeters away from its being an even more transformative moment than it was. Somebody took a shot at former President, Donald Trump, and managed to graze his ear. In doing so, we experienced a moment that likely and perhaps permanently impacted the outcome of the presidential race, the next four years of history, and possibly much more than that. Let’s reflect on what we experienced, what some of the reactions have been, and what all of this might mean for followers of Jesus.

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