Who is the church?

We all know the building isn’t the church.  It is the people.  Which people though?  Is it everyone who attends?  Does how often matter?  If we don’t see someone for a month, a year, two years have they quit being part of the church?  If they contribute financially or physically to the ministry of the church are they without question part of the church?  And does it really matter? 

            It probably really doesn’t matter until the church has a decision to make and then who should make it?  Why the church of course, which brings me back to the question who is really the church?

            Ultimately, I believe this to be a spiritual question.  The church are those people God has called to a particular time and place to be together in order to serve and participate in the Kingdom of God together.  The Kingdom of God is that place where God rules, where a person’s loyalty is not divided between competing priorities and interests but rather all interests are of lower priority than the interests of God.

            So I would propose that the church is made up of the people who willingly participate in the activity of the church when and where they are called and these are the people who should be making the decisions for the church.

“AIN’T GOING TO FEAR NO MORE”

I wrote this article for the Lewiston Tribune and it appeared in the religion section on Jan 9^th.  Several people commented that they thought it was a good article and so I want to share it with all of you who haven’t gotten a chance to read it.

“AIN’T GOING TO FEAR NO MORE”

I’m tired of being afraid, I’m even more tired of being told I should be afraid.  I was born in 1961 the year of the “Bay of Pigs” followed quickly by the Cuban missile crisis in 1963.  The U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. were on the brink of war, a war that people said would destroy the world.  As a child I grew up watching the war in Vietnam and the riots in the streets of American cities on T.V.  I grew up knowing that whether I liked it or not I would be drafted and be sent off  to fight.  I graduated from high school knowing that the world was going down the sink and President elect Reagan was going to start World War Three.  I joined the service and guarded Nuclear weapons that could eradicate life if they fell in to the wrong hands, then I was deployed for the Gulf War and everyone knew it was the beginning of the apocalypse.  Then I lived through Y2K and the impending end of everything.  Then my country was attacked on 9/11 and we knew we the world would never be the same.  The whole time I heard a steady drumbeat of fear that the moral fabric of our society was unraveling and we were becoming as corrupt and soft as ancient Rome.  Now we hear that we should be afraid very afraid, the president is destroying us, God’s wrath is coming, the world is ending in 2012 or is it May of 2011, I don’t know I can’t keep it straight.  What I do know is that my strength and my help come from the Lord, God is my shepherd and I am part of God’s flock.  My understanding of the Holy Scriptures is that God is in control, the God who called Abram and Sarai, who rescued his chosen from Egypt, who sent his son for me and called the church into being on Pentacost, is the God that I love and who loves me.  Because of this I am making a resolution for 2011.  I will put my faith in God alone and I ain’t going to fear no more.

“Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.”- 1 Peter 1.21                                         D.C.

Advent

Wow the holidays are upon us.  Everything seems to move faster this time of year.  In our Sunday morning adult Bible Study we have been studying a section on the psalms.  The four lessons for November were “God is Awesome”-Psalm 66:1-12, “God is Forever”-Psalm 90:1-12, “God is Protector”-Psalm 91:1-6, 9-16 and “God is Omniscient”-Psalm 139:1-6,13-16,23, 24.  It has been a very engaging and interesting study.  We have not agreed on everything and it is challenging to hear differing views about life and the meaning of the Psalms.  God has brought the class together in order to deepen their relationship with God and each other.  As we enter the time of Advent we are entering a time to prepare and make ready for the coming of our savior.  For a Christian bible study is an integral part of that preparation.  Despite the busyness of the season, the speeding up of time and the shortening of the days, make time to prepare your hearts and minds through worship, prayer, fellowship and BIBLE STUDY.

Everyone is welcome Sunday Mornings at 9:30 to join us in a fascinating study of God’s Holy word.                                                               D.C.

Spiritual v. Religious

The last week of September I had the opportunity to travel to San Diego for our denominational pastor’s conference.  It was hosted by the Office of the General Minister and President Sharon Watkins.  The guest speaker was Diana Butler Bass who has researched and written about the mainline denominations, church practices and ways that churches have become vital congregations in the 21^st century.  There was one thing she shared with us that stood out the most to me. 

She pointed out recent surveys show that fewer people identify with denominational labels and that there has become a distinction between being religious and spiritual.  What I understood was that being religious is viewed as what I would call “doing Church”.  Defining oneself as part of a denomination or church, understanding our faith as being a Disciple of Christ, Methodist, Independent, Non-denominational etc.  Being religious is attending a church, participating in the worship by singing hymns, teaching Sunday School, being a deacon or an elder and whatever else it might mean to do church.

Being spiritual was defined almost completely as experiential.  It could be facilitated by using practices to help experience something beyond oneself, the presence of the divine or spirits beyond the norm.  Being spiritual however, was not something people did, but rather how they felt, how their emotions were affected by an experience or spiritual practice.

A 2005 Newsweek/Washington Post survey received the following answers.  25% of respondents stated they were spiritual, 8% religious, 12% neither and 55% both.

I propose that most of the people reading this article are part of the 55%.  We are trying to be faithful in the world we find ourselves in.  We are both religious and spiritual.  We understand that doing church is necessary to being church. On the other hand we are also spiritual.  We are in relationship to God.  We are a real part of the body of Christ.  We serve others because in God we have become servants.  We feel the Holy Spirit.  We can tell the difference between the Spirit of God and the spirit of the world.  We understand our faith in and love of God as part of who we are, not something that exists in a separate category but rather as an integral part of who we are in Christ. 

Wherever we find ourselves, whatever our circumstances, whether religious or spiritual or both define us the best.  Let us all remember who we are.  We are the body of Christ in a broken and tragic world.                         D.C.

Does Jesus call us to a demanding, uncompromising discipleship?

Does Jesus call us to a demanding, uncompromising discipleship?  Luke 9:57-62

 

On Sunday a child answered a question by saying, “Jesus is nice.”  The understanding this reflected seemed to be that Jesus would never ask or make us do something that we didn’t want to do.  I wonder how much this reflects the general understanding of God.  If God is a loving, generous God does that mean that God asks nothing of us, except for belief that God exists.  Is this all there is to Christianity?  Nice God who lets us do whatever we like, who then bails us out when we get into trouble.  Is this God real?  Did God send us Jesus just to do nice things for us?  Or is God a demanding God who expects us to follow a list of prescribed rules of morality, like a group of petulant children who know that they better do what they are told or else.

 

When I read scripture I see a God who requires a certain attitude more than anything else.  So I offer you some selected passages so that you can decide for yourself what attitude that is.

 

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

                                                            Micah 6:8

In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.                                         Matthew 7:12

 

Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.                                     Mark 11:25

 

But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,                  Matthew 5:44

 

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.                      John 13:34

Commitment and Obligation

As Easter approaches I continue to review the events of Holy Week, from Palm Sunday to the resurrection of our Savior on Easter morning I wonder about commitment and obligation. The whole narrative of the last wAs Easter approaches I continue to review the events of Holy Week, from Palm Sunday to the resurrection of our Savior on Easter morning I wonder about commitment and obligation. The whole narrative of the last week of Jesus’ life is given to us through the enduring testimony of those who witnessed it and those who heard the testimony of others. The first thing anyone hearing the testimony of a witness has to decide is whether or not they believe it. Then they have to interpret it so they can make sense of it and then they have to decide how to apply it. The testimony about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is written down in the New Testament. Jesus entered Jerusalem in all humility, knowing he was going to die. Knowing his eventual fate caused him great pain and trepidation and yet he walked the way until the inevitable end on the cross. To me this speaks of the ultimate commitment. He didn’t submit to glorify himself but rather to bridge for us the gulf that exists between the creator and the created. He died for us! Did we ask him to? No, we didn’t. Most of us will never ask someone to die for us. We don’t want to accept the responsibility for that. However, whether we ask it of others or not people have will continue to die for us. People have sacrificed so we can enjoy the freedoms and life that we now enjoy. I didn’t ask the founding fathers and mothers to rebel against Great Britain and I didn’t ask my father or any of his contemporaries to serve during WW II. I didn’t ask the police officers and firefighters who responded in NYC on 9/11 to die for others. I have never wanted anyone else to die to keep me safe or to save me. But they have and will continue to and whether I agree with their methods or not I have benefitted from the sacrifices of others. Most importantly I have benefitted in immeasurable ways from the sacrifice that Jesus made. We all have benefitted from his commitment to God and the way. Given Jesus’ commitment do we have any obligation to our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer and if so how do our lives reflect it? D.C. eek of Jesus’ life is given to us through the enduring testimony of those who witnessed it and those who heard the testimony of others. The first thing anyone hearing the testimony of a witness has to decide is whether or not they believe it. Then they have to interpret it so they can make sense of it and then they have to decide how to apply it. The testimony about Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is written down in the New Testament. Jesus entered Jerusalem in all humility, knowing he was going to die. Knowing his eventual fate caused him great pain and trepidation and yet he walked the way until the inevitable end on the cross. To me this speaks of the ultimate commitment. He didn’t submit to glorify himself but rather to bridge for us the gulf that exists between the creator and the created. He died for us! Did we ask him to? No, we didn’t. Most of us will never ask someone to die for us. We don’t want to accept the responsibility for that. However, whether we ask it of others or not people have will continue to die for us. People have sacrificed so we can enjoy the freedoms and life that we now enjoy. I didn’t ask the founding fathers and mothers to rebel against Great Britain and I didn’t ask my father or any of his contemporaries to serve during WW II. I didn’t ask the police officers and firefighters who responded in NYC on 9/11 to die for others. I have never wanted anyone else to die to keep me safe or to save me. But they have and will continue to and whether I agree with their methods or not I have benefitted from the sacrifices of others. Most importantly I have benefitted in immeasurable ways from the sacrifice that Jesus made. We all have benefitted from his commitment to God and the way. Given Jesus’ commitment do we have any obligation to our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer and if so how do our lives reflect it? D.C.

What a friend we have in Jesus.

John 15:9-15

^“9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

12 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I do not call you servants^* any longer, because the servant^* does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.”

 

So I read this and I think how rude, especially “You are my friends if you do what I command you.”  Is saying Jesus in order to be his friend I have to do what he says?  Always?  What about what I want?  I’ve known people like this over the years and quite frankly when I realize that our relationship is based upon doing only what they want, my enthusiasm for being their friend starts to wane.  I realize now that I did the same thing to lots of people.  I insisted that they be involved in the same activities as I was in order to hang out with me.  When I played softball, if you didn’t play I didn’t have time to be your friend.  When I was in the military everyone I knew was in the military.  Often it seems through no fault of our own we become friends with people who have something in common with us.  Most of our friendships are primarily based upon participation in the same activities or similar life circumstances.  In fact once we leave home it becomes harder and harder to stay connected with our parents and siblings as our lives diverge from one another. 

So it seems to me that Jesus isn’t being rude or demanding rather he is stating the obvious.  That if we don’t share in his life, doing the things he does, participating in his body, loving our neighbors, willing to lay our lives down for one another, we can’t be his friend because we aren’t with him.                                        D.C.

How should we respond when we are hurt?

Until Christ returns there will never be an end to suffering or the perpetual injury of one person by another.  Some people ask the question why do bad people always take advantage of the kind hearted.  This makes me think about just how kind-hearted I am.  For me the issue has always been who is in control of my life.  Everytime someone hurts me or offends me they are in effect attempting to control my life.  When the world attacks me, when those I love suffer, it is the world dominated by sin, that is trying to take control.  I say this because the way I was taught to respond was to fight back.  To hit back so hard that the other would leave me alone and of course I mean fight back anyway possible, no holds barred.  Hit’em physically, emotionally, financially in any way I think will be effective.  I’ve fought people, avoided people, ignored people, ostracized people and talked about people like they were dirt.  I learned to do this by watching what other people did.  The world taught me well, by beating me up.  I don’t think, however, that I ever won much or for very long by employing the above listed strategies of attack and defend.  In fact I think all that happened was that I happily handed control of my life over to the world, which played me like piano.  It sucked me further and further into a cesspool from which it became harder and harder to escape.  It wasn’t until I decided to actually practice the faith I was given growing up that I began to make some headway in resisting the deprivations of all those bad people who insisted on picking on innocent little ol’ me.  One of the passages that I think really speaks to this issue is found in Luke 6:27-42: 

<!– 27 –>

“27 ‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. ²⁹If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. ³⁰Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. ³¹Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32 ‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ³⁴If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. ³⁵But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.^* Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. ³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. <!– 37 –>

37 ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; ³⁸give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.’

39 He also told them a parable: ‘Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. ⁴¹Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s^* eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? ⁴²Or how can you say to your neighbour,^* “Friend,^* let me take out the speck in your eye”, when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s^* eye.”

By listening to this passage and attempting however, successfully to live it out, I have found myself escaping from the perpetual cycle of conflict and drama.  I actually am starting to win.

Alone and on my own I have always been just one more sucker who fell into the trap that is the world.  I handed control of my life over to anyone who took the time and trouble to push my buttons and come after me, for one thing or another.  Then I found Jesus and started listening to him and Praying to the creator and following the Holy Spirit and the next thing you know I no longer feel that I have to fight back, or harden my heart or defend myself from all comers to the bitter end.  I just have to pray and trust that God will take care of me for the rest of my eternal life.

Looking for Wisdom

I prayed for wisdom this morning so that I could put something exceptional in this space.  I’m sure I hoped just a little, that whatever I put here would sound good and cause everyone who read it to think, with appropriate credit going to me.  The answer I got was the following and I can take no credit for it.

Proverbs 3

3My child, do not forget my teaching,
   but let your heart keep my commandments;
²for length of days and years of life
   and abundant welfare they will give you.

³Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you;
   bind them round your neck,
   write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴So you will find favour and good repute
   in the sight of God and of people.

⁵Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
   and do not rely on your own insight.
⁶In all your ways acknowledge him,
   and he will make straight your paths.
⁷Do not be wise in your own eyes;
   fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
⁸It will be a healing for your flesh
   and a refreshment for your body.

⁹Honour the Lord with your substance
   and with the first fruits of all your produce;
¹⁰then your barns will be filled with plenty,
   and your vats will be bursting with wine.

¹¹My child, do not despise the Lord’s discipline
   or be weary of his reproof,
¹²for the Lord reproves the one he loves,
   as a father the son in whom he delights.

¹³Happy are those who find wisdom,
   and those who get understanding,
¹⁴for her income is better than silver,
   and her revenue better than gold.
¹⁵She is more precious than jewels,
   and nothing you desire can compare with her.
¹⁶Long life is in her right hand;
   in her left hand are riches and honour.
¹⁷Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
   and all her paths are peace.
¹⁸She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
   those who hold her fast are called happy.

¹⁹The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
   by understanding he established the heavens;
²⁰by his knowledge the deeps broke open,
   and the clouds drop down the dew.

 ²¹My child, do not let these escape from you

sight: keep sound wisdom and prudence,
  ²²and they will be life for your soul and

 adornment for your neck.
²³Then you will walk on your way securely
   and your foot will not stumble.
²⁴If you sit down,^* you will not be afraid;
   when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
²⁵Do not be afraid of sudden panic,
   or of the storm that strikes the wicked;
²⁶for the Lord will be your confidence
   and will keep your foot from being caught.

²⁷Do not withhold good from those to whom it is  

   due, when it is in your power to do it.
²⁸Do not say to your neighbour, ‘Go, and come

  again; tomorrow I will give it’—when you

  have it with you.
²⁹Do not plan harm against your neighbour
   who lives trustingly beside you.
³⁰Do not quarrel with anyone without cause,
   when no harm has been done to you.
³¹Do not envy the violent and do not choose any  

  of their ways; ³²for the perverse are an

  abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in

  his confidence.
³³The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
   but he blesses the abode of the righteous.
³⁴Towards the scorners he is scornful,
   but to the humble he shows favour.
³⁵The wise will inherit honour,
   but stubborn fools, disgrace.

 Thank God for the Bible and all it has to say to us, if only we would read and understand.  D.C.

We are transformed and transforming

I wonder what the official definition of a transformed church is in the NWRCC.  I don’t know but I’d like to nominate FCC(DOC) in Clarkston, WA as one.  Since Sep 2007, our church has added 71 new members and conducted 24 baptisms.  Our average attendance has gone from 55 to 95.  We have children and adults attending Sunday School, have a strong Youth Group and are hosting our first VBS this July, in 6 years.  We have new bible studies and both our DWM and CMF have new people participating.  Our building has been repainted inside and out.  We have a new roof, new kitchen and new reflection spot at the corner of our building.  We are more involved than ever in the community, housing the homeless, feeding the hungry, supporting the free clinic, addressing poverty and reaching out to the unchurched and de-churched.  By any standard I think FCC in Clarkston is a renewed and transformed congregation.