I'm in my study early this morning for a time of reflection and to make sure that everything is in order for the Kids Church program during our worship service. Mixing spiritual with practical. That's what Christmas is all about. God becoming flesh, bringing his spritiual reality to us in a human package, Jesus Christ.
We have been observing Advent with the lighting of the candles. We had to miss last Sunday because of bad weather, so today we light the third and fourth candles. I'm not sure I have them in the right order, but as I study about Advent traditions there doesn't seem to be any right way to do it anyhow. Today will the the candle of peace. How appropriate when we have war surrounding us on all fronts. And if not out and out war, there are hostilities all over the planet. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, and give us your peace!
Tomorrow night we have our Christmas Eve Candle Lighting service, and we will be doing something a little different this year. For the past few years one of our favorite Christmas songs has been "Mary, Did You Know?" We're going to sing that song and then give everyone a chance to say what they know about Jesus. What they know for themselves. What Jesus has done in their lives. It will be a time for sharing what the original Christmas did to change lives, because if Jesus were not born we would not be doing what we do as church. What do you know?
If I don't post anything before Christmas, may you have a wonderful Christmas. May Jesus find a place in your heart, and may he cause you to experience new life in him. Merry Christmas!
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Snow and Ice
I'm originally from the South and I have come to find snow and ice to be very difficult obstacles to my life. When I was a kid snow was a big thing, a pleasant surprise. We got to go outside and build snowmen and run through the snow. I remember as a kid making snow cream - take some snow, put a little milk in it and a little vanilla -wow, that was great!
When I first moved to New York in 1978 it was to Rochester. I found he snow out there to be a fun challenge. I learned to drive in the snow. To accept snow as part of everyday life in Rochester. I have lived in Albany and in Stephentown and Old Chatham, all with huge snowfalls. Clintondale has its share of snow, but it's nowhere as much as Rochester or even Stephentown.
As I get older, however, I find snow and ice to be unpleasant surprises. I am tempted to want to move to a warmer climate. I can get crabby and depressed.
But you know what? It's life! As long as I am living here - and I believe that God brought me here and wants me to stay here a while longer - as long as I am living here, I need to accept the fact of snow. I don't have to like it, but I do have to accept it.
There are a whole lot of other things I don't have to like but I have to accept. In fact, that's the way life is. I was at a meeting tonight where we ended with the Serenity Prayer. That Prayer has become a way of life for me. "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Acceptance is key to living a life filled with serenity.
So is change. When I see something that needs changing, and God calls me to make the change, then I will have the power given me by the Spirit to change according to God's will.
Acceptance and change. And the wisdom to know when to do which.
I pray for anyone reading this blog the grace to live by the Serenity Prayer. I pray for you the grace of God in your life.
When I first moved to New York in 1978 it was to Rochester. I found he snow out there to be a fun challenge. I learned to drive in the snow. To accept snow as part of everyday life in Rochester. I have lived in Albany and in Stephentown and Old Chatham, all with huge snowfalls. Clintondale has its share of snow, but it's nowhere as much as Rochester or even Stephentown.
As I get older, however, I find snow and ice to be unpleasant surprises. I am tempted to want to move to a warmer climate. I can get crabby and depressed.
But you know what? It's life! As long as I am living here - and I believe that God brought me here and wants me to stay here a while longer - as long as I am living here, I need to accept the fact of snow. I don't have to like it, but I do have to accept it.
There are a whole lot of other things I don't have to like but I have to accept. In fact, that's the way life is. I was at a meeting tonight where we ended with the Serenity Prayer. That Prayer has become a way of life for me. "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." Acceptance is key to living a life filled with serenity.
So is change. When I see something that needs changing, and God calls me to make the change, then I will have the power given me by the Spirit to change according to God's will.
Acceptance and change. And the wisdom to know when to do which.
I pray for anyone reading this blog the grace to live by the Serenity Prayer. I pray for you the grace of God in your life.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Has it been that long?
I can't believe it has been this long since I last posted. When I think about the blog, and realize that I haven't written anything for a long time, I wonder why I even keep it up on the web. But it is a place that I can write, even if no one reads it, and writing helps me to get my thoughts and life together.
This morning we cancelled our worship service and Kids Church due to bad weather. I am staying at the church to answer the phone if people call to find out whether church is being held. this gives me some time by myself. I did a little work on the computer - put a page up on the web where people can check out urgent announcements, such as cancellations.
This year has been an amazing demonstration of God's grace. We have had new people coming to worship with us. There is great spiritual growth taking place. Some of the small groups from our Forty Days of Purpose/Forty Days of Community programs continue. The Busy Bees, our sewing group, is doing well. Kids Church is a delight to our congregation - the kids come in each Sunday morning and help us start off our worship service. I have been teaching a Foundations Class, developed by Saddleback Church - it's a great program. God has blessed us financially. The list just keeps going.
Over the year I have come to say, "Don't presume upon the grace of God. The Lord gives and the Lord can take away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." I truly stand in awe of the Lord. There is a healthy fear, not that I cower before the Lord, but in worship I bow before him. There is a vast difference between cowering and bowing. It's a difference that only a believer can know.
Our son Dan still lives in Haiti at a children's home/orphanage called Pwoje Espwa. You can find this ministry at http://freethekids.org. Fr. Marc keeps a blog - and he does a much better job than I at keeping it updated! - and on his blog there are frequent postings of pictures and news. My wife and I and a member of our church plan on going down to Haiti next month. We will happily be there for the tenth anniversary of the founding of Pwoje Espwa.
We are coming into an active presidential election where a lot is at stake. I won't give any of my political leanings here - that's not my job. However, I will say that there is no candidate that can save this nation or any other nation. We need to turn to God, asking God to bring forward candidates that will lead with integrity, intelligence, and compassion. Only God through Jesus Christ will be able to turn this nation around. We need national revival. I won't say that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, but it was founded by Christians on Christian principles and those principles hold true today just as much as any time in our history.
This past year I have been impressed with the importance God places upon the church. Not the institutional church per se, but the local congregation of believers where Jesus presides and his people live faithfully as community. Somewhere along the line I heard that God's Plan A for humanity is the church, and he doesn't have a Plan B. Nearly two years ago I resigned my ordination with the group that held my credentials and asked Clintondale Friends Christian Church to recognize my ministry. I didn't do this because I had any falling out with my credentialing fellowship, but because I have come to see the importance of the local church. In the beginning of the church there were no denominations. There were local churches knit together by the apostles and by letters (which turned into Scriptures) being circulated from those apostles. Each church was autonomous, governed by elders who had been put in place by the apostles. That they were autonomous does not mean there was no common faith and practice, just that no super-body ruled over them. Jesus is the one who builds the church and he oversees it through his undershepherds, the elders.
We have five elders in our church and are in the process of appointing deacons. This indeed has been a process. As the Lord leads we hope to see ourselves established along New Testament lines, responsive and responsible to the Lord Jesus in all things.
We stand at the end of an old year and on the threshold of a new one. Even though time and calendars are tools for us to mark our lives, they do give us opportunities to take stock and look ahead in faith and hope for new discoveries in the Kingdom of God.
God bless you, reader.
Pastor Dan
This morning we cancelled our worship service and Kids Church due to bad weather. I am staying at the church to answer the phone if people call to find out whether church is being held. this gives me some time by myself. I did a little work on the computer - put a page up on the web where people can check out urgent announcements, such as cancellations.
This year has been an amazing demonstration of God's grace. We have had new people coming to worship with us. There is great spiritual growth taking place. Some of the small groups from our Forty Days of Purpose/Forty Days of Community programs continue. The Busy Bees, our sewing group, is doing well. Kids Church is a delight to our congregation - the kids come in each Sunday morning and help us start off our worship service. I have been teaching a Foundations Class, developed by Saddleback Church - it's a great program. God has blessed us financially. The list just keeps going.
Over the year I have come to say, "Don't presume upon the grace of God. The Lord gives and the Lord can take away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." I truly stand in awe of the Lord. There is a healthy fear, not that I cower before the Lord, but in worship I bow before him. There is a vast difference between cowering and bowing. It's a difference that only a believer can know.
Our son Dan still lives in Haiti at a children's home/orphanage called Pwoje Espwa. You can find this ministry at http://freethekids.org. Fr. Marc keeps a blog - and he does a much better job than I at keeping it updated! - and on his blog there are frequent postings of pictures and news. My wife and I and a member of our church plan on going down to Haiti next month. We will happily be there for the tenth anniversary of the founding of Pwoje Espwa.
We are coming into an active presidential election where a lot is at stake. I won't give any of my political leanings here - that's not my job. However, I will say that there is no candidate that can save this nation or any other nation. We need to turn to God, asking God to bring forward candidates that will lead with integrity, intelligence, and compassion. Only God through Jesus Christ will be able to turn this nation around. We need national revival. I won't say that the United States was founded as a Christian nation, but it was founded by Christians on Christian principles and those principles hold true today just as much as any time in our history.
This past year I have been impressed with the importance God places upon the church. Not the institutional church per se, but the local congregation of believers where Jesus presides and his people live faithfully as community. Somewhere along the line I heard that God's Plan A for humanity is the church, and he doesn't have a Plan B. Nearly two years ago I resigned my ordination with the group that held my credentials and asked Clintondale Friends Christian Church to recognize my ministry. I didn't do this because I had any falling out with my credentialing fellowship, but because I have come to see the importance of the local church. In the beginning of the church there were no denominations. There were local churches knit together by the apostles and by letters (which turned into Scriptures) being circulated from those apostles. Each church was autonomous, governed by elders who had been put in place by the apostles. That they were autonomous does not mean there was no common faith and practice, just that no super-body ruled over them. Jesus is the one who builds the church and he oversees it through his undershepherds, the elders.
We have five elders in our church and are in the process of appointing deacons. This indeed has been a process. As the Lord leads we hope to see ourselves established along New Testament lines, responsive and responsible to the Lord Jesus in all things.
We stand at the end of an old year and on the threshold of a new one. Even though time and calendars are tools for us to mark our lives, they do give us opportunities to take stock and look ahead in faith and hope for new discoveries in the Kingdom of God.
God bless you, reader.
Pastor Dan
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
