New Life Assembly

The "Long Weekend, Short Week" Tuesday Reflections

I'm not sure how you spent your Memorial Day yesterday, but I was able to spend it by this gorgeous little lake in Ellington, Connecticut where I spent the first 18 years or so of my life.  We soaked up the 90 degree weather, my kids played for about 8 hours in the lake just like I used to when I was their age, we played cornhole and Wiffle Ball, and in general enjoyed being with our entire family.  Even though I spent most of the day sweating profusely, I still felt totally relaxed and found myself wishing that the day didn't have to end.  Even the ride home, normally an opportunity for little squabbles to break out between the kids in the car, went peacefully - mostly because playing the in the sun and the water all day totally saps your energy, but still, it was the perfect end to a perfect day.

Sunday was also a perfect end to what has been a really challenging, enlightening, and encouraging series of messages for me.  When we started talking about the Beatitudes from Matthew 5 on Easter Sunday, I really had no idea how deeply this was going to touch our hearts and lives as we went through the 8 statements Jesus makes there about life in his Kingdom.  I said a couple of weeks ago that the messages seemed to get progressively more difficult as we went, and I thought this weekend's was no exception.

I know that I spent the first seven weeks nodding my head when I thought about the blessed life that Jesus intended for me.  I loved hearing about the things that would happen for those who lived according to God's design.  The poor in spirit inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.  Those who mourn find comfort in the Kingdom.  The meek inherit the earth.  Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness find themselves being filled to overflowing with their heart's desire.  The merciful receive mercy in turn.  The pure in heart have their eyes opened to see God, and the peacemakers are known by their character to be children of God.

That's an amazing, compelling picture of the life Jesus invites his followers into.  But the eighth statement of Jesus really brings us to reality.  While this is a powerful, beautiful way to live, it's a way of life that cuts across our cultural grain, and puts us, at times, in direct opposition to the "everyone else" pressures of our culture to conform to what's expected.  When we live this way, and challenge that cultural grain, we may find that people oppose us - sometimes actively and other times passively - for our choices.

How we respond to that opposition is incredibly important, and has the potential to change the public perception of followers of Jesus.  Too often we have made a stand for righteousness in ways that were themselves unrighteous, unholy, and downright hurtful to others.  Too often in the face of our opposition we have ignored the first seven statements of Jesus, and responded by elevating the tension, adding fuel to the fire, and in general failing to live up to the standard Jesus calls us to.  Instead of taking that path, Jesus calls us to the less traveled road:  the road which allows us to rejoice and call ourselves blessed when we are mistreated and misrepresented.  It's a difficult road, which is probably why it's the road less traveled.  But I'm convinced that it's the road filled with Jesus' blessing and approval, which should be our greatest satisfaction.

Next week we are going to start a four week series of messages on sticky topics - the kinds of questions that followers of Jesus don't really want to talk about, and yet which we desperately need to talk about.  If you struggle with how to answer these questions, this will be a great series for you.  And if you have a friend who asks you these questions, this would be a great series to extend the invitation for them to join you on a Sunday morning.  I don't usually do this, but I'm just going to give you the preview of what we'll be talking about to prime the pump a bit:

Week 1:  How credible is the Bible?

Week 2:  How necessary is Jesus to salvation?

Week 3:  What is God's design for human sexuality?

Week 4:  How can we praise God for the good things in our lives and not blame him for the bad things?

The "Say Amen or Say Ouch" Monday Reflections

Ouch.

When I was a student at Zion Bible Institute, I had some fellow students who used to say about certain parts of certain messages that you should either "say amen, or say ouch" - indicating that you were agreeing with the message, or the message was hitting you hard enough that you should express some pain at what you were hearing.  Well, yesterday was a "say ouch" kind of sermon for me.  I said right from the start that the topic was one that I'm definitely processing personally, rather than one that I feel like I have got figured out.

We talked about Jesus' call to be a peacemaker in the midst of a very conflicted world, with conflicted relationships, and conflicted people caught in the middle of those conflicted relationships.  The reason I had to say "ouch" was simply that it's a message I've always struggled with.  I tend to be a conflict avoider, and so I usually find myself keeping peace rather than making peace.  I keep peace by avoiding people that I would be in conflict with, and sometimes keep peace with others by just keeping them separated, rather than by actively seeking harmony and unity.

My conflict avoidance (and that of others) often stems from a misunderstanding of the word peace.  We associate it with a lack of conflict, an absence of argument.  But when Jesus spoke about peace to his original audience, they would have heard it as a much more active reality.  They would have heard the word "shalom", which carries with it the sense of wholeness, the presence of harmony, and, in the words of one author, "a comprehensive flourishing."  In other words, when Jesus talks about making peace in his kingdom, he's envisioning men and women who aren't content to just get along by avoiding one another or by engaging in behind the scenes conflict, but who are willing to pay the price to move towards the completeness of what God is trying to accomplish in his kingdom through them. 

But peacemaking is a difficult process and a dangerous occupation.  It requires that we insert ourselves into stressful situations, and requires that we have a willingness to give up our self-interest and self-preservation for the larger good of the kingdom of God and the movement of Jesus.  When we make peace, either between ourselves and someone else or between two other parties, there is the possibility that we will be hurt by being caught in the middle.  We may have unkind or hurtful things said about us in the process.  We may be characterized wrongly in the process.  We may not even be able to bring about a successful resolution or reconciliation to the situation, but Jesus' call demands that we at least move towards the situation rather than avoiding it or making it worse by contributing to it.

The greatest example of a peacemaker is, of course, Jesus himself, who inserted himself into the middle of the great conflict between God and human beings, and offered himself as the bridge across the relationship gap that stood between us.  He did so knowing that it would cost him personally, and willing to take the risk in order to see the reward of reconciliation.  If we want to know what Jesus meant, we should look at what he did.  If we hope to see peace flow out from the church into the community, then it's critically important that we apply the lesson of peacemaking within the church, and within our relationships. 

That makes me say "ouch", but it also holds out the hope that we can embrace the call of Jesus, and so move his Kingdom forward.  I told a friend yesterday that it was a good message in the same way you might measure a good workout:  when you feel like you can't move afterwards.  I let my soul do some post-message recovery yesterday afternoon, but now the work begins.  I hope the same is true for you!

Next week we'll finish the final message in our "Blessed" series by looking at Jesus' blessing on those who experience persecution and opposition in the Kingdom.  I hope to see you there!

The "I'm stressed, Monday on a Tuesday" Reflections

It's Tuesday morning, I'm about to have my staff meeting with my one other staff member (that's Sally just in case you were wondering), and I'm completely stressed out, and have been for a week.  I've probably been a bit grumpy because when I get stressed out I get tense.  Don't ask Rita that, because she'll probably just confirm it.  And the reason I'm a bit stressed, and therefore a bit grumpy is that I'm working on a new series of messages that is requiring me to change up my routine quite a bit, and also is going to be dealing with some difficult topics.

In November I planned out a year-long preaching calendar with Jason and a couple of other guys.  At that time I had decided that we needed to do a series of messages around some difficult topics for Christians to address in our current culture.  At the time I was particularly thinking about the topics of human sexuality and the exclusivity of the Gospel - the idea that there is one way to relationship with God.  As it happens, recent current events have thrown the spotlight onto the questions about human sexuality, and the idea of a single way to God has always been seen as a bit narrow minded.

So here's what I'm learning (or re-learning as the case may be) about myself:  I get stressed when I feel like I'm not in control, which means that I often forget that God IS in control all the time, even when I think I am.  Does that make sense?

I'm also reminded of something else that is a core value for me in my teaching and in my leadership.  I've often been in conversations with other pastors who feel like the idea of planning out messages so far in advance somehow leaves the Holy Spirit out of the conversation.  I've always felt that God was working in me by His Spirit no matter how far in advance I was planning messages.  It's being confirmed once again as I get ready to tackle some difficult subjects that are incredibly timely.  I hope to do so in a way that is both gracious and truthful, and I hope to do so always in a way that allows God to speak for himself rather than me speaking for him.  I'm praying for that, and I'll simply ask you to pray for that as well.

But before we get to the Sticky Topics series, we're just a couple weeks from finishing up the "Blessed" series on the statements Jesus makes in Matthew 5 about life in his Kingdom.  It's been an incredibly challenging series of messages.  In fact, each week I've felt more challenged than the week before.  So I wish I could tell you it was going to get easier in the next two weeks, but that would not be true.  The last two messages about making peace and dealing with persecution may be the most difficult both for me to deliver and for you to hear.  At the same time, that probably means they're the most necessary.

I'm looking forward to seeing you Sunday morning!

Blessed: The Pure in Heart

This week's message reminded us that life in God’s Kingdom is concerned with cleansing our hearts, shaping character from the inside out, not creating an external purity that doesn't transform our lives.

Podcast:  Download 20 Blessed - The Pure in Heart

PDF: Download Pure in Heart

The "Sitting back to Listen" Monday Reflections

So yesterday at New Life Jason and I got to switch roles for the day.  He was the Preacher Man, and I was Announcer Boy.  Since it was my week for announcements I decided to take the opportunity to do a little "housekeeping" about our weekly welcome/announcement time.  One of the things I absolutely LOVE about our church is that when we show up each week we are genuinely happy to see one another.  The only downside to that is that when we're ready to start the service, sometimes conversations continue to happen even while Jason is doing his welcome to the church.

So the way I tried to deal with it yesterday was just a gentle reminder - the welcome and announcements that you may have heard a hundred times as you've come to New Life over the last few years is not really for you!  It's for the people who show up each week who have never been to the church before and are just taking their first or second chance at checking out church again, or maybe for the first time.  So we want to make sure that when Jason or I stand up to welcome people to New Life, that you are respecting those people who are our guests.  And here's the thing:  I know you will, Because you're just as concerned about creating the welcoming environment at New Life as I am!

Jason did a tremendous job in the teaching yesterday as he walked us through Jesus' statement of blessing on the merciful.  He used Jesus' well-known parable of the Good Samaritan as a perfect illustration of the ways that we tend to ignore the need to be merciful simply because it's too messy, or too inconvenient, or because it just doesn't fit with our desire for revenge or justice.

There were several points during the message where I found myself nodding my head, knowing exactly what he was talking about, and knowing exactly who I've failed to treat with the mercy that God himself offered to me through Jesus.  And that's the biggest tragedy of the story - that we would so willingly ask for and receive God's mercy, and be so willfully disobedient to his command that we show mercy in return.  But the blessing to the merciful is that they will be shown mercy in return.

Jesus' words throughout the gospels show that our failure to be merciful has significant consequences.  When we don't forgive, he says that we will not be forgiven.  He told an entire parable about a servant who begs for mercy from his master and then shows no mercy to a fellow servant, ending with the picture of the unmerciful servant being cast into prison until he could pay his overwhelming debt.  In other words, mercy makes the Kingdom life much more messy, but also much more beautiful.  We know that clean, hard and fast lines are probably much easier for us to manage, but we also know that there's something more artful about a merciful life than a judgmental life.  And I know I'd rather live the beautifully complicated life of mercy than the simple, brutal and ugly life of vengeance. 

Next week I'll get back to teaching, and we'll be talking about the call for followers of Jesus to be pure in heart.  I've heard several comments from different people that this has been one of the more challenging, but beneficial series we've done, so I really encourage you to find someone to bring with you as we keep allowing God's word to transform our lives.

Blessed: The Merciful

This week Jason Ferando shared the message, reminding us that as citizens of the kingdom, we are called to live a life full of mercy towards others, even when it’s undeserved, because of God’s rich mercy towards us in Christ.

Podcast:  Download 19 Blessed - The Merciful

PDF: Download The Merciful

The "Monday on a Tuesday" Reflections

A couple of weeks ago I was at a meeting of some other ministers at our Network offices, and a good friend of mine recommended that the ministers there take a look at my Monday morning blog posts.  Since then I realize I haven't managed to actually post a Monday blog - nothing like delivering what your readers are looking for, eh?

This past Sunday we had one of our more energetic crowds in quite some time.  It wasn't the largest crowd, but the room was filled with some kind of expectation and anticipation.  The primary drivers were probably not who you'd think, either.  It was our youth!  They had just come back from the Awakening Conference over the weekend, and even though you might expect them to be "churched out" after full weekend of worship and listening to messages, they were exactly the opposite.  The sight of several of them lining the front row during worship, hands lifted and voices raised was quite an inspiring sight.

They even listened pretty intently to the message :)  I'm glad they did, because it might have been one of the more important messages in a series filled with important messages.  The more I teach back through the Beatitudes, the more I realize just how fundamental they are to life in Jesus' kingdom.  As we've already covered poverty of spirit, mourning, and meekness, I couldn't help but think that this is exactly the kind of church community I want to be a part of.

This week we covered Jesus' statement of blessing on those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.  Righteousness has a lot of biblical context, and a lot of extra-biblical context.  The way we think about it now might be more along the lines of self-righteousness - the kind of nose-in-the-air, keep-me-away-from-those-sinners attitude that so often is associated with Christians.  But the biblical connotations for righteousness are really about alignment of our character with God's.  Throughout the Old Testament God is described as righteous in his character and actions, and those who are in covenant with him are encouraged to be righteous in their character and actions as well.

Our souls are hungry and thirsty to live according to God's standard for us.  Our spirit is designed to crave the life that aligns with God's character, and too often we spend time on the things that won't truly satisfy that deep spiritual hunger and thirst.  Jesus' teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven are like a full course, gourmet meal dropped on the table in front of us, and we are invited to sit down to the table and fill ourselves to overflowing with his righteousness.  At the heart of this invitation is the understanding that our self-righteousness is, in comparison to what Jesus offers, a rather poor, unsatisfying meal. 

I want to continue to allow Jesus to awaken inside of me a hunger and thirst for my life to line up with his, for my ways to conform to his, and my character to align with his.  There's a tension in that, because when I look at my life I see the ways that I am out of line right now.  But it's a good tension, because it drives me back to the table of Christ's righteousness, and when I hunger and thirst for that, I find that he actually fills me up with what I desire.  True life transformation takes place when that happens.

Next week we'll look at another challenging statement Jesus makes, as he calls us to a life characterized by mercy.  I hope you, and a friend, will join us as we keep looking at the life Jesus died to purchase for us, and rose again to bring to life in us!

Blessed: The Hungry

This week's message reminded us that life in God’s Kingdom is characterized by a burning desire to live our lives according to his standards.

Podcast:  Download 18 Blessed - The Hungry

PDF:  Download Hungry

Blessed: The Meek

This week's message reminded us that even though the world advocates that we get ahead for ourselves, the Kingdom of God advocates that we use our power to serve.

Podcast:  Download 17 Blessed-The Meek

PDF:  Download The Meek

The "Bullet Points" Monday Reflections

Some bullet point reflections on what's been happening at New Life over the last couple of weeks, including this past weekend:

• There were times during yesterday's message when it seemed the room was as quiet as if people had just seen a ghost.  It was definitely a heavy topic as we talked about the reality of brokenness and mourning in the world, but I hope that we managed to see that there is hope to be had through Jesus' Kingdom as well. 
• I took some time after the worship and before the message to remind the church that the musicians are there to set the tone and the atmosphere for worship.  When we play, we want to have people encounter Jesus as they sing, or sit quietly, or even cry.  We sometimes leave space in our songs for music without words, and we want you to know that it's okay to supply your own words during that time.
• While attendance isn't the only way to measure momentum, we have been consistently gaining over the last several months, and that is due to our New Lifers inviting friends and family to join them for a service.  While it's almost expected to have guests on Easter Sunday, we had several guests yesterday as well.  It's been exciting to watch the room fill up, even if it creates some space problems for us.
• Speaking of space problems...we are doing our best to come up with the best possible plan for us to address the "we're running out of space" feeling that happens as the room fills up each week.  It's obviously a good problem to have, but one that we need to figure out if we're going to keep growing.  
• If you haven't yet, please check out our website at www.newlifewakefield.com.  There are still a couple sections in need of some photos to spruce it up, but we're basically done with the building process.  You can find email addresses for leaders, listing for our partnership groups, and even a calendar of events all on the site.
• We're hopefully in the last stages of getting our new physical sign for the building as well.  We have to get some approvals from the Town on our design, but then we will be moving forward with that project as well, hopefully in time for summer.
• Speaking of summer....we've been working very hard on preparations for our fourth annual Summer Life Block Party.  You're going to start hearing more about this soon - it's going to be Saturday June 30th with a rain date of the following Sunday, July 1st.  We've kicked this event up several notches this year with some new live musical acts, a musician (The Great Baldini) for the kids, and tons of different activities for the entire family.  This is going to be the best Block Party yet!
• We just started several new partnership groups last week, and have had a great response to those so far.  Looking forward to connecting with my group over the next 10 weeks and digging into the weekly message a little bit further together.  I know I'm partial, but I think I had the coolest mix of people in my group, and we had a great first week of discussion.  I'm sure the other groups are going to be just as good, and if you haven't joined one yet, make sure to check out the listings here:  Join a Partnership Group.

One last thing.  I love my church!  You guys make it an amazing place to show up to every week, whether someone has been there for a long time, or is just coming for the first week, you create the environment that welcomes them in, and allows them to hear about the life change Jesus brings.  Thanks for sacrificing your time, for giving your gifts, and for investing your lives in God's Kingdom!