New Life Assembly

The "Painfully Introspective" Monday Reflections

Yesterday at New Life we finished up our first series of the year, which we called "Dashboard".  It was a series of messages designed to get us to check our gauges in various areas of our lives - spirituality, emotions, physical, and relationships.  I confessed during the message yesterday that this was a hard series to preach, simply because it caused me to take a hard look at my own life in those areas.  Even though I recognize that no real growth happens in me unless I do that hard work of introspection, I also recognize that it can be incredibly painful to look inside to see the areas that are out of line with God's will and purpose in my life.

Throughout the series I have been meeting with different people from the church who have wanted to meet with me to talk about their lives in these areas.  I've tried to offer some suggestions for growth, particularly in the spiritual arena, and have really enjoyed the meetings I have had.  So I spent yesterday afternoon with a few good friends sharing our "Dashboard Assessments" with each other and talking about the ways that we felt God was speaking to us about what he wanted to change within us. 

It was both intimidating and liberating to sit with friends and talk about my strengths and weaknesses.  It was intimidating because any time you open up about your life to someone, you've created a vulnerability that most of us tend to avoid if possible.  The liberating part is that when you open up and share with good friends you can trust with your life, then you receive something back from them.  You receive back encouragement, challenge, and accountability for what you say you're going to do - all of which can give us tremendous freedom.

In hopes that I can inspire you to take an honest look at yourself, I'll share what I committed to with my friends yesterday in the four areas we touched on in the series:

• In the spiritual area I committed to pray more.  It sounds simple, and maybe you're surprised to hear it come from a pastor, but there are times that I know I'm not spending enough time in prayer.  Given a choice between reading Scripture and praying, I would choose to read Scripture, so I need to make sure I bring some balance to that aspect of my life.  One of the first steps I took in that direction was to read Mark Batterson's book The Circle Maker, which has ramped up my desire to spend more time in prayer.
• In the emotional area I committed to moving towards contentment in every situation.  I tend to look at what I don't have rather than what I do have, and that leads me to a lack of peace at times, so I feel like God is putting his finger on that part of my heart and teaching me to rest in him and his provision for my life.
• In the physical area I committed to taking one day a week off from my work.  Saturday is supposed to be my family day where I don't do any church work, but over the last few months that discipline has faded, so I'm committing myself to that day of rest again.
• In the relationship area I committed to being a better husband.  This was probably the most painful thing to say (and still is).  Since this is a public forum, I should clarify to say that our relationship is better now than ever, but I'm committed to making it better next year than it was this year.  I think I've done a pretty good job of being a husband in the day-to-day routines of life.  I help out around the house, I try to make sure that I pay attention to her when she comes home from work, but I haven't done a good job of continuing to "date" my wife.  At the beginning of the year I committed to a goal of one date night a month with Rita.  I'm hopeful that when the year ends we'll be able to look back at that time spent together and be grateful for the way God deepened our relationship during those times.

So that's what I'm working on in 2012 - how about you?

Dashboard: Relationships

This week's message reminded us that it is never too early, or too late, to begin to invest in building relationships that reflect God’s priorities.

Podcast:  Download 04 Dashboard - Relationships

PDF: Download Relationships

Dashboard: Physical

This week's message focused on the idea that we are to glorify God with our bodies in every area of our lives so that we may fulfill his kingdom purpose during our time on this earth.

Podcast:  Download 04 Dashboard - Physical

PDF:  Download Physical (Jason)

The "Dreaming Out Loud" Monday Reflections

"Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today my friends -- so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.  I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"

~ Martin Luther King Jr., August 28, 1963

On a Monday which celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I thought quite a bit about the power of a dream to change reality, and I thought a lot about the power of a dream to inspire hope in place of despair, faith in the place of doubt.  And while the exploits of a small town church with a small town pastor won't compare favorably to the impact that Dr. King had on the landscape of American history, this day made me think about my hopes and dreams for New Life.

I've spent more time than usual in the past couple of weeks hoping and dreaming, which in my context means that I've spent a lot of time talking out loud to God about my hopes and dreams for our church.  We have a word for that, but I find that, as with most words, that word has become so tamed and domesticated and infused with our own meanings for it that it's hard to see it for what it is.  It's called "prayer".  I've been praying quite a bit for the hopes and dreams that God has placed in my heart to come true for New Life. 

As I've prayed I've repeatedly come back to a bedrock, fundamental place in my dreams for our church.  As with any dream, it seems pretty impossible, but that won't stop me from praying it, and it won't stop me from saying it out loud here even as I reflect on yesterday at New Life.  For years and years I have heard that New England is the graveyard of pastors, the place where good men go to have their passion die.  For too long I've been lulled to sleep by those voices that have said that nothing great could or would happen here again.

But something is stirring in my heart again, and here's how I would articulate it:  I want New Life to be the church that changes what our community thinks about Jesus and his church. 

I know we live in an area filled with skeptics towards the church, towards Christianity, towards Evangelical Christianity in particular, and by implication, skeptical towards the claims of Jesus.  I just happen to believe that God can use a church like ours to reach out to the skeptics, the cynics, the people who have given up on church, and the people who have never thought much about giving church a try. 

The more I look around at the people who are showing up on a Sunday, the more convinced I am that this is who we are - that we are well-positioned to stand in that gap and welcome them to join us.  I met so many people just yesterday who find themselves in that position, and I know there are so many more like them in our community just waiting to find the place where they can express their questions, their doubts, their fears, and still hear a message of hope and faith that would move them one step closer towards a life-changing relationship with Jesus. 

That's a dream I'll give my life for; and one I hope you'll join me in dreaming, praying, and serving to make possible!

 

 

Dashboard: Emotions

This week's message reminded us that when we check our emotional gauge, we want to measure ourselves against a picture of emotional health that is produced by the Spirit’s work in us.

Podcast:  Download 03 Dashboard_ Emotions

PDF:  Download Emotions

The "I feel like a freight train ran over me twice yesterday" Monday Reflections

I woke up today with a serious case of the infamous "preacher's hangover" - that feeling on Monday morning like a freight train ran me over, and then backed up over me again just to make sure the job was finished.  I was yawning as I drove to the gym this morning, yawning as I walked through the doors, and even yawning while I was on the bike.  The good part about the preacher's hangover, however, is that it comes after I have a really full weekend of giving out of myself in an attempt to lead people to a deeper relationship with God, so instead of a day filled with regrets, I have a day filled with thoughts about the good things that happened!

This Sunday kicked off a new series for us at New Life, called "Dashboard", based on the idea that there are certain gauges that we need to check in our lives that will let us know if we're making progress towards becoming the men and women God wants us to be.  To start the series I thought it was really important that we check the gauge to measure our spiritual lives, because I believe that if we can prioritize that area, it will lead to good things happening in all the other areas of our lives.

The text for the week was found in Colossians 1:9-14, which is a section of a prayer that the apostle Paul prayed for the church he's writing his letter to.  As I read the passage in my own preparation I strongly felt that this was a prayer for me to pray along with Paul for our church, and that it was a passage that really did a great job of laying out a picture of a healthy spiritual life. 

That picture looks pretty impressive to me.  It looks like people who are growing in their understanding of God's wisdom, and in their understanding of their purpose in God's plan in the world - his plan to redeem men and women, rescuing them from the kingdom of darkness and transferring them into the kingdom of his Son Jesus.  It looks like people who commit to living a life that is worthy of the sacrifice that Jesus made for them to forgive their sins, so less and less do we give ourselves to the things that move us away from God's purpose and more and more do we give ourselves to what brings God pleasure and joy in our lives.

It looks like people who, in every good work, endeavor to be fruitful in God's Kingdom, choosing to make sure that all their spiritual activity produces personal change, but also change in the lives of people around them.  And finally, it looks like people who are being strengthened with God's power on the inside of their lives so that on the outside of their lives they can display great endurance, patience and even joyful thanksgiving to God in every possible situation - the good and the bad.

When I first read the passage, I thought to myself, "Why wouldn't I want this for me and for my church?"  I can't think of any reason.  So I'll remind myself and you - this is my prayer for you in 2012:

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Dashboard: Spirituality

This week we kicked off a new series called "Dashboard", based on the idea that we need to check various gauges in our lives.  As we do that to begin 2012, the most important one for us to check is how we are making progress towards bearing spiritual fruit in our lives.

Podcast:  Download 02 Dashboard-Spirituality

PDF:  Download Spirituality

The "First Monday of the New Year" Monday Reflections

I posted on Twitter on Saturday night that I was really looking forward to the fact that my first "official" act of 2012 was going to involve getting together to worship with my New Life family.  Every few years the holidays fall such that Christmas and New Year's Day are on a Sunday, and while it makes for a slightly busier holiday season for me, I really enjoy spending those two days with the amazing people who make New Life possible every single week.

As I typically do, I started the year with a message which I hoped would set the focus and tone for the year ahead at the church.  Like you, I'm thinking about the year ahead; goals I have for the year in a lot of different areas, and the church is no exception to that rule.  Obviously time is nothing to God in one respect - the changing of one year to the next doesn't change his purpose.  But He has also given us time to mark out our lives and to measure what we do within those bounds, and the change from an old year to a new year is a great moment for us to look ahead to what God has planned for us.

With that said, I probably didn't say anything earth-shattering yesterday about the future that I think God has in mind for New Life.  It's a future where we continue to be purposeful and intentional about reaching out to un-churched and de-churched folks who may be interested in hearing about Jesus, but who don't have all of their religious act together.  Over the past several years I've seen more and more evidence of the ways that God has brought people like that into our midst, and we've seen God do work in their lives that is changing them into the men and women God desires.

But as we said yesterday, this is not an overnight process.  If we're going to fully see people become true disciples of Jesus, then we're going to have to become comfortable with the idea that they come in without knowing what we think they should know, or acting as we think they should act.  Jesus' call to become a disciple, as we saw in the text of Mark 2 yesterday, was not complicated - simply "come and follow me".  It was simple, but it was very demanding at the same time.  There was no compromising his call, and even though the 12 men whom he poured his life into didn't always get what he was saying or doing, they stuck with him through the entire 3 year period of his public ministry.

Who knows what took place on those walks from one town to the next?  Who can tell how many conversations were involved in the discipleship process?  Who knows how many people heard Jesus' words to the crowds, followed for a little while, and then walked away?

As a church we hope to continue to create a space where people can come face to face with the presence of Jesus in his church, where they can see the life and love of Christ in action.  We want to be sure that we keep inviting people to come follow Jesus with us, because we believe that Jesus is the one who changes lives, he is the one who turns tax collectors and sinners into disciples and apostles who eventually change the world.

Next week we're starting a new series called "Dashboard", which will be an opportunity for us to check our gauges in different areas of our lives - spiritual, emotional, physical and relational - in order to see what we need to work on in the year to come.

No Rush

In this week's message, Pastor Keith shares the focus for New Life in 2012:  to keep calling men and women who are not following Jesus to come follow him with us, and commit to not rushing the process.

Podcast: Download 01 No Rush
PDF: Download No Rush

The "6 days until Sunday which is also Christmas Day" Monday Reflections

It's less than a week until Christmas and 12 days until the start of a completely new year, which is pretty hard to imagine.  I imagine I'll probably take the week after Christmas off from the Monday reflections, as we will be having my in-laws visiting from West Virginia for a week, and then sharing Christmas celebrations with the Connecticut McNamars on the day after Christmas. 

This past Sunday at New Life we continued through the process of unwrapping Christmas from the extra packaging that gets in the way of truly experiencing Christmas as the miraculous, life-altering, birth of God's Son into the world.  This week's packaging was simply what I called "following" - following the dominant world culture especially when it comes to Christmas which pulls at us to go along with the flow of working for the rich, the powerful and the prestigious.

But when we think about the rest of Jesus' life, when we even think about the way that his birth was first announced to the shepherds in the fields, we start to understand that Christmas is, at its core, about unfollowing the world and its system, and instead choosing to follow Jesus into a different way of life.  While we're being constantly told that we should give to those who can pay us back, and serve those who will one day serve us, God is doing something completely different.  He enters the world and establishes, from the beginning, that his kingdom would be about the poor, the oppressed, the captives, the ones who don't have and that he would send the rich away empty handed.

Not only is this what Mary sang in her well-known song in Luke chapter 1, but it was the way that Jesus lived his life.  I have a suspicion that he meant for those of us who follow him to follow in his footsteps when it comes to this, so when we spend our Christmas season fully participating in all the culture-following, I wonder how pleased he could be with that?  So this week I challenged us to spend the time pushing back against that culture, pushing the "unfollow" button on the endless stream of ads and messages telling us that this is how to celebrate Christmas.  Instead, perhaps we could click the "follow" button to Jesus' way, listen to what he has to say about why he came, and find the heart of Christmas there to be more powerful than we've ever known it to be before.

Next weekend will be our Christmas services - one at 7 PM on Christmas Eve, and a second at 9 AM on Christmas Day.  The services will be essentially the same - readings from the Christmas stories, traditional carols and a brief (I promise) message.  Please join us along with your family and or friends for either of these services to celebrate the birth of our Savior!