New Life Assembly

Merry Christmas!

"So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.  She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them."

Merry Christmas to you!  May the peace of Christ surround you, the love of Christ fill you, and the joy of Christ overflow from you!

Pre-Christmas Monday

I'm in shock at just how quickly Christmas has snuck up on me this year.  My kids are in full-fledged countdown mode to the big day.  We've watched the Grinch, Charlie Brown and Rudolph.  We've listened to all the Christmas music, made the Christmas cookies for the teachers - all that's left now is wrapping gifts and we'll be done.  In the midst of it all, it's been great for me to be teaching through the events leading up to and encompassing the cross on Sundays.

Yesterday I said that it's much easier to consider Jesus the infant than it is to consider Jesus the man.  Didn't make the sermon cut, but for some of you the instant connection was the now infamous Ricky Bobby "prayer" in which he tells his family, in no uncertain terms, that his "favorite Jesus" is the baby Jesus.

Unfortunately, it's easy to remake Jesus in the image that we prefer, and so to lose the power of his life, death and resurrection to shape our lives as his followers.  To make good sense of the manger, you must make good sense of the cross, and that's what we tried to do yesterday as we took a look at the lives of three men that crossed paths with Jesus on the day of his crucifixion.

The story of Simon, father of Alexander and Rufus, grounds the whole scene firmly in the context of history.  It was a real cross, a real crucifixion, and its effects were felt by real human beings.  The Roman Centurion observes Jesus' death on the cross and sees something about this man that distinguishes him from all the other men he's ever crucified before.  He sees a refusal to come down from the cross, and instead the power to stay on the cross - it leads him to a confession of faith in Jesus as the Son of God.  Finally we looked at Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a disciple in secret, but who comes boldly to ask Pilate for Jesus' body.  Something about the cross pushes Joseph out of the closet and into the limelight.  Something about the king willing to die for his kingdom impacts Joseph in a very deep way.

It's my hope that in presenting Christ crucified, it might help us better understand Christ wrapped in swadlling cloths and lying in a manger.  The manger and the cross are equally important to the story - you cannot have one without the other.  It's my prayer that this Christmas, we might hold them both together in our hearts, and so celebrate Christmas more richly than ever before.

With a short week, I probably won't be back to blog again before Christmas.  So Merry Christmas to you, and your families - may the grace and peace of Christ dwell deeply in your hearts this Christmas season!

Thursday Thoughts

A few scraps of paper attached by magnets to my mental refrigerator door:

• Spent a few hours on Tuesday with the group of pastors from our district who went to Catalyst in October.  We had some discussion around a few clips from the conference and I was particularly struck by Jim Collins talking about preserving the eternal values while giving freedom to innovate in practices.  He said that each new generation will create new ways of communicating and passing on the eternal message.  There's a privilege/responsibility dichotomy with that for me.  It means I have the privilege of participating in that, but I also then have the responsibility to be faithful to do it to the best of my ability. 
• Spent the ride up and back on Tuesday with a great friend, visionary leader and mentor - Scott Axtmann from Renaissance Church in Providence.  I am blessed to have friends who have walked the road a little farther than I have, and who are willing to reach back and speak wisdom into my life from that perspective.  I enjoyed the time with the rest of the group, but really valued the few hours in the car there and back.
• Working on the Christmas Eve message this week - going to try to finish it up by tomorrow if I can.  Looks like I'm going to share some thoughts from the genealogy in Matthew chapter 1 - not to be clever and preach from somewhere I've never preached from, but because I find the names included there so intriguing:  Tamar (who dressed like a prostitute and deceived Judah into having sex with her and conceived twins), Rahab (also a prostitute), Ruth, and Bathsheba, and some wicked kings of Judah as well.  God takes all that human mess and out of it brings the Messiah to the world.
• The Starbucks in Wakefield has been extremely busy every time I've gone in there lately.  Seems the economy isn't killing the coffee cravings yet.
• I looked at my 403(b) statement online the other day...bad idea.  Starbucks' business may be fine, but I lost 40% of my paper money value in the last three months or so.  Wow.
• While we didn't spend a ton of money on our kids for Christmas, I think they're going to love what we bought for them.  This year we're spending Christmas morning with just the four of us before we head to Connecticut to see the rest of the family.  I'm really looking forward to that time together.  Rita and I have been feeling it's time we started to establish our own Christmas tradition to some degree, so this is the first step in that direction.
• New Lifers will be happy (maybe) to hear I just wrapped up writing the final message in Mark.  Looking forward to a fresh start in 2009(!) with a series on our Mission, Vision and Values.

So this is Monday....

"And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the City, a cock crowed.  Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry or war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn.
And as if in answer there came from far away another note.  Horns, horns, horns.  In dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed.  Great horns of the North wildly blowing.  Rohan had come at last."

Got to read those words last night just before putting head to pillow and ending a rather long and weary weekend.  I'm on my annual pilgrimage through Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy, and that passage is one of my favorites; pregnant with hope, anticipation and promise.

A wild weekend had us visiting with friends on Friday night, visiting my family in Connecticut on Saturday, and then morning and evening services on Sunday this week.  Things are on the downhill run towards Christmas, so that means time is a little tighter than normal both personally and at the church.  I'll look forward to a deep breath the week after Christmas for sure.

I decided not to do a series of Christmas sermons this year, hoping instead to finish our journey through Mark's gospel by the end of the month.  At least personally it's been rewarding to me to find that in the story of Mark we're right at the foot of the cross just as we're arriving at the manger in the seasonal calendar.  The juxtaposition of the two has been a healthy reminder to me that the manger and the cross are closely connected - you cannot have one without the other.

This week focused on Jesus embracing the attitude of humility, and in humility being willing to accept the cross.  In his humble acceptance of the cross, he takes something that was a symbol of Roman domination and cruelty, and turns it into a symbol of life and hope for those who believe in his calling as Savior, Messiah and King.

If the cross was about humiliation in the process of execution, Jesus entered into the moment without any ego or pride to be lost.  He had already taken the role of a servant to his disciples, even to the one who would betray him.  In humility and servanthood he gave dignity and gravity to his move towards the cross - a dignity and gravity that could not be stripped away with his clothes, or beaten out of his bones......

For me.  For you.  That's heroic.  That's redemption.  That is my king.

Rumbling and Stumbling towards Sunday

Thoughts on the surface of my mental desk this afternoon:

• Just started reading Revelation (been a long time since I ventured in there...) - God nailed me with the beginning of chapter 2 in the letter to the church at Ephesus.  Talks about knowing their deeds, their perseverance and their endurance - all commendable - and then he tells them that he's upset with them because they've left their first love.  God was reminding me that he sees my faithfulness and endurance in the work he's called me to, but that he wants more than that - he wants my heart, my affection, my love and devotion.  He wants me to work with him because I'm passionate about him, not to work for him because I have to.  Big distinction.
• Went along with a sermon I heard Monday (maybe) by Matt Chandler of The Village Church somewhere in Texas.  He was preaching (this dude preaches; no "sharing", no "talking", just preaching) about having affection for Jesus, and that at the core of some of our sin struggles and ineffectiveness for the kingdom is our lack of affection for Jesus.  Hard to hear, but right on the money for me.  
• I've got just one more Mark message to prepare and then we'll be on to the new topics for the new year.  Changing up the teaching schedule a bit for 2009.  I'm going to break up series into 3 week chunks.  The fourth Sunday of every month we're going to hang out on one Biblical theme - redemption.  Going to look at how it plays out from the beginning to end of Scripture.  So we'll have three weeks of series, and then one week off as we touch on redemption.  I'm excited about it, we'll see if anyone else is in a couple of weeks :)
• Excited for Rita to have some time off around Christmas.  She works Christmas Eve but then she's off until the following Tuesday.  We'll be in CT for part of it, and home for some of it as well, but I'm looking forward to the down time together with her and the kids.
• Looks like the mini high school reunion is going to happen for sure on the Saturday after Christmas as well, just adults, no kids is the plan.  Should be fun to reconnect with old friends to see where their life journey has taken them!
• Trying to get under 180 pounds before Christmas.  Haven't seen numbers in the 170's probably since college, maybe High School, so that would be a significant achievement for me.
• Cleaned out some junk from the file cabinets in my office on Tuesday - man I had a TON of stuff in there that was totally unnecessary.  Got most of my sermons into binders, but let some of them go into the trash.  For those of you who suffered through the "early years", my apologies :) some of those were probably terribly, terribly boring.
• I love Mike Lowell, but I hope the Sox sign Mark Texeira to play first base - I think they could use the help in their lineup that he'd bring.

That's all for now...I may be back tomorrow with a preview for Sunday, but no guarantees.  If not, hope to have you back on Monday.

Revolution: Who are You?

Throughout Mark's Gospel we've asked the question, "who is Jesus?"  This week we find ourselves asking about who we are, and whether we will have the courage and integrity to live out our calling as a follower of Jesus:  Download 24 Revolution - Who are You_

Good Morning Monday

Really, I hope you're having a great Monday morning.  I just got back from the gym, settled in with some emails, and now getting ready to write for you for a few minutes.  Hope you've got your favorite caffeinated beverage handy to stimulate the brain - I'll be brewing my after-lunch coffee soon enough.

This weekend was finally, finally, a weekend that we got to slow down and relax a little bit.  Saturday is our family Sabbath and the last few have been spent catching up on various errands that needed to be run and so forth, so this week it was nice to not feel like we had anything to do.  Jacob and I went to a basketball game in the morning while Rita and Aislinn stayed home reading and cleaning (Aislinn reading, Rita cleaning).  Went out in the afternoon to get Rita' Christmas present:  a vacuum cleaner.  Yes, I know all you ladies are jealous of Rita for having such a romantic husband...

Yesterday was a great Sunday - despite some sicknesses hitting our worship team and the rest of the church - I had a chance to teach on living the life God means for you to live.  I read a while ago (I think on Gary Lamb's blog) that every preacher has a message they seem to come back to over and over again - this one is mine.  It was great to talk about how I've been discovering who God has called me to be as a person and as a pastor, and to have the chance to encourage everyone there to follow God's calling for them with integrity and courage.

The talk generated from the contrast between Jesus admitting he was the Messiah in front of the Sanhedrin at his trial while at the same time Peter is outside denying that he is a follower of Jesus.  I shared that when we are under pressure, who we are really comes out.  I think that was true for both Peter and Jesus.  Jesus kept his integrity and Peter blew it.  Good thing for Peter (and me) that God is gracious, forgiving, and allows us another chance to get back up again.  I hope I challenged us to keep pursuing hard after God's calling for us, not what someone else dreams for us, and to have the integrity and courage to stand up in that calling when we are given the opportunity.  Didn't get to say it yesterday, but Peter has his moment of redemption on the day of Pentecost when he no longer shrinks back from confessing Jesus as Messiah and King of God's Kingdom.

I hope you have a great start to the week - Christmas is approaching quickly, and even though I'm not teaching Christmas messages this year, I'm definitely in the spirit.  So, in the Spirit of Christmas, I pray for you to be filled with God's peace, and the hope of the saving and redeeming potential present in the Christ-child in the manger.

Thinking out loud on a Thursday

• Why is it that when kids come home from school sick they don't really act sick? 
• Re-reading The Lord of the Rings, and again am inspired by this quote:  "The road must be trod, but it will be very hard.  And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it.  This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong.  Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world:  small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere."
• I am neither strong, nor wise, and so offer my small hands to God to do through me what he must do.
• Listened to a sermon and a half by Erwin McManus (series called "Wide Awake") while on the elliptical and bike today.  Two times I had to pause the talk so I wouldn't break down in tears in the middle of the Y.  First one:  "It begs the question tonight, what is there in the world that demands your existence?  What is it that must be done, that if you do not wake up tomorrow will not be done and so you must get up, get out of bed, awaken, and live?"  Second one:  "Who must you become?"  I actually stopped listening after that one, and just started meditating on that for a while.  Actually ties in closely with my talk for this week, so that was very timely.
• Looking forward to the possibility of a mini-reunion with some friends from high school over the Christmas holidays.
• Who must you become?  What in the world demands your existence?

Tuesday, Bloated Tuesday

Good Afternoon....made the mistake of getting on the scale this morning for my weekly weigh-in.  It was ugly.  Maybe it's motivation for a week of fasting or something like that. 

Periodically I go through a phase where I buy and read classic works of fiction.  My latest purchase was John Steinbeck's massive novel, East of Eden, which is a sort of retelling of the biblical Cain and Abel story.  I finally finished it up Friday evening while sitting by the fire and enjoying turkey and stuffing sandwiches (hint, this may have something to do with my scale issue noted earlier).  I now know why it's considered a classic.  Great characters, great storytelling, and beautiful, vivid words to paint the whole picture.  Since I've never read The Grapes of Wrath I'll probably pick it up and read that next.  I have this hope that someday when my kids are taking English in High School they'll be able to look at my bookshelf and find there the kinds of books they're reading.  Maybe I'll pick up Of Mice and Men too, I remember reading that in Mrs. Traut's junior English class and thoroughly enjoying the George and Lennie saga. 

I also skipped out on a 15 year High School reunion in Hartford.  I've seen a few photos on Facebook and I'm actually a little disappointed that I wasn't able to get there.  Maybe for the 20th?

Sunday I taught on Jesus' prayer in the garden.  Maybe you know the one?  "Not my will, but yours be done."  Man, that's a tough prayer to pray.  I had a couple of good conversations following the message in the morning with people who resonated with the idea that we often put off having a dialogue with God that goes that way.  In fact, as I was teaching, I realized there were a couple of conversations God was trying to have with me that I'd been putting off because I wasn't really interested in his will, just interested in me getting my will done.

Yesterday in my journal I compared it to a chess game.  It's as if God has opened the game some time ago, attempting to initiate a conversation with me, but I just went on pretending all the pieces were still in the same place they were before.  I feel like the message opened up my eyes to what I've been ignoring, so I'm actually doing my best to practice what I preach, and open up my heart and mind to hearing what God is trying to say to me about his will for my life. 

I believe what I said Sunday - all of our growth as followers of Jesus will come from a place where we pray that prayer submitting our will to God's.  So I'm looking forward to some good growth in my life, and hoping and praying that you'll be experiencing the same as you submit your will to his for your life.

Grace.  Peace.  Feel the warmth of his smiling countenance upon your face.