New Life Assembly

Redemption: Part 5

This week we looked at the story of Job and explored the tension between knowing God is good, wise and just and the reality that in the midst of troubling situations, we sometimes don't feel like that's the case:  Download 21 Redemption Part 5

Memorial Day Monday

We're about to head out to Connecticut to spend the day with my family there.  I hope you enjoy a great day with your friends and/or family wherever the day takes you.  Just some bullet point thoughts before we get out for the day:

• Another great Sunday at New Life yesterday!
• I continue to be amazed at the stories of life-transformation I'm hearing.  God is doing some great things with us!
• I'm sure there were some sound issues yesterday as we tried to incorporate a new keyboard into the mix - we'll get those straightened out and the band will sound better than ever.
• Taught out of Job on the great passage where he talks about his living Redeemer.  Having recently re-read the whole book, I have to say, it is one of the great literary pieces in the Scriptures.  The imagery used is tremendous, and the message is powerful - God is with us even in the midst of suffering and trial.
• Had a lot of comments yesterday that the message hit someone right where they needed it - that's always a great way to finish off the service for me.
• Really looking forward to the cafe/concert night in a couple of weeks - bring a friend, because we are gonna rock that place!  Plus, Rita the most attractive Barista ever (she's my wife, so I can say that) will be there again making great lattes. 
• I have a feeling now that 24 and the Celtics are done that I'm about to enter a reading binge.  About time to stock up on some new books, I think!

Hope you enjoy your day.  I know it has become just another 3 day weekend for most, with picnics, barbecues, and all that kind of stuff, but take a moment today and remember those who paid the highest price for the liberties we enjoy this day.

Lincoln, in his historic address, said this:  "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government : of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Money Matters: The Grace of Giving

This week we finished our three week series taking a look at how God would want us to manage our money by talking about the grace that God has shown us, and how we can graciously and generously give our resources to advance the work of the kingdom:  Download 20 The Grace of Giving

Mourning Monday

The Celtics season came to a close last night, the Red Sox lost, and the Bruins were eliminated from the playoffs on Thursday.  The beautiful dream that was Boston sports dominance faded into the distance, to the joy of sports fans everywhere else, I'm sure.  But, silly as it sounds, it's left me feeling a bit melancholy this morning.  Add in a cool, rainy morning and it's gonna be a three-coffee day, for sure...

• Spent part of Saturday at Guitar Center with Jacob, and met our two guitar players there as well (completely unplanned, I should say).  Looking at a new keyboard, finally.  We had ours stolen two summers ago, and since then I've been using a borrowed keyboard, but it's about time to go get a new one.  Hoping to pick that up in time for the next cafe/concert night, if not before :)
• And no, for the record, the series on money had nothing to do with getting a new keyboard either...jes sayin.
• From the beginning of our run-through yesterday morning I never felt like the band was totally in sync.  We'll get it going next week though!
• Good way to end the three weeks on money.  I felt great about the talk yesterday and grounding the whole discussion firmly in the soil of grace - God's grace to us frees us up to be gracious and generous givers in the kingdom of God.
• I said it a couple of times yesterday, I'll repeat it here:  if you have genuinely received the grace of God in your life, then what's your money?
• Yes, I'm really tired of TV preachers begging for money and promising some kind of payoff in return, it's a real pet peeve of mine.  Give for the sake of being generous and gracious, not because you want to get something back.  God is not your genie.
• Dealing with a few parenting challenges right now - would appreciate your prayers for Rita and I on that front.  It just so happens (coincidence, I don't think so....) that I'm planning a three week series on parenting, probably for June.  At this point, I feel like I should have someone else preach it :)  But I'll get over it, I'm sure.
• Can't remember if I've said this before, but I'm talking to a few people about a summer block party at New Life.  We've got the perfect location for it, a great amount of parking, and lots of space to pull it off.  More to come as we figure out what it's going to look like.
• Next Sunday is "redemption" Sunday.  We'll be looking at a great passage from a favorite OT book:  Job.  Looking forward to the message and to sharing communion with my New Life family again.
• The Sunday following that I'll be sharing an initiative that I've recently become pretty involved with called Beautiful World.  It's the brainstorm of a good friend of mine, Scott Axtmann, who pastors Renaissance Church in Providence.  He shared his heart on this issue with me last summer, and I was compelled by the vision he articulated.  So in response to that we'll be talking about God's heart for the poor, and his desired response from us.  I'll also be sharing (you get the preview here) that I'll be taking a 10 day trip to Nicaragua in August to see some of the missions we're working with in that country, particularly one called Nica Hope, which is doing a great work in the community of people that live around the dump in the capital city of Managua.
• 24 Season Finale tonight! 

Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

All Things Monday

Monday is to Coherence as:

(a)  Sight is to Blindness
(b)  Coffee is to Conversation
(c)  Facebook is to Addiction
(d)  Sports is to Sanity

You vote, I'll decide :)

The weekend was a bit of a blur, to be honest, and I'm just trying to settle back into some kind of normalcy, while thinking that normalcy may be either overrated, or underappreciated - not sure which is true.  Friday night we spent having dinner with some friends, Saturday was baseball pictures and practice for me and Jacob while Aislinn and Rita spent the day in Connecticut.  And then Sunday, Mother's Day, was a bit hectic for us as well.

I haven't seen our attendance figures yet, but I'm thinking it was close to an Easter attendance for us, which was great.  Lots of guests coming with families, which always gives a good bump, but also several guests in general.  I was thinking yesterday that it was great to be the church location that people came to, rather than the one that was emptied out by everyone visiting somewhere else.  I know we've been on the other end in the past, and will be again in the future, but there was definitely a good vibe at New Life yesterday.

I continued (for better or worse) the series on our money talking about our responsibility to be trustworthy stewards of the resources God has given us.  I don't think I can say strongly enough just how important it is that we manage our temporary resources now in a way that will add eternal value to our lives.  I'm thinking I challenged people from every end of the spectrum to take a good look at their money from God's perspective, not as if they own it, but as if he does, and we are called to manage it. 

Next week we're going to talk specifics like tithing, giving generously and sowing and reaping as the way the Kingdom of God works.  I'm sure it's going to present some questions for us, so we're going to end the three week series by opening up for questions - always slightly dangerous, but potentially rewarding as well. 

Also, God is doing some great things through various people at New Life - from new Christians to old ones, there's a definite move afoot for God to advance his kingdom through us.  Just want to encourage us to be aware and alert to the opportunities God is putting in front of us, because when our eyes are open and our hearts are responsive to his nudging, He is capable of doing GREAT things through us!

Grace to you and Peace be with you.

Random, semi-connected thoughts

Lots of thoughts cluttering my brain this week, so I thought I'd unload some of them here:

• Had a brief conversation with Rita last night about our personal giving to the church and mission of the kingdom - I've been feeling challenged while preparing the messages on managing our money, so I think we're going to make some changes coming up.  I think there's no better way to lead than by example.
• Coaching Jacob's instructional league baseball team could be the most draining thing I've ever done.  An hour and 15 minutes has never gone by so quickly and never taken so much out of me.  My assistant coach and I agreed - you could not pay me enough money to be a first grade teacher. 
• Speaking of first grade teachers, my son has had the privilege of running into one of the best.  After our first interaction with her on a parent night in the first week of school I told Rita that she reminded me of my own first grade teacher, Mrs. Stack.  When you can still remember your first grade teacher in a positive light at age 33+, I'd say that's a good comparison.  So thanks to Mrs. Stack for being an incredible teacher to me, and thanks to Mrs. Sauro for the incredible effort you've given to Jacob this year.  I have no doubt he'll remember you at 33.
• Speaking of kids... I woke up this morning to the sound of my kids reading to each other in Aislinn's room.  Some days they amaze me, literally.  As a parent you wrestle over and over with the constant shaping of their character, the incessant need to give them sound direction and the agonizing hope that they will "get it".  I laid in bed listening to them while a wave of thanksgiving swept over me for a moment when they were speaking to each other with kindness and interacting with each other positively.
• I haven't been to the gym in almost two weeks, the result of an unfortunate meeting between me and poison ivy.  I can't wait to get back to it.  My gut is begging for a beating.
• I've been working on the writing for a new book on character that we can use in our partnerships at the church.  The idea is to explore the beatitudes in Matthew 5 as a manifesto for character in the kingdom of God, and I hope to finish up the first manuscript in the next couple months.  That will require, however, that I get my act together.  And then editing.  Gotta love editing.  Or not.
• There's been some discussion with a few people here at the church about the possibility of hosting some kind of a block party event for the community this summer.  More details to follow, but the key is I've already had somebody say they love to organize things, which is music to the ears of this organizationally and administratively challenged person.
• Looking forward to two things tonight: (1) Worship practice - I love playing with these guys!!  (2)Celtics/Magic, Game 2 tonight.  Hopefully the C's play with more energy than they did in Game 1.

Thanks for indulging me in offloading these thoughts to a page.  Now, back to work on the message.

Monday Reflections

Coming off another busy weekend I feel like I could sleep for another 8 hours.  Either that or drink another 8 cups of coffee.  It may come down to that, who knows.

Friday night our band played another coffee house event, and we had a great time once again.  I love playing with those guys - talented musicians indeed, but also good people that I like hanging out with.  I'm guessing that it is starting to show up in the way we play together.  I think the next stage for us is to have some jam sessions with just the musicians to see if we can start writing some of our own stuff.  Also, if you're part of the New Life community, keep a look out for our drummer who will be rapping for us one Sunday in the near future.

Last Thursday before the Celtics/Bulls game 6 I asked Rita for permission to buy tickets to game 7 if they lost.  So immediately after overtime 3 on Thursday night, I bought two tickets - one for me, one for my brother.  So I spent Saturday evening with several thousand good friends, and a couple of Bulls fans who mistakenly wandered into the wrong house.  It was my first playoff game for any sport, and I was not disappointed by the atmosphere and feel of the game.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Surprisingly I wasn't dragging nearly as much as I thought I'd be yesterday morning.  I taught on the topic of money for the first time in my 9+ years at the church, and finally felt like I got myself back on track with the sermon delivery.  We started the three week series laying down the fundamental principle that everything belongs to God - the earth and all its resources.  If that's the case, then we have everything we need to accomplish the mission God has prepared for us.  For the next couple weeks we're going to unpack our role as trustworthy stewards of those resources and then hit on some real practical nuts and bolts of managing our money God's way. 

I wasn't sure how the reaction would be to the message, but it was overwhelmingly positive.  I had several people come up to me afterwards and say, essentially, "It's about time you taught on this!"  Not that I'm looking for accolades by any stretch, but it was good to hear a positive response for sure.

I hope you're looking forward to your week as much as I am.  I pray it's filled with God's peace and that his presence saturates your days.

Money Matters: It's All His

The first in a series of messages on managing our money based on what matters to God.  This week, we talked about how God owns everything, and looks for us to use our resources to fund the mission of the kingdom of God:  Download 18 Money Matters - It's All His