New Life Assembly

Redemption: Part 7

This week we looked at redemption in the context of the understanding that all have sinned and come short of God's glory in our lives, but that Christ, in the cross, provides the means for us to have restored relationship with God:  Download 30 Redemption - Part 7

Pre-Managua Monday

They say (whoever "they" are) that going overseas on a missions trip will be a life-changing experience.  Thirteen summers ago I spent three weeks out of the states on a trip with a large group from the bible college I attended.  We traveled to various cities in the country of Slovakia, which had, at the time, recently come out of communism.  In a few days I'll get ready to leave home again and spend 11 days in Nicaragua, fully expecting that my perspective on life will once again shift dramatically as a result.

So my last weekend at New Life for a while was another fulfilling one.  Friday night we had our third cafe/concert night.  It probably was the lowest attendance night for us yet, but I guess you have to account for the fact that it was a nice, summer night, which have been precious few around here lately, so I imagine people may have been otherwise engaged.  I think the folks who did show up enjoyed the time together, and as always, I had a great time playing with the band.

Sunday was another "redemption" Sunday, as this time I had the chance to directly deliver what you could truly call a "gospel" message.  We were in Romans 3, where Paul explains that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory; that there is no one who perfectly fulfills God's standards.  In response to that, instead of us having to find a way to satisfy God, he moves towards us in the greatest, most gracious way possible.  Through the cross of Christ he provides a sacrifice that, by faith, makes righteous those who receive that costly gift.  He freely offers redemption to the "all who have sinned", so that he can liberate us from sin's power in our lives, and bring us over into God's perfect righteousness.

I said yesterday that it really is at the heart of the gospel, which is bad news before it is good news.  But when it gets to the good news, it's really the best news of all.  We ended our time by sharing communion, remembering the cross which has purchased our freedom.  It was, in my mind, the most fitting way for me to get ready to take leave from our church for a couple of weeks.

So, for now:  "El Señor te bendiga y te guarde; el Señor te mire con agrado y te extienda su amor; el Señor te muestre su favor y te conceda la paz."

Catching up on Monday

Another weekend gone, and I'm less than two weeks from leaving for Nicaragua.  The closer I get, the more real it actually feels, so I'm starting to get a little rush of anxiety over the whole trip.  I'm nervous just about traveling out of the country, as I've only done it once before.  I'm nervous about being away from my family for 11 days.  And, strangely enough, I'm nervous about leaving the church for two weekends as well.

One of the continual struggles for me from a pastoral sense is to keep reminding myself that God is really the one in charge, and I'm not.  To be honest, it's tempting to start thinking that because New Life is picking up momentum lately that it's somehow a result of something that I'm doing.  I know, it sounds selfish and prideful.  It is, actually.  So I battle (and maybe others of you who are in pastoral leadership feel the same) that feeling that I'm irreplaceable at the church.  I have to remind myself that everything will be just fine without me - maybe even better!  So, it's an opportunity for me to trust that again, and remind myself that while God works through me, he's perfectly capable of working through the other people who make up our community to accomplish his purpose.  That's how he gets the glory from us.

Speaking of glory, we ended up the three week series on the table by talking about glory.  I tried my best to tackle the terribly sticky topic of alcohol and Christian liberty, and I think I got through it alright.  I hope at the very least, that I opened up the windows of Scripture to inform our convictions and opinions, which was certainly my goal.  I could definitely feel my nerves yesterday, as I do any time I touch on something that has controversial potential.  But I felt that as the message went on I found my stride, and was able to clearly articulate the principles of Scripture in regards to liberty.  First, and foremost, is that we should resolve to do nothing in our lives (at the table or anywhere else) which detracts from the glory of God in our lives.  And second is that we should resolve to do nothing in our lives which would make another brother or sister in Christ stumble and fall into sin.

Next week we'll get back to redemption, this time from the New Testament at last.  If you're looking to do some background reading this week, go ahead and check out Romans 1-3.  The passage we'll cover in depth is Romans 3:21-26, which is stockpiled with just about every significant theological term in the Scriptures, so it should be fun to try to unpack that passage a little bit.  After that, I'll be off from teaching for 5 of the next 6 Sundays.  I promise, I'm going to be all kinds of ready to teach once September rolls around!

Glory to God in the highest; on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests.

Looking back at the beginning

Good Morning.  This morning, after our guest left to return back to Baltimore, our whole family sat on the couch and took a couple of long, deep breaths.  Then we prayed - for our friends to travel safely and for grace to fill our day.  So, in the same way, I breathe a prayer for you now that grace and goodness will fill your day as well.

If I had any doubts about whether or not the early start time for the summer would hurt our attendance, the last few Sundays have alleviated them all.  We were jam packed yesterday morning and had a great service again.  I wish the weather would have been more cooperative in giving us a chance to picnic and play after the service, but the sun did eventually make its way out and the few of us who stuck around got to enjoy an extremely lively game of Wiffle Ball.

We continued on this week with a second message talking about the Table, and the ways that food and spirituality seem to intersect.  This time we breezed through Luke's gospel (four episodes) and a quick comment from the book of Acts to look at how Jesus invited all kinds of people into fellowship with himself through the simple act of sharing a meal.  While it's a simple act, it is one with profound implications.  The offer of fellowship from Jesus was an invitation for those sinners to take a step in the direction of salvation, of receiving the ultimate fellowship with God.

When the early church began to gather after Jesus' resurrection, Luke writes that a significant part of their witness was that they simply ate together, had fellowship with one another and did so with glad and sincere hearts.  Worship, prayer and teaching were certainly key ingredients to their experience as followers of Jesus, but they seem to have understood that fellowship was no less important to the life of the church than those other things we come to regard as more "spiritual" and serious.  It's never a bad thing to celebrate grace together at the table in the company of both sinners and saints - all of whom have been extended the offer of fellowship from our father.

Next week we'll close the series in a way that I hadn't planned for at all when I started mapping out the series.  In my sermon notebook where I sketch out the ideas for series and individual sermons I had written that I would like to close with the passage in 1 Corinthians 10 where Paul writes, "whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."  As I did some more studying on the particular passage, and some others like it, I thought God was pressing on me to share some thoughts about God receiving glory in our lives through moderation at the table - both in food and drink - so that will be the focus of the message for this coming Sunday. 

Until then, enjoy the fellowship of those great people God has graced your life with. 

The Table: Fellowship

This week we looked at the ways Jesus invited people to have fellowship with him around the table, and so began the process of transforming them from sinners to saints:  Download 28 The Table - Fellowship

Monday Afternoon Reflection

Just made the second cup of coffee for the day, and I'm actively attempting to tune out the sound of arguing children coming from the family room next to my office at home while praying that they will (one day) learn to work these things out without parental intervention...

It seems that summer has finally made its arrival, with the sun making an appearance for about three or four consecutive days at this point.  We spent the Fourth with my family in Connecticut, cooking out and ended the day watching fireworks over the lake.  My two brothers and I had the privilege of "baptizing" our new brother-in-law Kevin into the McNamar family by throwing him into the lake.  To his credit, he did not go easily, and he's now officially welcome in the family.

We were down attendance-wise at church yesterday, but I still thought it was a great day.  We kicked off a three week series called "The Table" where we're going to look at the ways that spirituality intersects with the very ordinary elements of food.  We talked yesterday about the ways that God made his grace known to people through the OT feasts, through the NT communion meal, and even the fact that in everyday, common meals, God has shown his grace and goodness to us (see Acts 14:17 for that one).

I do think it's astonishing (and perfectly to the point) that God would use something as common as food to make memories for his people.  The fact that the senses of taste and smell are so tied to memory is well established, and the reality that God used meals which involve those two senses to commemorate moments in Israel's history, and in our relationship with him in the new covenant does not seem to be accidental, but rather designed to connect with what would help us humans remember.  When you think about it, the elements of communion are bread and wine - extraordinarily common things in the world, and yet Jesus employs them for the purpose of establishing this memorial to him for his followers forever.

It's my hope that you will learn to find grace not just at the communion table, but at the dinner table with your friends and families; that you will learn to pray that grace would show up at your table like an extra, always welcome, guest.  It's my prayer that you will learn to celebrate God's grace to you, and in the celebration have a renewed appreciation of just how amazing his scattered-everywhere grace actually is.

So, grace to you.  And more grace.  Because grace is good - sink your teeth in, satisfying-to-the-last drop, powerfully-tasty good.   

The Table: Grace

This Sunday we started a three week look at the ways that spirituality intersects with something as ordinary and common as the food we share at a meal together:  Download 27 The Table - Grace

Random, Disconnected Thoughts

With no particular order or flow:

• Last night's Red Sox game was depressing.  I hope they can bounce back today and get a win from Beckett.
• Had a great night writing last night with the thunder and rain while listening to the foghorn and the sound of the waves out the window.  I felt inspired.  Hopefully it translates to the writing I did.  Though, truth be told, nothing ever seems as good in the cold light of day (or the cold gray of day, in our case here).
• I've been on a bit of a reading binge lately after reading through a list of top 100 books related to New England (either by topic or author) from the Boston Globe.  Recently finished John Adams' biography by David McCullough, Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson and am just about done with Three Junes by Julia Glass. 
• I'm really looking forward to starting a new series this weekend called "The Table".  We're going to explore the connection between meals and spirituality in the Scriptures by focusing on three places where the two cross over:  grace, fellowship and thanksgiving. 
• I'm amazed that while our economy has been in probably the worst state of the years I can remember, that the giving of our church community has been steadily on the rise.  To date we're about 23% over our projected budget for this point in the year.  That's definitely a testimony to God's faithfulness!
• We're in the process of working two major projects that I hope will expand our influence in the community:  (1) A renovation of our garage into a better equipped food pantry which will allow us to expand hours and services that are definitely needed (2) A back to school block party that I hope will help bring our people together around a common, exciting project and will allow us to invite others in the community to see what the people who occupy that strange-looking building on the corner of Post and Tuckertown are all about!
• I'm getting very excited for my missions trip in just over a month.  Pray for me if you think about it, but also particularly pray for Rita and the kids while I'm away.  Our family structure is definitely such that both parents contribute a lot to the managing of the house, so a lot of my burden is going to fall to Rita.  I'm sure she'll handle it superbly, but I know it's going to be a challenge for her.
• Last, but not least, I'm looking forward to a vacation at the end of August like I can't remember looking forward to vacation before.  Usually I don't get that sense of longing to get away until just a couple of days before we leave - at this point I'm already feeling like I need the time away, and we need it as a family.  We're going to visit friends in Baltimore, spend time with Rita's family in West Virginia, and then spend a few nights just the four of us touring D.C.