Friends + Laughter = Memories

Bruce & Karen Lane warmed us up after our caroling by inviting us over for some hot soup & chili and some warm cider. THANKS - BRUCE & KAREN. But as I was driving home that night Christine and I were reliving the funny stories from the night. The creative gifts opened during the white elephant exchange. The jockeying for position to get the right gift or get rid of the wrong gift. The antics of Guesstures & Taboo.

There were many stories that we could share and will fondly remember for a long time. I was impressed by how healing it can be when we gather with friends and we laugh together. We were making memories. But memories are not without cost.

It takes some risks to make memories right? Some had long weeks and just showing up was difficult. Some didn't really know that many people, others get embarrassed making a fool of themselves (that is what games are all about, right?). But those who took the risk made some good memories.
Anyonee need a rubber chicken.
Oooh goody, nose hair trimmers
How's that block of wood Robert?
What is it Andy?

Joy to the World

On Saturday we surprised a local neighborhood by showing up on their steps to sing Christ-centered carols. We were received quite well and most people held their doors open to enjoy our song, despite the 20something degree weather. We lost no one to frost-bite, but we almost lost Erin to an aggresively close-talking man clad in shorts & a t-shirt.

May this Advent season stir your hearts to sing a new song to our King, Jesus.

We couldn't pass up the opportunity to pose with Santa.
They sounded like a chorus of angels.
Sing it Steve, Amy, Tiff & John.

Tea Anyone?

Last Thursday a group of 727 gals joined in on the church-wide Christmas Tea festivities when Kristen Stewart hosted a table. In addition to a "night out" of fine dining complete with entertainment, it was a chance for the men of the church to serve the ladies. Steve jumped at the chance to be at the beck & call of this table of pretty yet demanding ladies. It looks like he was providing service with a smile. Merry Christmas!!

Creation & Salvation

Last week I gave props to Ken Myers, suggesting Mars Hill for your Christmas shopping. Well, he's back, I just read his December letter from the Mars Hill Audio Journal, in which he challenges some of our common thinking about creation & salvation. How do you link these two ideas? Do you believe that time & space as created by God will one day be destroyed so that those who are saved will be saved to a timeless-spaceless other-existence called heaven? Consider some excerpts.

"American Christians seem much more willing to fight about the fact of Creation (against Darwinism) or fight with one another about how many hours Creation took than they are to order their lives around the structures that God has placed in Creation. Christians want to insist on the fact of Creation even as they are willing to ignore the meaning and significance of the order of Creation."

Is our interaction with creation simply an objectifiable fact which we arm ourselves to defend our belief in God? Does our interaction with creation also include our living experience with other created things/people as subjects of the king? How does the order established in Genesis 1 & 2 order our lives? How do we interact with living things (plants, animals, places) and people in a way which glorifies our creator?

"There has been since the beginning of the Church a temptation to read the story of God's saving work as an account of human liberation from Creation rather than human redemption in the context of a renewed Creation."

Do you consider the earth and its cultures as things which must be loathed or left behind in order to pursue more spiritual things? How does your salvation include ways in which you live (treat, consider, care for, enjoy) redemptively with other created things? What if heavens looks a lot more like earth than heaven?

"The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." (Romans 8:19-23)

Should my Church close on Christmas Sunday?

That is the question of the day, because we get to decide this year. CNN even had carried a piece, "Some megachurches closing on Christmas." The debate is raging. Check out what both sides are saying.

Ben Witherington , NT scholar at Asbury Seminary, Kentucky
Scot McKnight, NT scholar at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Chicago

Witherington offers a response to McKnight, in Comment #13. Our church is consolidating its typical 2 Sunday services into one larger one on the heels of 3 Christmas Eve Candlelight services. What are your thoughts?

Are you wasting your life?

That is a question that I've come in contact with lately. Well it's not always that explicit but that is the question that lies just below the surface. Guys and gals, men and women who want their life to count...to not be wasted. They work at nice jobs but at the end of the day wonder if they are making any difference for God. Some even say they are considering quitting work to move overseas to be in "full-time" Christian ministry.

I identify because that was my story. I was a salesman in the computer industry for 7 years before I quit my job, went to seminary and entered into vocational ministry. But now that I am removed from the regular workforce I have noticed the detriments of becoming a "man of the cloth." So I want to encourage my brothers and sisters whom struggle with this question that impact is not described in terms of vocation or geography but in terms of perspective and attitude.

I was recently was flipping through John Piper's handy book, "Don't Waste Your Life", and came across a helpful list of how to bring a ministry-mindset to your job. The list is pulled from chapter 8 "Making Much of Christ from 8 to 5." May his thoughts encourage you in your daily toil.

We can make much of Christ in our secular job...
1. Through the fellowship that we enjoy with Him throughout the day in all our work.
2. By the joyful, trusting, God-exalting design of our creativity and industry.
3. When it confirms and enhances the portrait of Christ's glory that people hear in the spoken Gospel.
4. By earning enough money to keep us from depending on others, while focusing on the helpfulness of our work rather than financial rewards.
5. By earning money with the desire to use our money to make others glad in God.
6. By treating the web of relationships it creates as a gift of God to be loved by sharing the Gospel and by practical deeds of help.

Engaging the Mind

1 Corinthians 9 tells us that it is OK for those who feeds our spirits to derive their living from the support of their sheep. Well I want to share with you one of the shepherds that has been leading me into a more Christianly thoughtful engagement with American culture, Mars Hill Audio.

A few months ago a friend of mine gave me a great gift by turning my onto this bi- monthly audio journal, produced by Ken Myers. I was smart enough to listen and for $36 got my years subscription. These audio journals have been a devotional for me and have challenged me to walk out into the deep waters of Christian cultural engagement.

Remember when Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mk 12:30; Lk 10:27)." Very few Christians I know actually show me how to love my Lord with my mind. So I try to find really smart, godly men who aren't afraid to go to the movies or turn on the TV, because they will undoubtedly show me how to critically engage my culture with a transformed mind.

I just received my third MHA Journal in the mail and look forward to the exercise my Christian mind will receive. Do yourself a favor this Christmas and give yourself a gift that will disciple you in transforming your mind. Check out the Mars Hill Audio Journal.

A favorite freebie of mine is an extended interview with Eugene Peterson on his latest book, "Christ Plays in 10,000 Places."