Why God's Wisdom is a body

Choir rehearsals have started for the year, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being back with the choir. This year and a half has been a tough stretch. I haven't had the weekly contact with them, since most of my time is spent working on the contemporary services in the gym. Phil Woodworth, Christopher Kraus, and Ruth Ann Stovicek have done a wonderful job in my absence, but I have missed my time with the choir.

Yesterday was an especially powerful rehearsal for me, because it was a keen reminder of why God has us in community; why God, in His wisdom created the church as a body. One of our members informed us of an unfavorable medical prognosis. We were all very saddened at the news. But then, a response that could only happen in the body of Christ took place. We surrounded this member, laid our hands on them, and prayed for healing and blessing for all involved.

I was blown away to watch this member receive the blessing of our prayers. I was blown away as I watched our members fervently seek God's intervention on behalf of this member and the family. We all needed this time, and God in his love gave it to us and blessed us.

So how was this evening a display of God's wisdom? God places us in community that people would know Him though how we love each other. Jesus told his disciples in the week leading up to his death;

John 13:34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

We love each other to show Christ to each other and the world. If you find yourself a part of this church and are looking for that kind of community, please talk to us, Pastor Karl Nockengost in particular, about becoming part of a small group. Through this ministry, we look to find authentic community where God's love can show through our love for each other to the world around us.

I didn't think the Granny Car was my midlife crisis

Yesterday, I drove home something I never thought I would, a Honda Goldwing!


A friend from the congregation let me know that his father was selling this bike, and at the end of the chain of events, Jen and I bought this 1985 Honda Goldwing (1200 cc, Interstate dress). My uncle Bob has driven a Goldwing as long as I have known him, so I had always hoped to someday own one, I just thought it would be a midlife crisis purchase, or at worse a retirement purchase. It is easy to say that we didn't see this one coming!

So today I spent the morning, and a good part of the afternoon, riding motorcycle in the tri-state area! This bike is ALOT bigger than the bike I drove in college, so it is going to take some time to get used to. Thank you all for your admonitions to safety. Believe me, if you saw me driving, you would laugh!

Happy riding! If you are out, give me a call!

oops!

Imagine my shock on Sunday when, on my way to worship, I saw the following sign in front of the door to the gym (our current sanctuary for contemporary worship)...


Some well intentioned public sing poster put the sign up, trying to get traffic used to the new pattern around the building. But the comedy was not lost on me! We may want to move that sign...

Are we saying what we think we are saying?

I was recently confronted with the challenge of communications, and both incidents involved my youngest son Andrew.

The first incident occurred on the golf course. I took him golfing for the first time last month. Being his first time, success was not the goal, fun was. He hacked his way down the fairways, trying to get comfortable swinging a club. Midway through the round he was getting confident, and decided he wanted to hit the ball as far as daddy. As any golfer knows, when you try to hit the ball far, you tend to "pull off the ball", oftentimes missing it completely, which he was. My appropriate encouragement to him was, "Andrew, keep you head down." Imagine my surprise when his next swing was attempted with his head 15" from the ball. He took me literally! "I kept my head down dad, but that was really hard!"

The next incident happened yesterday, as I was playing badminton with my kids on vacation. Andrew and I were teamed up against Alex and Anna, his older siblings. At a particularly tense moment in the match, I hollered the encouragement to him, "Alright Andrew, let go get em!" He proceeded to charge under the net and whack his brother with his racket! Again, in the mind of a 4 year old that was probably the correct response. (That and he loves any chance to hit anyone with anything. He is four, remember!)

I made the mistake in both occasions of assuming my audience would understand my cliched instructions. He responded based on his experience in a way he thought would honor my request.

After both incidents, I was challenged to rethink how I approach planning worship services on Sunday. Oftentimes we use "insider talk", words like "sanctification, justification, atonement" and phrases, "saved by grace through faith", "Christ's blood covers our sin". The list is endless. While these words communicate strongly to those of us striving to understand their meaning, to an audience with no understanding or background, these words can be quite confusing, without proper explanation.

We are building a new building with the anticipation that many people with limited or no church background will join us at our invitation. It is a challenge to me to make sure the experience they find won't be cluttered with confusing "insider talk", but will provide opportunities for people to experience the Love of God that is waiting to transform their lives.