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Alive in Christ
I'm not particularly familiar with the work of Neil Anderson (although his books have been recommended to me by several different people), but I was interested in his list of who we are in Christ and adapted it for the congregational reading to end my sermon last Sunday.
Here's the link if you'd like to read the complete list of being in Christ: accepted, secure, significant. http://www.ficm.org/whoiam.htm
Jul 30, 2010 at 8:07 AM
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Be the first to comment on this postDress for success
One item given to all participants in this year's Mennonite Church Canada Assembly is a bright green band with the words of our theme: Reclaiming JESUS gladly wear the name.
I've been wearing mine on my wrist, and have seen others do the same, while there is at least one person wearing it on her ankle. "Don't you want to wear the name of Jesus?" one wrist-banded participant said to another whose band was still likely in the bottom of their Assembly totebag.
For some, wearing or seeing that green band might be a good visual reminder of our faith in Jesus, of our relationship with him, and what it means to put on Christ as Scripture reminds us. But of course wearing Christ is more than physically wearing the name of Jesus like some kind of designer label--it means having "the peace of Christ rule in your hearts" (Col. 3:15) and being clothed "with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience" (Col. 3:12). That's how to dress for success, since these things are always in style in the kingdom of God and go with whatever else we might be wearing.
Reclaiming Jesus: gladly wear the name
So here I am in Calgary at the Mennonite Church Canada Assembly. The days are very full, beginning with worship at 8:30am, going all day, with "late night" activities beginning at 9pm for those who'd like to keep on going. . . .
Highlights so far include connecting with many people (like Hugo and Doreen Neufeld who spoke at Emmanuel earlier this year, live in Calgary, and are among the many volunteers at this Assembly), learning Colossians 3:15 with actions (that I'd like to share with the children and the rest of the congregation when I get back), spending time in discussion with those around my delegate table, being part of a panel discussion on Jesus Matters, lots of worship and singing (one of the leaders is Alissa Bender who interned with us at Emmanuel a few years ago and is currently an associate pastor in Calgary), meeting Sara Wenger Shenk who is the new seminary president as of July 1.
Today Nhien Pham and I have our workshop on our Vietnamese ministry partnership which is called Hand in Hand. I still have a bit more preparation to do for that and would like to make it to morning worship too--good thing I'm a morning person!
ThanksLiving
"So what I got from your sermon is you're asking for money," someone said to me recently. Well, yes and no - my annual stewardship sermon this year was about money, but also our time and our abilities, and most of all about being thankful as the starting point for giving and good stewardship.
At one point, I quoted from Rick Warren who suggested that not only should we give money, but also the first part of our week to worship and the first part of our social time to fellowship with other Christians. At the time, I said we might not agree with every detail of the quote--after all, there are many Christians who worship at some time other than the first part of the week--but I hoped it would challenge us to think. In response, I received an email asking "wasn't it a big priority for Jesus to spend time with people on the edges, people not in the inner fellowship circles, people like Zaccheus and the Samaritan woman at the well?" That's important for us to remember too.
For those who expressed interest in the George Herbert quote, here's the first and last part of the poem that I read as part of my sermon:
Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more - a grateful heart.
Not thankful when it pleases me,
As if thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart,
whose pulse may be thy praise.
The entire poem is available at http://www.ccel.org/h/herbert/temple/Gratefulnesse.html
Two recipes--one for supper, one for marriage
I was very glad to take part in Emmanuel's bridal tea a couple of weeks ago--thank you to Lara, to the rest of the planning committee, and all who attended for the good food and conversation!
I started my brief devotional with a story about making dinner for the first time in 9 days since we had been away on vacation, and after the first few bites, my husband said, "This is so good--it's better than anything we ate at a restaurant!" Here's the recipe that I made:
Apricot-Glazed Chicken
Remove skin from 6 chicken thighs, and place in a single layer in a baking dish. Mix together: 1/3 cup apricot preserves,
2 tsp Dijon mustard, 5 drops hot-pepper sauce. Spoon the mixture over chicken. Bake in a pre-heated 425 deg F oven for 20 minutes, baste, and bake for another 20 minutes, or until done. Good served with rice and steamed broccoli.
Another recipe I shared at the bridal tea was this recipe for a happy marriage that I had come across on the 'net:
Recipe for a Happy Marriage
Take one happy man and one happy woman - and separate them from their parents.
Add the following ingredients in generous proportions:
Love
Respect
Commitment
Acceptance
Communication
Patience
Kindness
Gentleness
Self-control
Hope
Truth
Mix together, then thoroughly sift in daily life.
Strain out jealousy, arrogance, selfishness, provocation and accounting of wrongs.
Bake in the trials and tribulations of life for 50 years.
Celebrate when golden.
And God Said No. . . .
In my sermon on Learning to Pray last week, I read a short poem that I'm adding to the blog today since a few people have asked for copies.
It's actually an untitled poem that appeared unattributed on a pull-out poster in With magazine a number of years ago. It's been sitting in my files unused for quite a while, until it seemed to fit so well in last Sunday's sermon. I don't totally agree with every detail (esp the part about growing, since I don't think anything--whether carrot or human being--actually grows on its own apart from God's sustaining power and life-giving energy), but it's thought-provoking and a lot of it rings true, so here it is:
I prayed to God to take away my pride.
And God said, “No.
It isn’t for me to take away—it’s for you to give up.”
I prayed to God to grant me patience.
And God said, “No.
Patience is a by-product of tribulations—it isn’t granted, it’s earned.”
I prayed to God to give me happiness.
And God said, “No.
I give you blessings—happiness is up to you.”
I prayed to God to make my spirit grow.
And God said, “No.
You must grow on your own, but I will prune you and make you fruitful.”
I prayed to God for all things, that I might enjoy life. And God said, “No. I will give you life so you may enjoy all things.”
I prayed to God to help me love others as much as God loves me.
And God said, “Ahhhh! Finally, you have the idea!”
Bulletin Bloopers
Every so often someone sends me some funny bulletin bloopers that have actually appeared in church bulletins over the years. e.g., The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict.
Or, Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get. Or, Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help.
This week when I returned to the church office, I realized that there had been a bulletin blooper of our own. The bulletin looked fine, but if you actually read it, you may have noticed that all of the prayer requests were the same as the previous week! And there were a number of announcements about our Volleyball group, Childsafe, etc. that simply didn't make it in.
I hasten to add that none of this was the fault of our very competent church secretary who was unfortunately off sick on Thursday and Friday--and since I was already on my way to Victoria on the Friday as well, I wasn't able to look over the bulletin as usual before it was printed, so our temporary office help went ahead on her own as best she could and somehow skipped over all of my new announcements.
Fortunately though, Roberta is back in the office now and so am I, so stay tuned, and you'll see those announcements this coming Sunday!
We have a dream
Last Sunday morning as part of our "Church Life"/Ask Your Council Member series in the banquet room, we heard some of the dreams of our Education Committee:
- that children would become so engaged in Sunday School that they would beg their parents to bring them
- that people might get so excited about teaching Sunday school that they would eagerly volunteer to contribute and use their gifts
- that youth who don't normally attend Sunday school might get connected - possibly with a youth band or by being involved with SonForce where the younger kids would benefit from their example and look up to them
- that the banquet room might be filled with adults wanting to learn
These are wonderful dreams--and yet they're much more as we also seek to put foundations under them:
- for the On The Way adult class: we've already started providing sound in the banquet room so all will be able to hear easily; this Sunday we will follow up on the suggestion to re-arrange the chairs to make the room more inviting so people can enter behind everyone already seated instead of at the front; between now and September, Allen has volunteered to convene a subgroup to plan a new On The Way schedule with a view to promoting and distributing it in advance; new ideas are being considered, like providing coffee and a place for fellowship or perhaps an informal praise and prayer time during Sunday school
- for the younger classes: we've already started SonForce and plan to continue that as a fun time of active learning; plans are underway to paint the upstairs hallway with colourful, inviting murals; curriculum is being reviewed as we explore a new pod format that will allow teachers to focus on areas of ministry that they especially love, allow other teachers to take a much needed break, and engage the kids with memorable songs, activities, and Bible stories
- for the library: we have dreams to make the library catalogue available online; to continue to provide resources from Mennonite Publishing that may be difficult to find locally elsewhere.
We are also still in need of a Chairperson for our Education ministry, so please join us in our dreaming and praying! If you sense that God might be calling you to this ministry, I'd love to hear from you at pastor@emmanuelmennonite.com
Xtreme Hope
I've received lots of comments from last Sunday's worship and message, and especially appreciate the one comment in the foyer after the service, "that was so uplifting - it really gives us something to go on for this week!" I felt/feel the same way, as I am still buoyed up by last Sunday's worship time even as I'm preparing for this Sunday. Whatever we face, we have Xtreme Hope!
Another comment was that the sermon could have gone on for another "5-10 minutes" without feeling too long, so I thought I'd list here a few things that I could have included in that time:
- in the New Testament, the robe is a significant piece of clothing - so e.g., when the lost son returns home (which I preached on during Lent), he receives a new robe not just so he would have something nice to wear, but also as a symbol of new life. in the same way, the saints in Revelation wear white robes as a symbol of purity, forgiveness, new life
- at the beginning of Revelation 7, John describes the saints being "sealed" before their great trial; then in our text Revelation 7:9-17 he describes them after their tribulation as "the church triumphant." He does not actually show their martyrdom
- the verb tenses change throughout the text, indicating that this is not meant to be a chronology, but different images that are meant to wash over us
- "I know that trouble don't always last" is a gospel song that expresses the same xtreme hope as our Revelation text - whatever troubles we have in this life, they will not last since the time is coming where there will be no more hunger, no more tears
Please feel free to add a comment of your own here, or send your feedback to Maria Wiens, Worship Committee Chair
Planting Change - in worship
At Emmanuel’s annual meeting in January, we received a report from our Middle Age/Young Adult Task Force suggesting some kind of new church plant. Since then, others have been thinking more about what it might mean to plant change within the congregation.
There have been many changes since Emmanuel began as a congregation in 1981 – from rented premises, to building their own, to adding the sanctuary, and then adding a gym. From a single song-leader and pianist to the music teams we have today with piano, guitar, drums, and other instruments. From the occasional use of the screen to project a song to projecting all of our songs as well as an opening slide, sermon points, and illustrations. There have been many many changes over the years!
For this coming Sunday (April 25), some of us have been thinking about planting some change in our morning worship. The intention is not to try something new just because we've never done it that way before, or just because some other church is doing it that way. Instead, it's because we realize that many people come to worship distracted--for many, it's a challenge simply to get to church, and even when physically present, their thoughts may still be going in a million directions. So the intention with these changes is to minimize distractions as much as possible, to help draw all of us into worship and to be prepared to hear God speak to us.
To this end, we're working with an overall worship flow that might be described as a crescendo, where everything builds toward the message. Part of this flow includes:
- instead of verbally highlighting announcements during the service, there will be highlights projected on screen beforehand
- instead of listing all of the songs in the worship order, we will list some questions that relate to the sermon and leave some space in the bulletin so people can write their own notes
- the music team will begin our time of worship and stay at the front until the sermon to minimize movement to and from the stage - they'll call the children to the front to sing a song with them, and then have the children's feature take place in the Noah's Ark room
- instead of having the team come forward to lead us in a closing song, I will end my sermon with a prayer and words of challenge/sending/benediction to end our worship time
- there will be more music during transitions and also played softly underneath the prayers and Scripture to help provide continuity and keep people engaged
At this point, the plan is simply to try this for one Sunday, and then to reflect on our experience—how will these changes impact us? will they help to (re-)engage middle- and younger-aged adults? will they help us to be more focused, or will the changes themselves be a distraction? I’m excited to try something new, and look forward to what God is doing/will do among us!
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