Happy New Year!

I was listening to two commentators talk today and they were saying that in 2010 we will start to see better times.  2009 is already a wash economically and will be tougher.

Wow! We are six hours from a new year and we’ve already begun to wish it away to move on to the next.

I haven’t given up on 2009.  God is still God and I’m not.

As we face a new year we have challenges ahead.  I’m sure there will be much to moan about and many sad days but I also believe there will be joyful times and times of blessing.  I hope this new year will be a fruitful one and one that will bring you closer to God.  I believe with the challenges come opportunity.  People are asking many good questions and we can offer them hope.  Hope from God is here despite what the DOW says or what the nay sayers cry.  There is a bigger picture to live and we need to be able to articulate that to a world that needs to hear such a message.  So be ready and be prepared.   Let’s work together and perhaps this year may bring change and a renewal for each of us.

Blessings and Happy New Year!

Derik

Worth the Wait!

A teen waits anxiously for the big dance.  A young man paces the floor of the church classroom minutes before his wedding.  A young couple prepare a nursery waiting for the birth of their first child.  Waiting!  We wait for lots of things.  Some things we wait for we wish we didn’t have to do and others things are just daily parts of life.  Good things are worth the wait though.

We’ve just celebrated Christmas and we’ve gone through four weeks of Advent to prepare for the event.  Advent is about celebrating the coming of Christ.  It’s about waiting.  And the wait is worth it.

The Hebrews waiting for the coming of the Messiah.  Jesus came (not the way many though he would) and fulfilled the wait.  In Luke 2 we find Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the Temple during the time of purification and two older people find him there- Anna and Simeon.  They have waited for many years and come to the temple day and night praying and preparing for this moment.  Simeon knew God would allow him to live until the moment that he would lay eyes on the baby.

So now it’s Christmas and as John Lennon says, “So this is Christmas…”  What does it mean?  Another day?  Another year?

We are still waiting.  Jesus came but we still have not seen his kingdom completed.  There is still evil in the air.  There is still violence and pain.  Jesus’ return is coming and so we still wait.  The Kingdom of God came with Christ, is coming, and is yet to come.

But the wait is worth it.  When it comes to God the wait is always worth it.  And so what do we do while we wait?

Prayer- Anna and Simeon prayed and were in communication with God during their wait.  They found strength from this intimate relationship with God.  We need to live a life of prayer.  Spiritual formation is something we need to take seriously.  I recommend the writings of Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen and others to help you with this.  St. John of the Cross’  “The Dark Night of the Soul” and other classics can make your spiritual life more vital and deepen your walk with God.

Worship- They went to the Temple to worship God.  The late Robert Webber encouraged the church to take worship theologically and seriously.  There is much debate on worship style (contemporary, liturgical, traditional, blended, revival, etc).  People argue, split and fuss over worship.  But do we even understand why we worship or what worship is?  Worship is about communicating with God and speaking to God and God speaking to us.  It is about an experience with God.  It is a corporate time where God’s people come together to praise our living God.

Work- We live post-Easter.  Jesus rose from the grave and through his resurrection we have power.  In Acts at Pentecost the Holy Spirit empowered the church and still empowers the church.  When we walk in the spirit we walk with confidence, courage, and conviction.  When Jesus ascended into heaven the angels reminded the disciples that he would return and there was work to be done.

And so let us pray, worship, and work until he returns!  Let us walk in the Spirit, trust the Son, and place our lives in the hands of the Father.

Blessings,

Derik

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is here! Almost! It’s Christmas Eve and much is going on in your lives. As you prepare to be with family, attend worship services, and smell the turkey may this be a time to reflect and be renewed.  I’ve spent a month talking about what we need to ‘skip’ to reclaim the season and I hope that you’ve found the articles/sermons helpful.  I am preaching to the choir on that one!  As I sit at my computer my daughter is tugging at me and we are preparing to have lunch with Katie before our worship service later today.  I’m also listening to Amy Grant singing, “I need a midnight clear, a little peace right here to end this crazy day with a silent night.”   My entire life begs that comment.  I need more silent nights in my life to reflect to hear God speak to me.

I’m so thankful for those of you who check in on this blog site, attend our church, or keep in touch with me through Facebook, email, Myspace, and all the other ways we can communicate in this 21st century world.

Merry Christmas! This season may the love of Christ fill your hearts. May the peace he offers give you strength. May the hope he brings give light to your darkness. May the joy that is found in Christ give you the power to live a life that honors God.

Blessings!
Derik

Skipping Christmas- Skipping the Messed up Relations

Is your family more like the Griswalls from Christmas Vacation or Norman Rockwell’s paintings? This Christmas we will gather with family and friends and yet are we being honest about our relationships? Are we in relation with others in a way that honors God or are they as fake as the tinsel on the tree? Everyone talks about Christmas being a ‘family time’ but the majority of families need more therapy than turkey. So why not be real about the break downs at our tables this year? I’m not saying you turn your Christmas dinner into an episode of Jerry Springer but perhaps we need to admit that things aren’t the way they should be and begin figuring out how to deal with the fractured relationships that we all face. It may be that this year you are facing some problems with your children, spouse, parents, siblings, or extended family. It may be that there is past pain that has haunted your family for a long time. Perhaps you have friends who have now become distant, estranged or even at odds with you. Maybe even as you sit in church on Sundays you spot that person who you once cared about but now you rarely even speak to because of some carless word or serious conflict. If we are going to really grasp what Christmas is about then we are going to have to come to terms with the civil wars in our lives. I realize that we can’t ‘fix’ it with one simple apology or nice card. Sometimes the damage took years to create and it will take a great amount of time to repair. Perhaps the other person doesn’t want to mend fences. What can we do? If Jesus came at Christmas to bring peace on earth but there is war in our homes, churches, work places, and bedrooms that what can we do? We can stop making excuses and admit to ourselves and God which relationships are in damaged and destroyed. Then we can begin to figure out what we can do to begin to deal with the mess that we face. Do we need counseling? Do we need to apologize? Do we need to seek advice?
This Christmas let’s begin by looking out ourselves and our relation with God. Do we know God? And if we claim to know God how distant do we feel these days? Perhaps we need to reconnect and refocus our relationship to God. Then we need to begin to work on the relationships in our lives. We can’t change cousin John but we can change how we respond, react, and relate to him. We can pray for him. We can hold ourselves responsible to the ways we contribute to the unhealthy situation.
The Bible points out the ideal but always show us reality. From Genesis throughout the Bible we find hurt and disarray. From Cain killing Abel to the stories of the patriarchs stealing, lying, betraying, choosing sides, and hurting their loved ones we see the pain. We find the fussing and fuming of the Hebrews under Moses then Joshua. We see the brokenness of the Kings and their families. Saul will not win the father of the year award with his son Jonathan. David and his sons have quite the mess. The people who claim to know God again and again betray him. Marriages like Hosea and Gomer are not something we like to point out.
In the New Testament we find Jesus’ own mother alone at some point. Perhaps Joseph died? And then we find Mary and his brothers disbelieving him. They think he is mad. The early church leaders fight among themselves. Early churches divide and split. The world is broken.
Yet we see glimpses of hope. Jesus came to bring such hope. The lion will lay with the lamb. The war drums will stop beating one day. Jesus confronts the madness and horror that we do to one another to offer us a new kingdom and a new way. The book of Revelation shows a church oppressed by a Empire called Rome that the Beast will not win. God is at work and God will win the day.

Isn’t it time we join Jesus in this call to being better than we are? Why not start this week?

Skipping Christmas- Skipping the Misplaced Joy

I didn’t preach Sunday so I’m sure the joy was there!   Seriously though our choir did a great job.  Music is always a good experience for the third Sunday in Advent because that is the Sunday of Joy.  Christmas is about real joy and the sad truth is that many people still look for happiness but often look in the wrong place.  In our society and especially at Christmas we always think we will find something to make us happy and it is usually in the material end of things.  This Christmas we need to find real joy in the right place.  The real joy we need of course is in a relationship with God through Christ and a life lived as Christ taught us to live.  Real joy is found by giving and not receiving.  If we can ‘get it’ we will find true happiness.  This means that even when the external factors of our lives threaten us that we will still have ‘joy’ that is more than simple emotion but deep peace knowing that whatever happens we are in Christ.  This is how Paul could praise God despite shipwreck, beatings, prison, abuse, and eventually death.  He knew that nothing could separate him from the love of God and that death really had no sting.  So this week give thanks and seek the joy that is for the world and found only in God.

Blessings,
Derik

Skipping Christmas- Skipping the Maxed Out Schedule

Last week I encouraged our church to skip the mixed up priorities this Christmas and this past Sunday I dealt with the maxed out schedule. Christmas like life is a rush. We are in a hurry and we run like there is no tomorrow. Yet in the end we do not know what tomorrow will bring. We do not run our lives. We are not in control. We are not God. The book of James reminds us in chapter 4 that our lives are ‘vapor’ (mist- smoke that rises from a fire and disappears). Read James 4:13-17 and you will be humbled. We think we know what tomorrow brings but who really does? When those folks rushed to their flights on 9-11 they did not know what that morning would bring. Nor did the office workers who went to work, grabbed their coffee, and began to work. None of us on any given day know what the day will bring. We work our whole lives to retire and in 24 hours our investments crash. We build and it all comes down. Life is fragile. So what really matters to you? This Christmas think about what really matters. What is life all about? Why do we wake up each day? What is this world about? I believe it is more than just punching the clock or going through the motions. I don’t think this passage means we don’t make plans, save money, or prepare for the future but we need a real look at life and need to realize that life can change in a moment and we need to take each day as a gift from God and embrace those we love and follow the God who gives life. May this Christmas cause us to slow down and look at what matters and love those around us and live a life worthy of the God who created us.
Blessings,
Derik

Skipping Christmas: Skipping the Mixed Up Priorities

This Christmas season I’m challenging our church to ‘skip Christmas’ (see John Grisham’s great book ‘Skipping Christmas’).  We are ‘skipping’ the things we need to skip and reclaiming what Christmas should be about.  This past Sunday we looked at John 6 (Bread of Life passage) and talked about skipping the mixed up priorities.

What really matters to you?  We talk so much about the ‘stuff’ of this world that we forget there is more to life than the ‘bread’ here.  Jesus offers bread that never leaves us hungry and water that never leaves us thirsty.  This doesn’t mean Jesus doesn’t think we should meet earthly needs.  Chapter 6 begins with Jesus feeding the 5000 earthly bread.  But Jesus wants us to know that earthly bread is temporary and while we need to meet those temporary needs (not wants) we have to look at the bigger picture.  There is more to live than what we taste, smell, and see.  Jesus doesn’t just offer this bread to us but he is this bread!  Jesus would be born in Bethlehem (means house of bread) in a manger (Feeding box for animals).  Jesus offered himself up to us and for that we give thanks.

So we take communion and remember his body through the bread.  We give thanks for our daily bread in the Lord’s Prayer.  We remember that God fed the Hebrews bread from heaven (manna) and had them gather and wait each day for fresh bread (trust).

This is the first Sunday in Advent.  It is the Sunday where we focus on hope.  We’ve seen the violence in India.  We heard the big 3 car companies talk about disaster (while they flew into town in corporate jets), and we know that there is much to cause us to question hope.

Yet we have hope!  We have hope because Jesus has come.   Advent is about his coming. It is a time to prepare for the celebration of his birth.  Jesus has come!  He is even now coming into our lives.  He will come again!  The Kingdom of God is breaking out right now!  Give thanks and embrace the truth!

Blessings,

Derik