I had, until that moment, always thought courage was the absence of fear.  I had never known an absence of fear unless I was asleep.  After the locker room talk and the game, I realized life would not be free from fear, but the reward for learning to use it could be tremendous.  Even if we had not been successful, I believe I would have still learned that lesson.  Each Sunday as I stand to preach, I remember that, because, well, I still feel the fear of being in front of a group and speaking.  The last thing anyone wants to feel is foolish.

Mark Batterson writes, “It is the fear of looking foolish” that keeps us from being risky.  “It is the fear of foolishness that keeps us from raising our hand in the fourth grade…It is the fear of foolishness that keeps us from asking another for a date…It is the fear of foolishness that keeps us from praying for a miracle…”  Foolishness may be the essence of faith.  The desire and courage to follow God in the face of looking foolish can be what propels us from experiencing the life God wants to give us.  Batterson writes, “Noah was saved from the flood.  Sarah gave birth to Isaac.  The walls of Jericho came tumbling down.  David defeated Goliath….Peter walked on water.  And Jesus rose from the dead.”

I want to encourage (the word means to ‘put the heart back into’) you in this beginning season of Lent to have the courage to do two things.  This weekend, we will have prayer cards in our bulletins.  There are two sections to them.  One invites us to courageously pray for and believe God for something.  A second invites us to pray for and believe God will give us the courage to invite someone to Easter worship.  All we really have to do is have the courage to write down a prayer request and a name or names.  Then, we have to have the courage to pray and risk feeling foolish.  But remember.  Not a single Biblical person listed above was found foolish when God answered a prayer.  “Take heart, be of good courage…” said Jesus. Amen.

See you soon in the place where we risk the foolishness of preaching and worship.  By the way, did you know the Hebrew word for worship, hallal, means to be “clamorously foolish?”
Pastor Mark

As Lent comes upon us this week, a short reminder of what the season is about.  Like many Christians, the season of Lent – the period of 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, not including Sundays, has been a part of my spiritual walk with God for many years.  My first recollections had to do with offering cards in which our family deposited dimes and then later quarters as a special way to offer God something sacrificial that reminded us of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.  We would read a Scripture most evenings and since it was the day before debit cards, there was always a bit of change in someone’s pocket or purse.

Lent is the season leading up to Easter, a time when Christians have prepared their hearts for the celebration of Easter with Bible reading, reflection, repentance and concerned prayer that sought transformation.  The introspection and self-examination from Scripture readings appropriate to the season are meant to help us change and move closer to Christ.  Many Christians choose a fast from food as part of the Lenten season.  However, the focus is not about diet or weight loss, it is about using meal time for extra opportunities for devotion to God.  It is about searching God’s heart for how their hearts might change and how they might become attuned to His purposes for us in the world.

Lent can be an important time for us if we make it so.  The church calendar for the Christian year differs in that seasons come and go which don’t always coincide with the solar calendar.  The church calendar is organized around the acts of God in the world and are there to remind us that in other times and other places and with other people, God has broken into the world and made Himself known.  Easter and beyond it is the season of new life.  I pray that you will make this season a time of reflection and remembrance.  If you do, you cannot imagine the joy and celebration that Easter Sunday and beyond will bring to your soul.

Pastor Mark

I have often wondered how much and how well we carried that rejection of authority into our adult lives.  It is sure that we often still live with some degree of adolescent rebellion in our lives – speed limits for example.  Sometimes I think we rebel about things simply to give us the illusion of control in a culture that dehumanizes and takes away our individuality under the guise of making things better for us. We may voluntarily seek to obey most of the laws of the land unless one becomes cumbersome or interferes with some self-interest of ours.  If we do that with the laws of the land, how much more so with God?

Tage Lindbom has observed that the real question of modern democracy is a question about who will rule:
“Who will rule, God or man [sic]?  This is the great constitutional question of human existence; this is the question that determines everything in mortal life…The perennial question is whether we humans are to understand our presence on this earth as a vice-regency or a trusteeship under the mandate of heaven and the divine commandments, or whether we must strive to emancipate ourselves from any higher dominion, with human supremacy as our ultimate aim.” (The Myth of Democracy)

Craig Gay (The Way of the Modern World) has been careful to relate that our contemporary evasion of a “mandate from heaven” is not usually accomplished with an outright rejection of God or divine authority. We hardly would want to see ourselves on a YouTube video shaking our fist at the heavens and shouting, “You’re not the boss of me!”  However, if not by outright rebellion or rejection, then something more subtle and insidious.  Gay observes it is “more commonly … accomplished simply by way of neglect…God is simply forgotten.”

The real question is whether or not God possesses any real authority to define everyday life and existence.  Do we live as though God has a real bearing on the fact of our existence?  Does God’s role in the universe really carry any moral obligation to me for letting God come to bear on my everyday living?  God may serve a utilitarian function as the supreme authority we go to out of crisis or self-interest (something’s not fair!), but not when the commands of God call me out of my self-satisfied shell into a life of reckless obedience toward God.

As persons with the luxury of having been born in a nation that prizes the rights of the individual, it can be terribly difficult for us to give ourselves over to the Lordship of another, particularly when persons who have authority over us do not deserve to have it.  We truly do want to be our own boss, but only until we realize there is a real lack of security without God.  Insecurity comes with a real lack of meaning to our lives and we seek in some careful and some not so careful ways to find meaning.

What can we do?  I think Jesus said it best, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness…”  Seeking, for me at least, has always been an act of submission and the simple acknowledgement  that God may know better for me than I think I know for myself. Seeking is humble and seeking is hard, but the zeal from discovery is that we find Him to be the God we really wanted all along.  Rather than dehumanizing or de-individualizing us, God seeks to make us fully human and everything we ever wanted to be too.

See you soon, in the place where we all submit and seek together.
Pastor Mark

I once worked with a friend who worried constantly – and if that wasn’t bad enough – he spread that worry to all of us on a fairly regular basis.  Just like the main character in the 19^th century story “Chicken Little” – he ran from office to office basically saying “the sky is falling, the sky is falling!”  We began to refer to this behavior as the “daily Chicken Little report” – whether it spoke of upcoming layoffs, company mergers, or even just transfers to other work groups.  While we would brush it off saying “consider the source” – I’m sure some of it lingered – and that others began to worry too. That’s called “fear-mongering” and the worrying spreads just like a bad virus. As Christians we still do it today, via email and face to face.

This week in worship we deal with a familiar scripture passage from the Sermon on the Mount – dealing with “worry”.  Jesus does not advocate for a lack of industry on our part; Jesus advocates here a maintenance of focus – seek first the Kingdom of God and allow all else to be added to you.  God expect us to use our talents, gifts and efforts to their full benefit and potential, but to do so without allowing ourselves to believe we did it ourselves. To focus on acquisition of wealth and status, to worry ourselves with it – is just another form of paganism – serving “other idols” and not the God of all time.

But – there is good news – just as worrying is contagious – so is trust and worship. If we are going to be “spreading” anything – let it be our trust in God and our faithfulness expressed in worship.  Worship is a declaration of our complete dependence…a whole hearted, single minded devotion, living in full commitment to seeking God, praising him, thanking him for all that our lives hold.  Instead of saying “the sky is falling” try saying “the grace is falling” – and invite someone to worship with you this Sunday to experience it.

IHS
Amy

At first blush, Christian Atheism seems to be an oxymoron.  How could a Christian, after all, be an atheist?  Doesn’t Christianity presuppose a God, and by that, a belief in God?  To be Christian is to be a follower of Christ, who as witnessed by Scripture, is God’s only Son (John 3:16).  What then could be the meaning of the term Christian atheism?

Persons such as Martin Marty (Univ. of Chicago Divinity School), Elaine Ecklund (Rice University), Craig Groeschell (whom you will meet in these pages) and Craig M. Gay (The Way of the Modern World: Why it’s easy to live as though God does not exist.) have long been in the process of examining how belief or faith blends with commensurate behavior.  That is, if we say we are Christian, how well do we express that belief in the way we live and practice not just our religious duty, but our day to day decisions?  How well does what we do/say/believe on Sunday inform our decisions or habits the remainder of the week?  Since we live in a culture that practices compartmentalization routinely, pragmatism judiciously and reductionism precisely just as practices of getting through life and information overload, what role does faith really play as we live our lives?  How influenced are we by what we believe, and begging the question, how influenced are we by God himself?  If we are not, what would we do about it?

This sermon series is intended to help explore those very realities.  It is intended to return us both to the mystery of faith and the mystery of God.  How is it that we can raise God to the reality of our consciousness, all the time, and live as though we are in the presence of a powerful, creative, self-revealing, loving God who has promised to companion us in life?  Is simple awareness enough, or does it take something more to allow the facts of our belief to seep into our decisions and behaviors?

See you soon, in the place where our faith is best expressed and we are somehow transformed.
Pastor Mark

I once heard a marriage therapist (no, WE weren’t in therapy just at a seminar) explain it this way.  We are like cups, into which God wants to pour His grace, love and power for living holy lives into us.  The trouble is, we often pour in fear, anxiety, anger, frustration and all kinds of negative emotional and spiritual things.  If we pour out of that, in this case, into our marriage, we will get back exactly what we dispense. If, however, we are willing to fill our lives up with the things of God and means that make for faith, we can pour that out with positive things coming back to us in return.  Seems rather an easy process and change for us.  The one question it begs, though, is why don’t we do that before life gets unmanageable and someone is telling us what we have been dispensing.  Once desperate, we do what we know we should have been doing all along, but it can take a while to replace the contents of our cups.

When Wesley urged his first societies to attend to the ordinances of God, he really wanted them to attend to their spiritual lives before they attempted doing no harm or doing all the good they could.  He knew those were the practices that helped us stay in love with God, just as loving someone well helps us stay in love with them.  Further, he saw most of them as the bare minimums as responses to Grace and faithfulness to God.  He knew that, as Paul said, we are outwardly wasting away, but inwardly could be growing and changing for the better every day.

As we come to worship this week, you will be invited once again, to consider those real and ancient practices from which we can be distracted by the busy-ness of life and the evil of this world. As we do, I pray that we can attend to the wisdom of those who have gone before us, then place ourselves before the God who loves us enough to take us as we are but loves us too much to leave us like that.

See you soon, in the place where God meets us and pours into us the breath and the very bread of Life.
Pastor Mark

The year 1739 marked at turning point for Wesley, though.  A few of those who had made the salvation “transaction” with God found that the promise of salvation after life in this world wasn’t enough.  They wanted more.  They wanted to experience not only an assurance of their future, but their present.  They wanted to go deeper in their life with God by pursuing a life of holiness.  It wasn’t enough to know their sins were forgiven, they wanted to know they could overcome them.

Wesley’s wisdom was to give them advice about overcoming sins, to remind them that assurance was an inner reality promised by God through Paul that “The Spirit witnesses to our spirit that we are children of God,” and that they should meet in groups for supportive accountability.  Now, not only would they be accountable to God for their sin, they would open themselves to be accountable to each other for growing as Christian disciples.

Further, it was not enough to just seek a deeper faith.  Knowing the content and focus of the New Testament book of James, faith must be lived out in one’s life by the way one lived.  A response to grace included more than a desire to flee from God’s judgment, faith that did not create in the person an urge to do good with and for people around them was a “gospel of straw.”

Now, I believe we understand that as well as any congregation could.  We know what it means to do all the good we can, since we have opportunities to help in mission almost every month.  However, I wonder if we missed what motivated Wesley and the people in his movement at the very beginning.  Are we folks who fled from the wrath that is to come, and yet have become comfortable with who we are and what we do?  Would we ever sit in a room with other loving and supportive Christians who would help us grow by asking us how our walk with God is REALLY going?  Would we ever trust one another that way? Perhaps our doing good is only a diversion or distraction from something we know we need on a deeper level.  Do we need to grow?

See you soon, in the place where He calls us from comfort to challenge.
Pastor Mark

Order forms available in this Sunday’s bulletin.

IF YOU SELECTED A NAME FROM THE GIVING TREE OR A SIDEWALK SS SHOEBOX,
PLEASE RETURN YOUR GIFTS TO THE CHURCH BY THIS SUNDAY, DEC. 11TH.

SERVING IN MINISTRY

We also began displaying the giving tree in the sanctuary this past week, and in my observation, there are only 8 tags left, opportunities to make Christmas special and practical for orphans in Centro Santa Catalina.  That mission serves more than their capacity should allow, since the need is always greater than the capacity.  Some details about the mission as well as a newsletter are linked in this update, so take a look at the impact you are having there.

For at least the 9th year in a row, we will make sure Christmas is both special and practical for the children at Westway again this year. The shoe boxes will be in narthex/lobby of the sanctuary this week, and our only requirement is to return them next week to the altar for blessing and distribution.  If you’ve not been to a distribution and seen the ordered way in which the gifts are distributed and watched the gratitude etched across the faces of the recipients, volunteer to help this year by speaking with Jane LaGrone.  It will make your Christmas special too.  The growth of that ministry in the past 8 Christmas celebrations that I have known about it is wonderful, and teens who were once little ones on the carpets are still attending each week to hear the stories of the Bible and experience God’s love and care for them through us.

This week, there were even a couple of you who asked questions about how to be involved with McMurry University and its goal for McMurry in Motion.  Just a simple illustration from a message has turned into contributions that will aid  the building of young leaders as they navigate the college years.  The experiences they will have will help shape their lives and cause their leadership to go beyond career.  Hopefully, it will help make them missionaries for life and for the cause of Christ.

I pray you will be joyous this year as in all years, that the impact you make creates ripples of ministry, the final effect of which we may never know, but the God we serve always will. We hear his command to care for “little ones such as these” and then we practically do something to respond.  What better way is there to protest the culture than to undermine its selfishness?

This week in worship we will remember the prophet Isaiah and his words that were intended to make for peace. His picture of tranquility that is supposed to ensue when the servant of the Lord comes from the tree stump of Jesse is more than idealistic or utopian.  His picture of peace creates in us a longing that the world might be set right, that all of God’s creation might see the reverse of the Fall, and that all flesh shall experience the moment of shalom.  Shalom (Hebrew for Peace) is not just the absence of conflict, but  the absence of selfishness which creates injustice in the lives of others.  When God comes our selfishness departs, our distrust of God, one another and creation is surrendered and God’s intent for the creation comes into view.  Will we ever catch sight of what could be?

I hope you say a good word about the Lord Jesus Christ and Western Hills this week, and I pray you invite someone to be in church with you this week.  It is the season and time that people are looking for something more than the spiritually empty life of consumption.  Make sure they know there is another option.  See you soon, in the place where we will dine at His table, feed on His grace and hear His call to be people who are making a generous difference in the world.

Shalom,
Pastor Mark