Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Producing Perfection

Dear Worshipers,

One week from today we will have the opportunity to share a musical at the Metropolitan Theater downtown. We will share the musical two days earlier at the Pierpont Church of the Nazarene. I would guess there are about 10-12 churches involved in this endeavor through the participation of at least one member of the choir or orchestra. We will be celebrating America, honoring those who have served in our armed forces, and remembering our responsibility to pass our faith along to others, especially the next generation.

All these things are exciting to me. The places, the people, and the purpose. But what thrills me even more is the product. And I do not mean the musical in particular, but the perfection of unity in general. I am not speaking of musical perfection, but of the perfection process going on in our souls. I am seeing this musical produce a beautiful unity as believers from a number of different faith experiences are coming together around the person of Jesus Christ.

I have been mindful of this all along, but the Holy Spirit highlighted it for me again last week as I was reading through John. Jesus prayed for His disciples, then for all believers. He prayed that we would be one as He and the Father are one. He asked His Father, “that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

That is the perfection that is being produced. The perfection of the unity of the Father and the Son. The perfection we find through becoming one in Them. That will be glory indeed.

Jesus’ prayer is powerful. To see it manifested before your very eyes is an incredible thing. To be a part of it is very humbling.

Many of you have not been able to be involved in this season but I hope you will come to one of the performances, either at Pierpont on Sunday, July 2nd at 2:30 p.m., or at the MET on Tuesday, July 4th at 1:30 p.m. I hope that you will bring someone with you. If you know someone who has served in our armed forces, please invite them. Our acknowledging their service will be an unforgettable moment in the program, similar to the spontaneous acknowledging of our senior pastor’s son who just returned from Iraq and Kuwait. Invite other believers, for this musical will encourage them to pass their faith along to others. Invite unbelievers, for this musical will offer them the answer to all the questions of their souls-Jesus.

Invite everyone you can, then come yourself and witness the church demonstrating the oneness for which Jesus prayed.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Maintenance Versus Development

Dear Worshipers,

A few weeks ago my mother and father-in-law celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Following the celebration, my family lingered to spend some time with them, most of which I spent helping around their home with odd jobs. My father-in-law’s health has deteriorated so that he has a very limited capacity for any kind of work around the house It was my pleasure to serve them and show my love to them during those days.

We had asked them to prepare a list of things they would like for me to do while we were there so as to maximize my time and effort to their greatest benefit. I have done a number of other things for them in the last couple of years, such as painting and installing a ceiling fan. They had mentioned some projects of that sort again prior to our arrival.

As I looked at and worked through the list, I realized that much of this list was maintenance and not new projects. That was a little disappointing at first, but then as I prayed and worked it hit me that this necessary stuff was no longer possible for my father-in-law That was a sad realization, and sobering as well. I did not really want to clean and organize and haul trash to the dump, I wanted to do some things that would improve their quality of life in some small way. I was disappointed.

There was a spiritual truth in that for me as I pondered it during my bushwacking. There is a need for the general care of our spiritual grounds as much as there is a need to develop new areas. This kind of care can be tedious at best, and at least VERY boring. Weeding is a good example.

Though it is not a very pleasant job, weeding is essential in an area where you are trying to grow something. Weeds are insidious and pervasive. They will choke out other plants and flowers and keep them from developing. They will overtake an untended garden in short order, leaving the gardener with a true mess.

The same is true for our souls. If we do not allow the Spirit to come in and clean us out regularly, we are in danger of choking out the precious truths we hold dear. Bad attitudes and thoughts can begin to overwhelm the good, subtly at first, until the eventually consume the mind. We must be careful to tend the garden of our souls, lest we forsake the seeds that have been planted there by the Lord.

So, before you go digging up another plot, examine your current one for weeds. Do the maintenance required to get your soul in tip top shape again. With the warmth and rain of the season, things will grow with just a little help from you.

50 years of careful attention can produce an amazing harvest. Won’t you yield your life to the Lord for Him to produce in you more than you could have ever imagined? It is worth the effort.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Living the Call Together

Dear Worshippers,

On Sunday, we witnessed a powerful illustration of going as the Costa Rica team exited to our exhortation, “Sing of His love in Costa Rica”. What a beautiful moment! They were going. We were sending. We were living the call together.

You may have not thought about them over the last couple of days. I am certain their families left behind have. They are thinking and praying for them almost constantly. They are living the call together. Let us pray for them.

They are others that will be leaving from our midst soon who need our prayer and financial support as well. Katie Hawkins leaves for training Sunday for CCO, and our own Alicia Davis will be heading to California for training next month then on to Vologda, Russia. They need us to live the call together. They need our giving.

Opportunities to live the call together abound. What opportunities to do so will yet cross your path today, I do not know, but the Way-Maker. Yield yourself know to him, as the Costa Team has, and as Katie and Alicia have, then hold on. It will be quite a ride.

See the message below from Pastor Goodin It is an update from the team.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott

----- Original Message -----
From: Chuck & Robbi Fanberg
To: cma@cmachurch.net
Cc: jessicaleighgoodin@yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2006 10:14 PM
Subject: Update

Greetings, all!

We have enjoyed this first day in San Jose, working at the local Alliance church. About half the team conducted two VBS sessions, from 9-11 and from 2-4, with two different groups of children. The rest of us dug out a lengthy grassy area that has been an eyesore alongside the street side of the church. We prepared it for concrete today. Tomorrow and the next day we hope to transform it into a decorative concrete border, embedded with stone.

We spent the evening with Chuck and Roberta Fanberg and their daughter Melanie. They have a lovely apartment, quite spacious, looking over the city to the southwest with the mountains in the distance. The next two or three evenings we will join several cell groups and share personal testimonies. On Friday, we travel 5 hours to Bri-Bri, over a road that is in very poor condition in places. It will be hot, muggy and probably quite muddy there. Chuck says what we are doing this week is getting us ready for “real” missionary work in Bri-Bri. There are many more children there, so we will continue to do VBS.

So far, no sickness, no injuries, no problems. We got through customs fine. The toothbrushes sent by Linda Oliver held us up a short time. They couldn’t comprehend why anyone would be carrying a couple hundred of these. The Fanbergs had a bus waiting for us and it was quite a frenetic experience as they loaded the back of the bus with our over-abundant pieces of luggage. By the time we got to our “bed and breakfast” it was past 1:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time. San Jose is in the Central time zone and does not observe Daylight Savings Time, so we are two hours behind you.

The bed and breakfast is interesting. The accommodations are certainly adequate and hardly primitive, but it’s not up to the standard of even a low-budget American motel or hotel. But better than we’ll find at Bri-Bri, I’m sure. It is in a very rough neighborhood, and we have been warned not to take a walk anywhere. It appears almost all the homes and businesses in San Jose are barricaded with bars, man with spooled razor wire topping the wrought iron.

Jim and Marcella Whetsell rode their motorcycle to the church today to see us. It’s about a 75 minute trip, and they left in the mid-afternoon to beat the rain that comes virtually every day during the rainy season. It was great to see them again, and they are happy and doing well. Their Bible study averages 8-12 people weekly.

Every team member is contributing well, and each one seems to be fully engaged in the experience. Bill is doing an excellent job as team leader. We have had a couple good times of sharing and prayer, and each is keeping a journal.

We’re not sure when or whether we will be able to email again, both because the internet is not easily accessible and because our schedule is very, very full. They have planned our days and evenings with a lot of activity. Keep us in prayer We hope to have many stories when we return.

Please forward this to anyone who might be interested in a report. We are “Living the Call Together” in Costa Rica!

DG

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

What’s That Sound?

Dear Worshipers,

Two years ago in the middle of the night a terrible sound suddenly erupted from our basement. It was so loud it woke up little Isaac then just about two-and-a half years old. To him it sounded like a shooting gun, and it scared him. To me it sounded like my furnace, and that scared me.

After investigating, I realized that the fan had slipped on the blower motor shaft and was hitting the housing. I loosened the set screw, readjusted the fan and retightened the screw. I started it up and it seemed to work just fine, emphasis on the word seemed.

Over the last few weeks the problems has arisen again, and I have kept adjusting, until yesterday. One of the blower motor legs snapped. The wear and tear of the motor led, over time, to the eventual collapse of the functionality of the unit.

As I sat and pondered what to do, I think my countenance changed. Downcast would be a fair word to describe it. I know the psalm which instructs, “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (Psalm 42.11) But my soul was not really willing to receive instruction. I was genuinely bummed. I was hoping I would be able to repair the unit. I was disappointed that a professional would need to look at it, and that I would have to pay them.

I was thinking on these things when Sarah reminded me that God sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:45) The Spirit began to adjust my attitude. Sarah reminded me of several things to be thankful for, one being the fact that it is not the dead of winter. My countenance began to change as I began to practice the praise part of 42.11

There are a lot of applications from this simple story. Let me draw a few for my benefit and hopefully yours as well.

Putting a patch on a problem only delays having to deal with it, and may make the dealing more difficult.
Some situations force you to realize that you may need to call for the help of someone more qualified than yourself to deal with them.
Dwelling on the problem only makes things worse.
Dwelling on the Lord only makes things better.
Sometimes you need a friend to give you a new perspective. Jesus always has a good one to offer.

The professionals can not get tome for about 4-5 days, but I am already praising the Lord for how He will resolve this. I believe that now I will be able to rest at night with the knowledge that no firearms will be sounding in my basement. Isaac will be happy about that too.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott