Sunday Review 9/27

It’s apparent to me that we’re losing some faces in the crowd. You’ve seen it too, haven’t you? Is it discouraging you? Are you worried about it? Do you have a thought or two or three as to why it’s happening? Let’s go ahead and talk about the elephant in the room, or in this case, that may not be in the room.

Attendance is down a bit, yes. But I’d like to encourage you with a couple of cliché reasons as to why. First, whenever a church is in transition, such as we are at Plum Creek, this kind of thing often happens. Second, we’re getting into that time of year where farmers are busy, and we have a large population of farmers, so that’s something to consider as well.

Here’s the thing, though. What it all comes down to is, we can’t let ourselves be distracted by things like this. No matter what happens, as a church, we need to be focused on the mission that God has called us to. I do want to encourage you to join me in reaching out to our missing brothers and sisters, but at the end of the day, we have to be focused on Christ’s mission of evangelism.

Last Sunday we talked about Jesus’ eating with tax collectors and sinners. We talked about how the Pharisees were enraged by this. We also talked about the fact that Jesus pointed out to these, the religious elite, that he hadn’t come to call the righteous, but the sinners. It’s not the healthy people who need a doctor, Jesus reminded them, but the sick.

I picked up a book by a pastor who I highly respect named Tim Harlow. He writes about this passage, and suggests that what Jesus was really saying was:

“I’m letting you know up front that my goal isn’t to have holy little people that live in a little box and get everything right all the time. If that was what I wanted I would just take you all to heaven right now. But this is not heaven. This is earth. It’s messy here, but we’re finding sinners and getting them ready for heaven, and we do that by sitting down and eating with them, just as they are. Sick and messy. If you’re good with that – pull up a chair and join me.” Tim Harlow’s Life on Mission

I gotta tell you, I really like that quote. I really like that mission. I really like that Tim puts it so clearly, so plainly, and so well.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying I don’t care that we have people who are wandering. I’m saying that at all. What I AM saying, is that we have a mission to do. And I believe if we stick to it and do it, and we don’t let anything distract us from it, God will take care of us.

We have nothing to fear, Plum Creek. We only have work to do. 

Sunday Review: Amped Up

Last Sunday, we Plum Creekers gathered together for the seventh time under the roof of the Riverside Park Amphitheater for our annual outdoor worship service that we call "Amped Up."

Amped Up is special for a variety of reasons. First, it's cool that a church would do something like it. It's so very out of the box, and takes a lot of work to pull off. My unending thanks to Mike Ooley, Jack Harmon, Bob Hoel, Dave Halterman, Steven Boyer, Mona Sterwerf, Betty Thomas, Bill Craven, Carolyn Kieth, Shelly Griffin, and many, many more who put in so much time and effort to make the event possible. Everyone who helped from setting up the stage to organizing food to parking cars, truly, thank you for your efforts this weekend.

In the past, Ray always tried to make Amped Up as much about evangelism as possible. I don't disagree with that, not by any stretch of the imagination. But I have noticed that Amped Up has become that "third Sunday" that so many casual church goers attend. You know, Christmas, Easter, and Amped Up. So I wanted to deliver a message that, while certainly and appropriately evangelistic, might also "amp up" some of those more casual attenders, as well as make the regular attending crowd excited about our goal of winning people to Jesus.

From the response that I have been getting, it sounds like those efforts weren't in vain. I'm grateful to God for blessing our day, and for being with us as we worshiped him.

Leading up to the day, I had asked those on facebook to take a look at the 1953 Merrie Melodies cartoon "Duck Amuck."

In the picture, Daffy Duck believes he is about to star in a cartoon about the Three Musketeers. Instead, the animator of the picture spends the length of the film drawing in different scenery and costumes on Daffy, and at one point even goes so far as to erase the exasperated duck and draw him back in as a flower headed monster.

In this preview of post-modernism, we are entertained by a slowly maddening protagonist, (Daffy Duck) and eventually learn the identity of the somewhat sadistic antagonistic animator (Bugs Bunny in this case).

We have a good laugh at Daffy's expense, but I think more than we are necessarily entertained, we also find a common thread with Daffy in the pattern that he's knitting (See what I did there, Pam?).

Daffy spends the picture arguing with the narrator, insisting that he's not doing his job correctly, that he's making mistakes left and right, and even goes so far as to try to tell the animator how to do his job.

How often do we do the same thing with God? How much time do we spend arguing with him and yelling at him and telling him how to do his job?

If we're honest with ourselves, we've probably all done that at least once. But if we could just... back off for a second and let a cooler head prevail, and think, and feel, and ask him...

Ask him? Ask him what? What is he doing? Why is he doing it? Is he even there?

No. God is there.

Psalm 139:7-10
Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol (the grave), You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me.

So, if God is there, and he's everywhere, why can't I sense him? Why can't I feel him? Why does my life often feel like a Daffy Duck cartoon that spinning out of control?

Good questions. But I have a better one. You see I think we often spend way too much time looking for answers, when we aren't focused enough on asking the right questions. So, what's the right question to ask? Well if God isn't present everywhere, all the time and with us, the question isn't "where are you, God?" But instead, "God, would yo reveal yourself to me?"

God I can't find you, God I can't feel you. Show me yourself. Prove to me that you're still here and haven't left me. Help me to find you again.

I admire my wife for the heroic battle she's fighting and winning. Most of you know that life has been insane for our family lately. Between Jesci's fight with lymphoma, her Dad's passing this summer, and a few other odds and ends here and there, life has at best been busy, and at worst, very, very difficult. But Jesci has a theory - That God is preparing us for something stronger.

I really admire that. I admire it because Jesci hasn't allowed the negative circumstance in her life to dictate how her life will be lived. Instead, she has asked God to reveal to her what he is up to. And in doing so, she has been able to see that God has a plan here.

Let's not forget what we learn from Jeremiah 29:11 - God has plans for a hope and a future for us.

So that begs the question, will you be like Daffy and spend your days uselessly arguing with God? Or will you spend your days like Jesci, and ask God to reveal himself and his plans to you?

Let's take an example from a faithful servant. Let's lay down our burdens, our woes and our complaints. Let's strap on the armor of God and let's reach out to a world that's hurt, lost and dying. God has given us marching orders in 2 Corinthians 5. We are to reconcile the world to him! And we need to be at our best to perform such a task. Let's lay down our burdens, let's pick up our armor, and let's amp it up!

Sunday Review 8/30

As we prepare to finish up the narrative of the Old Testament in our sermon series The Story, we took some time this weekend to visit Persia and pay honor to it's queen - Esther. 

I've always really liked the book of Esther. I know everyone gives Esther grief because it's the book that doesn't specifically mention God in it, but I appreciate our guest worship leader, and my sister in law, Jean Bell's reminder that God knew that we would need some examples to follow, and I agree with her that this is a big part of the reason of why it was included in the cannon of the Bible. 

Esther is a perfect example of what it means to be submitted to God and to be willing to be used of him. Esther may have ended up being the Queen of beauty and courage, but she started out as an orphan, a person with lower status than anyone. She was raised by her cousin, Mordecai, who told her after being forced to be queen not to tell anyone who she is or that she is a Jew. 

Abandoned. Stolen from home. Forced into a life she didn't ask for. Told to be quiet about her heritage and family. Not a great way to start out life. 

Esther arrives on the scene confused and afraid. The king's Eunuch's who were assigned to attend her were likely the only people she talked to on a regular basis. 

One day, she gets a report that the King's number two guy, Haman, just signed into law an edict making Jews public enemy number one, and ordered that they be terminated. Cousin Mordecai appeals to Esther to plead with the king on the Jew's behalf. 

Further complicating the matter is that Esther has no idea how to behave around the king. Can she even approach him? People who showed up in the king's presence un-invited were thrown on large sharp poles and impaled. I could see why she would be a little nervous to approach him, let alone talk to him about what's happening and ask him to intervene. 

But...

Esther 4:13-14

When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in the king's house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?

Mordecai was right. He caught a glimpse of the "upper story." Do you remember the concept of the "Upper" and "Lower" story? The Lower Story is our life. It's what is going on around us. It's what we see and interact with. The "Upper" Story is God's story. It's what he's doing behind the scenes that we can't see. It's where his thoughts are higher than our thoughts and where his ways are higher than our ways, and where it's where he's working in his mysterious ways.

I get in my mind this picture of God playing chess with himself. We of course are the pawns. The moves of the player are unknown to us, but we can be sure that God is playing, and that no matter how close it may seem to "checkmate", God always has a move or two up his sleeve. 

In this case, it looked as though Haman was going to commit racial genocide and wipe the Jews out with one fell swoop. But in the upper story, God was preparing his next move. He was about to move his Queen. 

It didn't happen right away, but eventually Esther gathered her courage and revealed to the king what Haman was planning to do. The king was so furious with Haman that he had him executed and impaled on a pole. Mordecai was elevated to Haman's old position, and the Jews were saved. 

All because an abandoned, lonely, and frightened girl submitted to God and allowed him to move through her. 

Maybe you are like Esther and you don't have a large amount of confidence. Perhaps you feel you're too young to be used of God; too inexperienced. Or perhaps you feel you're too old; too set in your ways. But if we learn anything from Esther's story, it's that God can use anyone to accomplish his purposes. 

1 Corinthians 1:26-27

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 

And he can do it again if you'll submit to him through Jesus Christ and allow him to move through you.