In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you.” For an individual, “all these things” means clothes, food, and shelter. For a church, “all these things” means buildings, grounds, staff, and money to pay bills. To seek the kingdom first is to focus our time and energy on what God wants from us – love God, love each other, and make disciples – while we trust God to provide buildings, staff, and money.
As I look at New Hope, I see us seeking first the kingdom of God. Jesus told us to make disciples and baptize them. We have baptized Lindsey Rodriguez, Bobbi Frederick, Tim Fisher, Gabi Abdenabbi, Sam Senatro, and Annie Roberts. Jesus told us to teach disciples to obey his commandments: “Wash on another’s feet” (serve one another); “Love one another as I have loved you.” We love each other and are growing in receiving and giving Real Love, unconditional love.
I like the way Eugene Peterson puts Matthew 6:33-34 in The Message; “Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.”
As we focus on “God-reality” and “God provisions,” we don’t have to worry about missing out. God is taking care of our “everyday human concerns.” Our grounds look better every day. John Rising and Jim McCroskey have given good leadership to getting our lights and our sign in place. Meanwhile, we have called Cheryl Secunda to be Director of Children and Youth Ministries and Vernon Buchanan to be Caretaker of Buildings and Grounds. Cheryl will continue to lead Kid’s Connection and Youth Connection and serve as a resource person to all who teach Children and Youth in Sunday School and Children’s Church. Vernon will take care of the cleaning and upkeep of our buildings and grounds.
Let’s keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and the kingdom of God. We won’t have to worry about missing out. God will take care of our needs. Think about these things. Give “your attention to what God is doing right now” as you make your commitment to give to New Hope Baptist Church in 2009.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
God Healing Racism
The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States caused John McCain to say in his warmly gracious concession speech, “A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters. America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States. Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on earth. Senator Obama has achieved a great thing for himself and for his country.”
At the age of six, I saw a “Whites Only” sign on the water fountain at the Sears and Roebuck store in Greenville, South Carolina. During the summers of my college years, I worked in a textile mill in my hometown and saw the first African-Americans being hired for jobs other than cleaning restrooms and sweeping floors. Until my junior year in college, I never went to school with a black person. Furman University admitted its first African-American undergraduate student in 1965. Joseph Vaughn, a freshman, was in my biology class in the fall of 65.
During my two years at Furman, I lived at home and drove to school each day. On that 15-mile trip each morning, I listened to Bob Jones University radio, which carried extremist commentators Carl McIntire and Billy James Hargis. They argued that Martin Luther King, Jr. was part of a communist conspiracy to destroy America by forcing integration. That stirred my interest in the Civil Rights Movement, and Dr. King became my hero.
When Dr. King was assassinated, I wept. I was sick at heart that people I knew and loved in the South were saying, “They ought to reward the man that shot him.” Ignorance and hatred were still in control of many minds just 40 years ago.
I thank God for working in American history to heal us of our racism. A good friend told me this morning that his grandchildren can’t see why electing a black man president is such a big deal. They don’t see race. Look how far we’ve come! My dad was sad just eighteen years ago when his small South Georgia church refused to allow a young black student to sing in a worship service. I wish I could talk to him about the election of an African-American President. I’m sure that he is looking down from heaven and celebrating that America is “a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry” he saw in his lifetime.
At the age of six, I saw a “Whites Only” sign on the water fountain at the Sears and Roebuck store in Greenville, South Carolina. During the summers of my college years, I worked in a textile mill in my hometown and saw the first African-Americans being hired for jobs other than cleaning restrooms and sweeping floors. Until my junior year in college, I never went to school with a black person. Furman University admitted its first African-American undergraduate student in 1965. Joseph Vaughn, a freshman, was in my biology class in the fall of 65.
During my two years at Furman, I lived at home and drove to school each day. On that 15-mile trip each morning, I listened to Bob Jones University radio, which carried extremist commentators Carl McIntire and Billy James Hargis. They argued that Martin Luther King, Jr. was part of a communist conspiracy to destroy America by forcing integration. That stirred my interest in the Civil Rights Movement, and Dr. King became my hero.
When Dr. King was assassinated, I wept. I was sick at heart that people I knew and loved in the South were saying, “They ought to reward the man that shot him.” Ignorance and hatred were still in control of many minds just 40 years ago.
I thank God for working in American history to heal us of our racism. A good friend told me this morning that his grandchildren can’t see why electing a black man president is such a big deal. They don’t see race. Look how far we’ve come! My dad was sad just eighteen years ago when his small South Georgia church refused to allow a young black student to sing in a worship service. I wish I could talk to him about the election of an African-American President. I’m sure that he is looking down from heaven and celebrating that America is “a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry” he saw in his lifetime.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Forgiveness Preparedness
On October 2, 2006, Charles Carl Roberts IV carried his guns and his rage into an Amish schoolhouse near Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. Five schoolgirls died that day, and five others were seriously wounded. These facts are stated in the preface to Amish Grace, an inspiring attempt to explain the Amish response to the killings. Within hours after Carl Roberts shot the girls and turned his gun on himself, Amish community leaders were visiting his widow, his father, and his grandfather to tell them, “We want you to know that we will not hold a grudge against you.” Then parents of two of the little girls who were killed invited Roberts’s family to attend their funerals, and many Amish people attended the funeral of Carl Roberts. Out of their compassion for Roberts’s wife and children, the Amish brought meals to them and gave them funds to help with their expenses.
The media began to focus on Amish forgiveness more than on the horror of the event. Donald Kraybill, one of the authors of Amish Grace writes, “When forgiveness arrived at the killer’s home within hours of his crime, it did not appear out of nowhere. Rather, forgiveness is woven into the very fabric of Amish life, its sturdy threads having been spun from faith in God, scriptural mandates, and a history of persecution.”
If we members of New Hope Baptist Church are going to be found faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ when the worst happens to us, we must develop a process that promotes spiritual growth. We are going to have to become fully devoted followers of Christ who are radically different from the nobody-tells-me-what-to-do, pleasure-seeking world that surrounds us. We are going to have to become a community with traditions, rituals, discipline, and ways of teaching that will produce more than casual, unconcerned Christians.
The grace extended by the Amish was in their hearts and minds before this terrible event ever happened. Their way of life did not make much of emergency preparedness, says Kraybill. It gave them “forgiveness preparedness.” Their story raises questions for us. Are we members of New Hope being shaped by our faith in God, by what the Bible demands of us, and by our life together? Are we preparing for the uncertainties of tomorrow? Are we allowing the Spirit and teachings of Jesus to be so woven into the fabric of our life together that we are being prepared to forgive and show compassion when our time of suffering comes? How do we promote forgiveness preparedness in our church like that of our Amish bothers and sisters in Christ?
The media began to focus on Amish forgiveness more than on the horror of the event. Donald Kraybill, one of the authors of Amish Grace writes, “When forgiveness arrived at the killer’s home within hours of his crime, it did not appear out of nowhere. Rather, forgiveness is woven into the very fabric of Amish life, its sturdy threads having been spun from faith in God, scriptural mandates, and a history of persecution.”
If we members of New Hope Baptist Church are going to be found faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ when the worst happens to us, we must develop a process that promotes spiritual growth. We are going to have to become fully devoted followers of Christ who are radically different from the nobody-tells-me-what-to-do, pleasure-seeking world that surrounds us. We are going to have to become a community with traditions, rituals, discipline, and ways of teaching that will produce more than casual, unconcerned Christians.
The grace extended by the Amish was in their hearts and minds before this terrible event ever happened. Their way of life did not make much of emergency preparedness, says Kraybill. It gave them “forgiveness preparedness.” Their story raises questions for us. Are we members of New Hope being shaped by our faith in God, by what the Bible demands of us, and by our life together? Are we preparing for the uncertainties of tomorrow? Are we allowing the Spirit and teachings of Jesus to be so woven into the fabric of our life together that we are being prepared to forgive and show compassion when our time of suffering comes? How do we promote forgiveness preparedness in our church like that of our Amish bothers and sisters in Christ?
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Why I Don’t Endorse Presidential Candidates
A group called the Alliance Defense Fund is encouraging pastors to endorse a presidential candidate from their pulpits. The leaders of this movement say they are trying to provoke a legal battle over the Internal Revenue Service restriction which, as a condition of churches’ tax exemptions, prohibits them from endorsing political candidates.
I have been a pastor for 38 years and I have never endorsed a candidate for president in any church I have served. A member of New Hope asked me recently if I would vote for a certain presidential candidate. I said, “They put curtains around the voting booth so that no one will know how I am voting.” There are some good reasons why I won’t endorse any political candidate for any office.
The main reason is that I want to be the pastor of all the members of New Hope Baptist Church. The Bible in Romans 14:19 tells us to “aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.” That is what I want to do: aim for harmony. Getting us divided over presidential candidates or any other candidates would promote disharmony and would keep us from building each other up.
Brent Walker, director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty wrote that pastors endorsing political candidates from their pulpits would “politicize churches more than it would Christianize politics.” I agree. We don’t want our church to pursue something as fleeting as a partisan political agenda when our purpose is to create a spiritual community that loves God and each other and reproduces followers of Jesus Christ.
Churches exist to enrich people’s spiritual lives, not act like political machines that issue marching orders to voters. Our church is tax-exempt because we are a spiritual community, not a political block. I am more interested in keeping our spiritual harmony than in keeping our tax exemption, but let’s keep both.
I have been a pastor for 38 years and I have never endorsed a candidate for president in any church I have served. A member of New Hope asked me recently if I would vote for a certain presidential candidate. I said, “They put curtains around the voting booth so that no one will know how I am voting.” There are some good reasons why I won’t endorse any political candidate for any office.
The main reason is that I want to be the pastor of all the members of New Hope Baptist Church. The Bible in Romans 14:19 tells us to “aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.” That is what I want to do: aim for harmony. Getting us divided over presidential candidates or any other candidates would promote disharmony and would keep us from building each other up.
Brent Walker, director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty wrote that pastors endorsing political candidates from their pulpits would “politicize churches more than it would Christianize politics.” I agree. We don’t want our church to pursue something as fleeting as a partisan political agenda when our purpose is to create a spiritual community that loves God and each other and reproduces followers of Jesus Christ.
Churches exist to enrich people’s spiritual lives, not act like political machines that issue marching orders to voters. Our church is tax-exempt because we are a spiritual community, not a political block. I am more interested in keeping our spiritual harmony than in keeping our tax exemption, but let’s keep both.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Halloween and All Saints' Day
Halloween means so many things to so many different people that some Christians are perplexed about how to observe it, if it should be observed at all. More and more Christians are rediscovering the ancient connection between Halloween and All Saints’ Day.
In the seventh century, All Saints’ Day was first observed to honor all those who had been designated as saints but did not have a particular day dedicated to them. In the ninth century, All Saints’ Day was placed on the calendar on November 1. The preceding day, October 31, which had been observed as the Celtic festival of Samhain, was renamed All Hallows’ eve, or Halloween. (Hallow is an archaic word for saint.) Around the year 1000, the church began to observe All Souls’ Day on November 2.
More and more churches are reclaiming Halloween’s relationship with All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, and are using it as a time to acknowledge the power of death and celebrate our victory over death through Christ. “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:54b-55).
Drawing on the apostle Paul’s use of “saints” in the New Testament, most Protestants consider anyone who belongs to Christ a saint, not just an individual who has been recognized by the church for living an exemplary life of faith. Many churches use November 1, or the Sunday closest to that day, as a day to remember and celebrate their members who have died over the past year and to celebrate the victory their loved ones have won over death through Christ’s death and resurrection. When the Lord’s Supper is celebrated, the living are reminded that, at the Lord’s Table, they share that “mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won.” (I am indebted to Pastor Steve Lytch who wrote a Sunday School lesson about Halloween for thethoughtfulchristian.com.)
On Sunday, November 2, New Hope Baptist Church will observe All Saints’ Day in our morning worship service. We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper and remember church members, family, and friends who have died during the last year. Worshippers will be invited to come to a table with a light-of-Christ candle in the center and light a small candle in memory of someone who has died. Please be with us to reclaim this important celebration of our loved ones’ victory over death through Christ.
In the seventh century, All Saints’ Day was first observed to honor all those who had been designated as saints but did not have a particular day dedicated to them. In the ninth century, All Saints’ Day was placed on the calendar on November 1. The preceding day, October 31, which had been observed as the Celtic festival of Samhain, was renamed All Hallows’ eve, or Halloween. (Hallow is an archaic word for saint.) Around the year 1000, the church began to observe All Souls’ Day on November 2.
More and more churches are reclaiming Halloween’s relationship with All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, and are using it as a time to acknowledge the power of death and celebrate our victory over death through Christ. “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor. 15:54b-55).
Drawing on the apostle Paul’s use of “saints” in the New Testament, most Protestants consider anyone who belongs to Christ a saint, not just an individual who has been recognized by the church for living an exemplary life of faith. Many churches use November 1, or the Sunday closest to that day, as a day to remember and celebrate their members who have died over the past year and to celebrate the victory their loved ones have won over death through Christ’s death and resurrection. When the Lord’s Supper is celebrated, the living are reminded that, at the Lord’s Table, they share that “mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won.” (I am indebted to Pastor Steve Lytch who wrote a Sunday School lesson about Halloween for thethoughtfulchristian.com.)
On Sunday, November 2, New Hope Baptist Church will observe All Saints’ Day in our morning worship service. We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper and remember church members, family, and friends who have died during the last year. Worshippers will be invited to come to a table with a light-of-Christ candle in the center and light a small candle in memory of someone who has died. Please be with us to reclaim this important celebration of our loved ones’ victory over death through Christ.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Radiant Over the Goodness of the LORD
For several days now I have been “radiant over the goodness of the LORD.” Fleda and I experienced a blessing when we traveled to Columbia, South Carolina last week for the annual homecoming service and covered dish lunch of Greenlawn Baptist Church. I was amazed at how connected we felt to people who were our church family 25 years ago. This was our first church after I graduated from seminary with my doctorate in theology. They remembered us and we remembered them in so many positive ways. It was good to share memories and to reconnect after all these years.
“I am a part of all that I have met.” I don’t know who said those words, but they come to mind as I think of how I was called to serve a suburban church in 1974, went through many joys and sorrows leading that church, and left to come to DeLand, Florida in 1983. The experience shaped me in some ways that I can identify and in others that I cannot see. The people of that church are still in my heart after all these years. I have a deep sense that through it all God was at work for good.
Bob Hubble was our host in Columbia. He picked us up at the airport, rented us a car, set up a drop-in for us to have some time to talk to those who came to see us, took us out to dinner, and then suffered a heart attack and missed the homecoming worship service. He had triple heart bypass surgery on Tuesday morning and called me on Wednesday night just as we at New Hope were going into our prayer time. Do we not live in an age of medical miracles? God is so good.
I listened this morning to Boyd Frank’s message to New Hope recorded last Sunday. He spoke about Jesus as our Good Shepherd and told of how God had surrounded him with care when his first wife died at the age of thirty. His conviction of the loving presence of God in a time of trouble, born of his own experience, enlarges our trust in God’s goodness.
We are living with uncertainty these days because of America’s economic crisis. Whatever is going on in your life, don’t let your heart be afraid. Keep your eyes on the goodness of God. Live out the prophecy of Jeremiah: “They shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD” (31:12).
“I am a part of all that I have met.” I don’t know who said those words, but they come to mind as I think of how I was called to serve a suburban church in 1974, went through many joys and sorrows leading that church, and left to come to DeLand, Florida in 1983. The experience shaped me in some ways that I can identify and in others that I cannot see. The people of that church are still in my heart after all these years. I have a deep sense that through it all God was at work for good.
Bob Hubble was our host in Columbia. He picked us up at the airport, rented us a car, set up a drop-in for us to have some time to talk to those who came to see us, took us out to dinner, and then suffered a heart attack and missed the homecoming worship service. He had triple heart bypass surgery on Tuesday morning and called me on Wednesday night just as we at New Hope were going into our prayer time. Do we not live in an age of medical miracles? God is so good.
I listened this morning to Boyd Frank’s message to New Hope recorded last Sunday. He spoke about Jesus as our Good Shepherd and told of how God had surrounded him with care when his first wife died at the age of thirty. His conviction of the loving presence of God in a time of trouble, born of his own experience, enlarges our trust in God’s goodness.
We are living with uncertainty these days because of America’s economic crisis. Whatever is going on in your life, don’t let your heart be afraid. Keep your eyes on the goodness of God. Live out the prophecy of Jeremiah: “They shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD” (31:12).
Friday, October 3, 2008
What It Means to Be Saved
Arthur Burns, Jewish economist and a man of influence in Washington circles, offered a provocative prayer before an evangelical audience:
“Lord, I pray that Jews would come to know Jesus Christ, And I pray that Buddhists would come to know Jesus Christ, And I pray that Muslims would come to know Jesus Christ, And, Lord, I pray that Christians would come to know Jesus Christ.”
When I read those words in a sermon by Mark Buchanan, I realized that the prayer is also mine. “Lord, make us Christians here at New Hope Baptist Church come to know Jesus Christ.” To be saved is to be more than casual admirers. It is to know Jesus so well that when we come to a difficult decision or a conflict with someone or face a tragedy, we have his teachings in our heads and his Spirit in our hearts and react with obedience.
In 2006, five Amish girls, aged 6 to 13, were shot and killed by a man in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who then killed himself. The event stunned the world. But what happened next stunned the world all the more: a whole community not bent on retaliation, not shouting with anger or collapsing in despair, but standing with quiet dignity and deep calm. The community was quick to forgive. They even established a charity fund for the killer's family. We saw a people face the worst and become their best.
What does it mean to be saved? It means being freed from our sins and being given eternal life. It also means being given freedom and power, here and now, to live a life transformed by obeying Jesus.
I would rather be in a small church that is coming “to know Jesus Christ” than in a large church with lots of resources that is challenging no one to take up a cross and follow Jesus. Please, let us be a church whose members are learning to see every personal struggle, every conflict, every joy, and every sorrow as an opportunity to live out the teachings of Jesus.
“Lord, I pray that Jews would come to know Jesus Christ, And I pray that Buddhists would come to know Jesus Christ, And I pray that Muslims would come to know Jesus Christ, And, Lord, I pray that Christians would come to know Jesus Christ.”
When I read those words in a sermon by Mark Buchanan, I realized that the prayer is also mine. “Lord, make us Christians here at New Hope Baptist Church come to know Jesus Christ.” To be saved is to be more than casual admirers. It is to know Jesus so well that when we come to a difficult decision or a conflict with someone or face a tragedy, we have his teachings in our heads and his Spirit in our hearts and react with obedience.
In 2006, five Amish girls, aged 6 to 13, were shot and killed by a man in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, who then killed himself. The event stunned the world. But what happened next stunned the world all the more: a whole community not bent on retaliation, not shouting with anger or collapsing in despair, but standing with quiet dignity and deep calm. The community was quick to forgive. They even established a charity fund for the killer's family. We saw a people face the worst and become their best.
What does it mean to be saved? It means being freed from our sins and being given eternal life. It also means being given freedom and power, here and now, to live a life transformed by obeying Jesus.
I would rather be in a small church that is coming “to know Jesus Christ” than in a large church with lots of resources that is challenging no one to take up a cross and follow Jesus. Please, let us be a church whose members are learning to see every personal struggle, every conflict, every joy, and every sorrow as an opportunity to live out the teachings of Jesus.
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