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Published: 06 January 2017

It’s popular to talk about church as something we do but as you know, the word church is a noun not a verb.  The church is what we are and what we do is not as simple as some would like to make it.  We talk about going to church when what we really mean is that we are going to meet with the church.  A building is not the church.  As we often say, the church is the building that occupies the building.   But as a living building what should we be doing?  Why are we here?  What is our mission?  How would we know?  Thankfully we are not left to figure things out on our own!  The Scriptures give us a pattern without giving us strict details.  Since the church is God’s idea and Christ is our Head, we should be prayerfully and carefully reading the Word and listening to the Spirit.  Some would say that we are more enlightened now and we should move on from ancient texts to contemporary strategies.  Not all progress is progress.  Change for the sake of change is not always helpful.  G.K. Chesterton reminds us in his helpful little book called “Orthodoxy” that any so called progress that keeps changing the ideal or the vision is one of the principal blunders of our age.  He said, “Progress should mean that we are always walking toward the New Jerusalem, not away from it…but altering the ideal is easier.”  It is easier to change the ideal than to live to see it fulfilled.  Sometimes we lower the rim so the little kids can make a basket.  That’s fun but it’s a lot more satisfying to see the kid grow up and make shots on a ten foot rim.  God has a standard for us and we need to grow up into Him by doing what He said.  The passage in Acts that we’ll be studying this week is a helpful reminder of what we should be doing and is a good gauge for measuring our progress as a church…and as individuals.

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Published: 29 December 2016

A resolution is a “firm decision to do or not do something.”  Resolutions are common at this point in the year.  As we start 2017 people will resolve to read more, eat less, exercise, watch less TV and give more money.  Resolutions are made by people.  Your dog doesn’t resolve to read more and sleep less.  Your cat doesn’t resolve to catch more mice in the new year.  Your hamster doesn’t set goals.  To resolve is human.  That we can choose is evidence of our likeness to God.  We have a will.  That we want to better ourselves is evidence of our belief that things can be better.  To me this implies that there was a time when things were better…that we were better.  Most of us, whether we know it or not are craving a return to the original glory of mankind.  John Eldridge reminds that every time we look in the mirror we’re checking to see if the glory has returned.  Of course there is nothing wrong with resolutions, they can be quite helpful in our development as people.  What if our resolutions were more in line with God’s intentions for us?  What if we thought more about our character and less about our waistline or per mile average when jogging?  What if our resolve was followed by means?  I mean, what if we decided to practice being who we want to become?  Have you ever observed a cranky, mean-spirited person and said, “Wow, I sure don’t want to become like that.”?  It’s going to take more than desire to not become like that.  It’s going to take practice.  We’re planning to have Communion on New Year’s Day and I’m going to challenge you with one of the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.”  The habit we’ll consider is this, “Begin with the end in mind.”  Do you have an idea about what kind of person you’d like to become?  How are you arranging your life to get there?  Will your resolutions reflect that?