January 26, 2012
Do you see Jesus in others? And not just when you see someone do good works or when someone is kind and compassionate. Do you see Jesus in the broken, the sinful, the despised, the angry, and the hated people of the world? As Christians, we are to view every encounter with another human being as an encounter with the image of God. The beauty and profoundness of that reality should override any differences and create space in us to willingly and lovingly embrace the other. All too often we give up on …
Letter to NBChurch
Dear New Beginnings Church,
The yearly “family newsletter” is a fun tradition in many households. Often included with a family photo, the newsletter chronicles the happenings within a family over the past year, and is sent out so others too may know the stories. The details told might include sadness from the death of a love one, joy from a new birth in the family, laughter from a vacation memory, or even, anticipation of plans for the future.
This year, the family letter for New Beginnings Church would require multiple pages filled with stories of both brokenness and beauty, sadness and joy, division and unity. However, our family newsletter is still being written; the Author has yet to reveal the final pages. Therefore, we are asked not to revel in our brokenness, but to live as a community devoted to living out Christ-likeness. In a way, we are each a newsletter being sent out to tell the world of a faithful God who provides new beginnings.
As we look forward to another year, let us remember to carefully watch and listen, seeking to discern together what God is authoring within our church community. And as you pray, join us in praying for what we believe God has in mind in this next chapter of ministry:
- Strengthened unity. We are praying for clear understanding of the unity Jesus desires for his followers.
- A multiplication of our NBCommunities. May God call and help us equip leaders who passionately pursue planting of missional communities throughout our geographical area. This “scattered” element of our discipleship strategy holds great potential in our hope of being a Christ-like church.
- Continued and renewed partnership with New Generation Christian Church. May God help us find more ways to partner in this Kingdom-minded ministry for the sake of the Lee’s Summit community.
- Maximized resources. We are praying for God to lead us in ways of expanded building usage for ministry.
As we move into January, here are a few immediate opportunities to look forward to:
- Starting January 8th we will reconvene our Conversation Hour classes.
- January 29th we will have a combined service with New Generation Christian Center. This will be an opportunity to affirm our covenant partnership and create opportunities for fellowship.
- This year we will provide a daily devotion at www.nbconversation.com. This site will offer daily prayers, readings, and additional resources to help equip and prepare us for our Sunday gatherings.
So, as we celebrate the New Year, let us remember the faithfulness of God who loves us, corrects us, forms us, and sends us. And may Jesus’ words to his disciples in John 17:20-21 serve as our benediction from the year past and an invocation for the next:
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us sothat the world may believe that you have sent me.” – John 17:20-21
Let’s start the year off worshiping together! See you Sunday, January 1st, 2012.
Pastors Shane, Margaret, and Justin
Jesus’s = The Possessive Noun.
Recently I asked this simple question on Facebook, “What is the official rule on the possessive noun form for Jesus? Jesus’ or Jesus’s?”
As predicted, some insisted it is Jesus’ and others suggest the rules allow for Jesus’s. Although there may be a confusing history within the manuals of style, the reality of life is simple…we must be prepared to admit there are things in life that belong to Jesus.
Sometimes churches like to refer to their mission or vision statements. Usually it is some variation of words printed on a letterhead, designed into the header on the website, or printed in the weekly flyer. But biblically, “vision” for the church is seeing the future through the lens of Kingdom mindedness…and “mission” is participating in what/how/where God is at work in His world…it is always about this and not the mission/vision of a local organized church. Jesus’s vision and mission for the Church is paramount…Jesus’s - as in the possessive noun form – the Church is his and for his purposes (and yes, I chose this time to use the allowed version of Jesus’s to make sure the emphasis is heard).
I am also wondering these days if perhaps even strategy for the Church is given to us by Jesus. Perhaps Jesus’ approach to discipleship is what is missing among many of our churches today.
I am reminded of a quote from Billy Graham. Although known for the great crowds that rallied around his preaching; Graham insisted he wished it were different, ”I think one of the first things I would do would be to get a small group of eight or ten or twelve men around me that would meet a few hours a week and pay the price. It would cost them something in time and effort. I would share with them everything I have, over a period of years. Then I would actually have twelve ministers among the laymen who in turn could take eight or ten or twelve more and teach them. I know one or two churches that are doing that, and it is revolutionizing the church. Christ, I think, set the pattern. He spent most of his time with twelve men. He didn’t spend it with a great crowd. In fact, every time he had a great crowd it seems to me that there weren’t too many results. The great results, it seems to me, came in his personal interview and in the time he spent with the twelve.” (Christianity Today, vol.3, no.1, p.5, Oct.13, 1958.)
Today I have spent time praying and pondering over what God has in store for us at New Beginnings Church in the year of 2012. I am dreaming of 20 groups of 12 (get it…2012…cute huh?) that would take serious the vision of being Kingdom people and seek to live out Jesus’ mission. What if this next year we became passionate about being Jesus’ hands and feet in Jesus’ world? What if we intentionally focused on Jesus’ instructions to “teach…and baptize them”? What would happen? What could happen?
No Vacancy?
“Is there room in your heart?”
As a cute play off of the “there was no room in the inn” phrase common in many versions of the Nativity story, no doubt this question has been asked many times by many preachers throughout the past centuries. But wait, what about the fact that an “inn” is not actually mentioned in Luke’s version…a better rendering of kataluma would be “the guest room of the house was already taken.”
Perhaps the Gospel story would shine brighter if we asked the question actually implied in Luke’s words…what if we asked, “Is there room for Jesus in your home?”
Now we have illuminated the implications of an incarnate God becoming flesh. How we respond to the challenge of what to do with Jesus in our homes is the real question of Christmas.
Rather than reducing Jesus to a space in our hearts (private piety), or a borrowed space in the local inn (temporary comfort)…let us invite Jesus into our homes, our intimate spaces, our protected spaces, our “safe” spaces.
Is there room for Jesus in your home today?
Happy New Year!
November 27th marked the first Sunday of Advent and the beginning of a new year in Christ. So…Happy New Year!
For centuries, by following the liturgical Christian calendar, Christians have intentionally meditated on the life of Christ; we stand in awe at the manger, listen intently to the hillside teaching, grieve at the cross, and then, celebrate together as witnesses to the resurrection.
Even in the midst of “ordinary time” within the Christian Calendar (the weeks in-between the more well known celebrations) we are challenged to inspect our lives in the light of the returning King.
For much of my life I was unaware of the meaning and significance of words such as lectionary, liturgy, lent, advent, formation. Perhaps I was unaware because although many churches celebrate the common cultural days (Valentines, July 4th, Mother’s Day, etc.) they often ignore the spiritual formation and intentional discipleship present within the liturgy of the Christian Calendar.
Today, I am becoming more convinced of the necessity for a common liturgy within faith communities. It offers both a connection to the past and a platform for the prophetic future. It leads us to organize our lives not just around kronos time (calendars, seasons, clocks, dates) but around kairos time (God’s timing…or the fullness of time). It creates common language and prayers. It opens our lives up to the work of the Spirit of God. And by continually reminding us of our place in God’s story, it calls us into anticipation of the rule of God over all creation.
Your thoughts?
