1 Board Meeting Notes (March 2019) Last month, the Official Board of Pequea Evangelical Congregational Church met on Tuesday, March 5, 2019, to conduct the business of the church. In attendance at the meeting were Rev. Jonathan Brown, Rodney Peachey, Alan Kinsey, Carl Sandoe, Wilmer Stoltzfus, Mary Jane Stoltzfus, and Jesse Bills. The meeting opened with a reading from Matthew 18:11-20, followed by a time of prayer. The board thereafter heard the customary reports, of which the treasurer's report noted that February's income exceeded February's expenses by $60.36.
The pastor's report noted four regular Sunday morning worship services, two church events (the hymnsing on February 10 and the movie night on February 23), three meetings with other district pastors, publication of the Pequea Proclaimer, finishing ten books, and accomplishing a few calls and contacts, although this was limited owing to the pastor having come down with influenza. The stewards offered no report. The trustees reported that they had not yet pursued any action regarding the water leak producing the stain on the sanctuary ceiling above the public, but that they had placed an extra 2x6 up there to facilitate easier access. The stain did not, as of the time of the meeting, seem to have worsened; they suggested perhaps it was only the one windy rainstorm that had caused the damage.
Under the heading of old business, the board again took up preparations for the Pequea Valley School District Spring Fling. Although not all personnel who staffed our church's table at the 2017 Spring Fling are available this year, our church will still be represented by the pastor and several others, and intends to utilize the same game wheel built in 2017 by Jerry Zimmerman. The board also evaluated the new emergency lighting system, which is up and working. Carl Sandoe pointed out to the board the new exit light above the nearest door, and mentioned an intention to get a small plate to cover the hole left by extracting the previous emergency light. Furthermore, another quote pertaining to a new air conditioning system had been received, and the trustees resolved to meet in March, review the quotes in depth, and then make a presentation of their findings to the Official Board at the April 2019 board meeting.
Then, under the heading of new business, the board briefly considered preparations for then-upcoming church events and any supplies required for our church cleaner. A proposal was made to schedule another movie night – featuring the Christian comedy film Moms' Night Out – for Saturday, May 11, 2019 – the day before Mother's Day. Further, Jesse Bills related an idea from Rev. Ken Kalisz: Whereas some churches give gift bags to first-time visitors, perhaps we could have a handout and an information card, such that, if the visitor fills out and returns the information card, we would donate a modest amount to a charity on their behalf. At the board's request, Jesse agreed to prepare a draft and present it at the April meeting. Pastor Jonathan then spent some time offering a preview of Holy Week services (see page 4). The board thereafter adjourned with the recitation of the Lord's Prayer, and plans to reconvene on Tuesday, April 2, 2019, at 7:30 PM.
(Continued from Page 1, “Persistent Witness in a Stubborn Age”) Chained to his fellow missionaries, Adalbert encouraged them with these words: Brothers, don't lose heart! You know that we suffer this for the name of the Lord, whose power is above all other powers, whose beauty is above all ornaments, whose might is beyond all words, and whose mercy is unmatched. What can be so strong, what can be so beautiful, as laying down a well-pleasing life for our most beloved Jesus? Not long after that, a pagan priest of idols led the way in spearing Adalbert, who used his dying breath to pray for the salvation of his killers. Forgiveness and mercy for the stubborn Prussians, stubborn Bohemians, stubborn everybody. What encouragement is this story? Just this: Adalbert's story spread far and wide. His ministry turned out to have had more success than he expected. He'd baptized future rulers of Hungary and Poland; he inspired more missions work among the Prussians; and after a generation had passed, the Bohemians had been so convicted and become so jealous over their exiled bishop that they stole some of his remains back from the Polish church where they were laid to rest. The descendants of the very people who'd ignored him later built a statue of him in Prague, where it still stands today; I look forward to seeing it next month. Looking around at the world, or dealing with a stubborn loved one, may feel like an impossibility. It felt that way for Adalbert. But as long as there's any opening, we can keep bearing a gentle witness of love, patiently being present, strategically backing away and approaching again, always pointing to a Jesus of unmatched mercy who makes life worth living – and worth living well.
2 Upcoming Church Events Conestoga District Meeting – Lay delegates, take note! The biennial district meeting will be on Thursday, April 4, 2019, at 7:00 PM, to be hosted by our Rothsville church (2120 Main Street, Lititz). Bridal Shower – All women of the church, take note! The pastor's fiancée Rebekah Moss will be holding her bridal shower on Saturday, April 6, 2019, at 2:00 PM, in the fellowship hall of Mt. Culmen EC Church (1885 Turkey Hill Road, East Earl), and all the ladies of our church are invited. Easter Hymnsing – On Sunday, April 7, 2019, at 6:00 PM, Pequea EC Church (5482 Old Philadelphia Pike, Gap) will host a special Easter-themed hymnsing. Let's start singing all those great resurrection hymns! Holy Week Services – (see page 4). Upcoming Community Events Movie Night: “Tortured for Christ” – On Sunday, March 31, 2019, in the banquet hall of Yoder's Country Restaurant, at 6:00 PM, you're invited to see the docudrama Tortured for Christ, the story of Romanian pastor Richard Wurmbrand, imprisoned 1948-1956 and 1959-1964 by the Communist government. Recycling Made Easy – On Thursday, April 4, 2019, representatives from the Lancaster County Solid Waste Management Authority will be present at the ELANCO Library (11 Chestnut Drive, New Holland) at 6:30 PM to teach the new recycling regulations and field questions. Chicken Pot Pie Supper – On Saturday, April 6, 2019, the White Horse Fire Company (111 White Horse Road, Gap) will host their annual chicken pot pie supper. Chicken pot pie is available by the quart from 8:00 AM until noon, and then at 1:00 PM, the supper itself will begin to be served. Limeville UMC Easter Egg Hunt – Before our church holds its Easter Egg hunt, there will be one held by Limeville United Methodist Church (5783 Limeville Road, Gap) on Saturday, April 13, 2019, from 2-4 PM. In this free event open to the community, children up to 6th grade will hunt for eggs, hear the real story of Easter, and more. Parents are asked to pre-register their children by e-mailing
3 Holy Week Schedule Hard as it is to believe, Holy Week is just around the corner, coming up this month! You are all invited to the following services and events:
Palm Sunday (April 14) Following our regularly scheduled morning worship service, Pequea EC Church will host an Easter Egg Hunt at 10:30 AM: all area families are welcome. Besides candy, who knows what prizes might be found?
Maundy Thursday (April 18) To commemorate the Last Supper, we will join with Limeville United Methodist Church (5783 Limeville Road, Gap) for a communion service at 7:00 PM, led by Rev. Jim Brashear.
Good Friday (April 19): The Cross Through the Ages On the afternoon of Good Friday, from noon until about 1:15 PM, Pequea EC Church will host a service in remembrance of the crucifixion of Christ. We will sing hymns and hear messages on the cross from the first 1,500 years of church history: the Gospel of Mark (1st c.), Melito of Sardis (2nd c.), The Dream of the Rood (8th c.), Henry Suso (14th c.), Birgitta of Sweden (14th c.), and Martin Luther (16th c.). Speakers will come from Pequea/Mt. Culmen EC Churches, Pequea Presbyterian Church, and Limeville United Methodist Church.
Holy Saturday (April 20) In the fellowship hall of Mt. Culmen EC Church, starting at 7:00 AM, there will be a Holy Saturday pancake breakfast (featuring also sausage, orange juice, and coffee); there is no admittance fee, though donations are accepted. Following the breakfast, there will be an Easter Egg Hunt at 10:00 AM for all children present; and, again, all area families are welcome!
Easter Sunday (April 21) Let's join together at Pequea EC at 7:00 AM for a contemporary-worship Easter Sunrise Service! Special message by Jesse Bills; service outdoors. Following the Sunrise Service, enjoy breakfast, followed by regular Easter Sunday services at Pequea EC (9:00) and Mt. Culmen EC (10:30). Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again!
4 National Ministry Team Meeting Notes (Spring 2019) Last month, on Thursday, March 21, 2019, the National Ministry Team of the Evangelical Congregational Church convened on the campus of Evangelical Seminary in Myerstown for its day-long biennial meeting. Our district, the Conestoga District, was represented by pastoral representative Rev. Jonathan Brown, from our church, and lay representative Bonnie Rathman, from St. Paul's EC Church of Reamstown. Following a word of welcome by Bishop Bruce D. Hill, the opening devotional segment was presented by Rev. Tim King, one of our church planters, who provided a provocative and heart-touching message taken from Psalm 88:
Psalm 88 is often called the “dark night of the soul” of the psalms. It's one of the few psalms that doesn't really have a happy result. … Honestly, if you've ever been in situations that feel unresolved, this is your psalm. … At the core of suffering is God's inexplicable presence. Suffering is hard, not because he's absent, but because he's there and we don't understand what he's doing. Faith clings to God in honest prayer regardless of results or circumstances....
This is a psalm of suffering..., and my hope is, as we walk through it, you can see what faith looks like in the unresolved. It's real easy to talk about what faith looks like when you know what the answers will be and when they're already coming; but this guy's still sitting in the dark. … There are several places where he alludes to suffering that seems to be physical. Verse 4: “I'm a man who has no strength.” Verse 10: “Do you work wonders among the dead?” Verse 15: “Afflicted and close to death from my youth up.” Whatever he's going through, it's serious, and it's been long-standing. … Physical suffering is profound in shaking our faith. … I'll tell you what: You want to become a theologian, just suffer for a little bit – it makes a theologian out of everybody. Because you can't face difficulty and treat it as an abstract idea to be deferred, because suffering is always personal and experiential, and the questions just come out from it. … Prolonged physical suffering can be crushing to the soul. It begs the question: “Why, God? How long, God?” And when it doesn't let up..., “Who is God, and what's his plan?” are inescapable questions....
[The psalmist has] also got relational fall-out. Whatever he's going through has splashed out into his relationships, and so he's got physical suffering, and he's got social suffering, if you will. Verse 8: “You've caused my companions to shun me; you've made me a horror to them.” … Verse 18: “You've caused my beloved and my friends to shun me.” A lot of times, when our situation doesn't lift and it's uncomfortable for us, it's uncomfortable for everybody else, and so nobody wants to hang around that – there's always a temptation to stay away from the dark clouds. And so he's realizing that his suffering is compounding. … I think there's a challenge relationally to see the need to stand with, and be with, those who are going through prolonged suffering....
The psalmist has physical suffering, he has social suffering, but at the core of his struggle, he has theological suffering. … He spends most of his time talking about his God-struggle that has come out of all that. Verse 7: “Your wrath lies heavy upon me, and you overwhelm me with all your waves.” Verses 8-12 are where he just lays it out: “My eyes grow dim with sorrow; every day I call upon you, O LORD; I spread my hands out to you.” Then he asks these questions: “Do you work wonders among the dead? Can I praise you from the grave?” He's yelling, “Where are you, God? Why don't you answer?” That's the thought he's putting out in verses 13-14. See, it would be simpler to believe that there's no God when we suffer. Because at least I could just say, “This stinks, but it's random, it just happens – it's a brutal, random world: So be it.” The crisis of the believer is, “How does this happen when there is a God?” It'd be easier to suffer believing he's not there than to suffer without an answer in the hands of a God you know is there. That's why all suffering is theological; that's why suffering always forces us to look more deeply and ask these questions. And the psalmist is sitting in that pit of pain.
So what's the answer? Where does this psalm take us? Does it just drive us to the darkest corner of human experience and then leave us there? I think we all, at this point, go, “Oh, I hope there's an answer!”... (Continued on Page 6)
5 (Continued from Page 5, “NMT Meeting”) Why does a psalm like this make it into scripture? What are we supposed to take from this? And the answer is faith. What I want you to see in the heart of this psalmist is, he still prays. We wouldn't have this psalm if he wasn't praying; it's a prayer. Verses 1-2: “O LORD, the God of my salvation, I cry out day and night before you. Let my prayer come before you; incline your ear to my cry.” Verse 9: “My eyes grow dim through sorrow; every day I call upon you, LORD, I spread out my hands to you.” Verse 13: “I, O LORD, cry to you; in the morning, my prayer comes before you.” When the questions get so big and the dissonance gets so loud, where do we go? The psalmist does not have an answer, and he hasn't gotten an answer for a long time. From his youth on up, this has plagued him – and he still is praying every day. Every morning, he still draws nigh to the God he does not understand.
Honestly, the power of that statement or that example would not be as clear in this psalm if it was all better. “It's easy: Of course you keep praying – God bailed you out!” But you get a picture of raw, authentic, genuine faith when you see a man who says, “The pain has never let up, and I don't know if it ever will. I think I might die. But every morning, O Lord, I cry out to you. Day and night, I cry out to you. You are my only salvation. I am not looking for deliverance elsewhere. I still believe in you.”
That's a picture of faith. It's a faith that's not a get-rich scheme, a faith that's not a formula you can concoct in order to extract wishes from some sort of genie-god. No, this is faith that just trusts in God for who God is, and wants God just to know him. And so it's very important that we as Christians get this: Faith is not just some positivism; faith isn't wanting green lights bad enough and hoping I get them when I drive in in the morning. That faith will not survive a Psalm 88 test. That faith falls in shambles; it won't fit here. Faith is not freedom from doubt. This guy is beyond doubting; he's actively questioning God. He's basically saying in the psalm, “Are you going to kill me, or what?”...
I want to tell you, Psalm 88 is a deeper picture of faith. This guy's got doubts, and he still clings. This guy questions, and he still clings. Faith is an allegiance to God – it's entrusting myself to him, committing myself to him, no matter what. And so this pictures such a genuine, raw faith – a faith that the Bible defines, an allegiance to God above all else. It's the faith of the disciples when Jesus preaches a hard sermon, and everybody's walking away, and Jesus says, “Will you go too?”, and they say, “Where will we go?” [cf. John 6:66-68]. They don't say, “We understand what you were saying, Jesus.” They're just going, “We're still here.” It's the faith of Job when he's losing everything and it makes no sense, and he says, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” (Job 13:15).
You want to know what faith is? Faith is what you turn to when the suffering won't lift and the darkness is your last friend [cf. Psalm 88:18]. Faith is an honest pursuit of God, no matter what; it's entrusting ourselves to God. Don't turn to your answers. The psalmist doesn't. An answer isn't what you need. What you need is him. The longing of the psalmist is not God's explanation. As much as we think that's what we want in those moments, the psalmist gets it right. What the psalmist wants is not God's explanation but God's face. Verse 14: “O LORD, why do you cast away my soul? Why do you hide your face from me?” Much harm has been done to our theology and our testimony by trite, cliché answers that replace a relationally clinging to God – clinging to a God who's bigger than our circumstances and our understanding. I'm not anti-theology, but let our theology come from our exultation in God, not in our trying to fix him. Leave room for Psalm 88 – for the “I don't know what you're doing” of faith – and learn the faith of Psalm 27:8 that says, “You said, 'Seek my face,' and my heart says to you, 'Your face, O LORD, do I seek.'”…
You can't touch people's lives and not touch the suffering in the world. … When you can't understand God's mind, seek his face. … So yes, at the core of suffering is God's inexplicable presence. That's the good news and bad news, all in one. Suffering is hard, not because God's absent, but because he's there and we just don't understand what he's doing. In the example of Psalm 88, the challenge for each of us is to have a faith that clings to God in honest prayer, regardless of results or circumstance. Let's be a praying people, and let's be content to leave it at that. “'Seek my face.' Your face, O LORD, have I sought.” (Continued on Page 7)
6 (Continued from Page 6, “NMT Meeting”) Following devotions, introductions, and the approval of the prior meeting's minutes, Bishop Bruce D. Hill delivered his episcopal report to the National Ministry Team. He opened with the following two important paragraphs:
I greet you today in the matchless name of Jesus as we meet during this Lenten season, remembering his passion, his sacrificial death, and his glorious resurrection. It is because of Jesus and for Jesus that we meet and serve. Even as we meet together today, we prepare our hearts and minds and live in the wonderful expectation of the celebration of Easter. Praise God that, through personal faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord, we too can have victory over sin and death! We are redeemed by the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God who really does take away the sins of the world. Not only are we redeemed, we have been given the awesome privilege and responsibility to share that wonderful message of God's grace with those living near us and all around the world.
You've probably heard me say it before: It doesn't take much time reading or watching the news to see that our world is a mess. We've all heard that we are living in a postmodern, post-Christian, post-Christendom world. We live in a culture that sees Christianity as, at best, irrelevant, and, at worst, dangerous. … There is no room in following Jesus for “identity amnesia.” Daniel was carried off to a foreign land, but he clearly knew who he was and, more importantly, whom he served. So Daniel lived out that relationship as one of God's chosen people, even when threatened by the authorities. The early church was scattered across the Roman Empire and beyond, yet they did not retreat from who they were or what they believed. They lived out their vital and intimate relationship with Jesus in every situation. … [At National Conference 2019], it is our hope you will be encouraged, and your imagination stirred, as we discover ways to raise up healthy churches proclaiming Christ to a hurting world.
Continuing with his report, Bishop Hill noted the continued wave of 'Baby Boomer'-generation pastors retiring (there have been six requests for superannuation this year, but three are from the eight-church Allegheny District); he made note of the requirement that he take a sixty-day sabbatical this year; and he also called the National Ministry Team's attention to “two issues” that face all Christian denominations but are “receiving a significant amount of attention in the American and world news.” First, “I am thankful that, as we see the struggle over same-sex marriage in various churches, we have a clearly stated denominational position” in Discipline 143.1.2.3. Second concerns the revelation of denominations which covered up “the abuse of children by pastors and others in leadership positions.” To this, Bishop Hill said, “I call on the members of the National Ministry Team … to use your influence to encourage local congregational leaders to use the resources available to protect the children in the care of the church. … We must do all we can to protect the children and vulnerable in every EC congregation, no matter how large or small. Every church should have a child safety plan in use for their congregation. … Please join me in urging each one of our churches to be proactive, rather than reactive, in providing for the safety of our children.” On the positive side of things, the Bishop concluded:
Churches, large and small, tell me they are seeing new people visiting on Sunday mornings. I am thankful to be able to report that a number of our churches are experiencing growth both in the number of individuals attending worship services and in the number of people involved in some type of discipleship ministry. There will also be challenges in reaching a lost and hurting world with the gospel; but there are a lot of good things, great opportunities, for which we must praise the Lord. Personally, I have appreciated the opportunity to continue to travel throughout the conference and preach in many of our churches. It is always a joy to meet the members of the EC Church and spend time sharing with them in God's Word. … I trust that [this line from the mission statement of Operation Christmas Child] will be a good description of our continued ministry as the Evangelical Congregational Church: “an amazing journey of evangelism, discipleship, and multiplication.” It's happening. In some places, it's happening quickly, almost exponentially. In other locations, it's slow and steady, but there is progress. Let us give thanks for the times and the places we can clearly see God at work in our lives and in the lives of those around us. To him be the glory, now and forever! (Continued on Page 8)
7 (Continued from Page 7, “NMT Meeting”) Following the bishop's report, as well as reports from the secretary and treasurer, the National Ministry Team heard from other teams (like the Conference Network Team and the Conference Support Team) as well as the sole standing committee (Loan and Investment). The Conference Support Team announced the aim of using “electronic delivery of communication pieces when it is practical and possible.” The remainder of the morning was occupied in hearing from the five resourcing communities.
The Church Health Community continued to promote its existing resource programs for churches, and Rev. Gary Kuehner said, after attending fifteen workshops at the Exponential conference in early March 2019, that he “can say with confidence that the resources the EC Church offers to you are second-to-none.” The Ministrial Development Community announced that, whereas there were 77 people with incomplete EC credentials in 2016, there are now only 60 (as some have completed them, whereas others were 'weeded' out), and Rev. Jeff Byerly hopes to reduce the number to 52 by May. They also plan to suspend receiving applications for the credential of Certified Lay Preacher, as churches needing pulpit supply usually meet the need in-house or else draw on retired pastors in the area. The Kingdom Extension Community noted that the training sessions from National Conference 2018 are now available as online videos, and that four of our EC churches have committed to a two-year program of receiving professional discipleship training from 3DM. The Missional Alignment Community presented some financial obstacles faced by the Heritage Committee (which Pastor Jonathan chairs) as they purchase a professional storage system for the new EC archives space; announced that the Faith and Doctrine Committee is up-and-running under the new leadership of Rev. Kirk Marks; and shone a spotlight on the Prayer Mobilization Team.
The Global Ministry Community had much to share about our international EC partner conferences. The EC Church of Japan has been comprised of four churches, with average worship attendance ranging from 19 to 35. (Our church would fit right in!) However, as Tomoyuki and Jessica Abe move to France for mission work among the Japanese diaspora of Europe, their church (Fuchinobe Community Church) will merge with Sagamihara Grace Chapel. Their National Conference will meet this month and will hopefully be attended by Kaitinkap Vaiphei, the General Director of the EC Church in India (which will also hold its Annual Leaders' Conference this month). The EC Church of Nepal has recently seen the first round of graduates from its Evangelical Leadership Training Course (ELTC); they have also seen a total of 109 new converts and 87 baptisms in 2018, as well as the establishment of two new churches for a total of twelve (with ten fellowships). They aim this year to establish five more local churches, and also to hold their Annual Council this month as well as begin a new class of the ELTC. The EC Church of Latin America has eleven churches and three missions operating in Mexico, and has sent eight couples through its newly established pastoral ministry training institute. And the EC Church of Liberia held their fiftieth annual conference the other month (with a theme taken from Judges 7:7-9), at which 21 new believers were baptized and over 200 people recommitted themselves to Jesus. They are, furthermore, launching a Bible-purchasing campaign this year, aiming to get people to purchase 20 Bibles and give them to ten people who can't afford Bibles. Things are looking very exciting in the global Evangelical Congregational Church!
In the afternoon, the National Ministry Team heard from affiliate ministries. Evangelical Theological Seminary had many exciting things to report, with the possibility that the Autumn 2019 enrollment could (if trends continue) be the largest in the school's history; the development of a pilot program on competency-based (rather than credit-based) education for ministers; and the prospects of a new institutional partnership. “We're just grateful!” exclaimed Dr. Tony Blair. Twin Pines Camp, meanwhile, is looking forward to summer ministry; will be offering a children's retreat for grades 3-5 in the spring; will expand day camp to include grades 9-12; and asked the National Ministry Team to review proposed changes to the Twin Pines Articles of Incorporation in light of changes in the way Twin Pines receives funding. These changes shift more authority to the camp's Board of Directors and eliminates the requirement that a majority of that board must be members of the EC Church. The National Ministry Team agreed to recommend these changes to the upcoming National Conference. The Benefits Corporation, meanwhile, issued a call for more lay leaders to serve as Benefits Corporation trustees. They hope for laypersons with backgrounds in business, administration, human resources, or medical fields, and the commitment is at most 10-12 hours per year. Furthermore, the Episcopacy Committee presented a more detailed statement on Bishop Hill's upcoming sabbatical from June 1 through September 1. (Continued on Page 9)
8 (Continued from Page 8, “NMT Meeting”) Following a break, the National Ministry Team took up two final reports. First was a list of proposed changes to the Rules of Conference, which the National Ministry Team was asked to review before they go before the National Conference for adoption. Second was a report sharing the positive results of the strategic evaluation of the structure that the EC Church experimentally adopted in 2015 and placed into effect in July 2016. Among the findings of the report were as follows:
The decision to move to a structure emphasizing the importance of our thirteen (13) districts, each led by a District Field Director, has been seen as a very positive step. Numerous responses in the evaluation note that the strong focus on districting encourages a greater sense of community. … Pastors and congregations are reaching out to each other in times of need. Some are exploring ways to partner with each other for greater ministry effectiveness, both in their congregations and in the community. … The DFDs are not seen as supervisors, but fellow pastors who have the ability to lead to empower others through relationship and influence. … While most districts focused on involving the pastors in the life of the district, there needs to be lay involvement as well. We need to think more about how much influence or authority a DFD should have when meeting with pastors or local lay leaders, particularly when dealing with challenging situations.
Communities are seen as providing great resources to pastors and churches. The Associates are seen as being available and knowledgeable. … It appears to be easier to unify under a common goal or ethos. … The communities are seen as providing … the ability to hear more perspectives and develop a 'think tank' atmosphere. … Additionally, the move from generalists to specialists is seen as being more effective and efficient. The areas of community life that need additional attention include the need for both Associates and communities to break through the preconception that “the expert or the perfect program will save us”....
It is noted that the Conference Network Team led by the Bishop and includes the Executive Director, Associates, Secretary of Conference, and all our District Field Directors provides space for information to be shared more quickly. … Needs of churches are being met and, interestingly, needs of churches are surfacing faster. … The Conference Support Team chaired by the Executive Director is seen as a seamless source of practical help. … There is overwhelming unity in support of the changes that have been made to our annual National Conference. The move from a focus on business to more time given to worship, celebration, encouragement, resourcing, and relationships is seen as a very positive change....
The decrease in ministry funds is appreciated by everyone. One commented, “It is evidence that ECC leadership is sensitive to local financial stress.” While everyone was thankful for the consistent decrease in the National Conference budget and in the percentage used to calculate ministry funds, there was also the recognition of a significant weakness. It is agreed that more money is available locally, but is it being used to develop and support ministries to reach people with the Good News about Jesus, or simply to maintain the status quo longer? In addition, there was concern expressed that churches have not responded to the call to shift from mandatory funding of affiliates to voluntary funding. If local pastors and lay leaders don't respond to this change, it results in additional stress for our associate ministries....
Our current style of organization is less reliant on systems of control and centralization, and more reliant on relationship, networks, and personal and organizational integrity. That is intentional in its design, and it comes with strengths and weaknesses. … As followers of Jesus, we need interaction with fellow believers in order to grow and mature – to be discipled. The same is true for a local gathering of believers. A local congregation benefits from being part of something larger than their own local fellowship. Denominational relationships make for healthier people and churches to help us serve more effectively. … We benefit as we hold each other accountable to fulfilling the mission of God in our local communities and around the world. … This new model of structure and the entire Evangelical Congregational Church is built with a mutual trust and a shared integrity. … We are on the right track and going in the right direction. … We need to be structurally and operationally flexible in order to bring a relevant Christ to a contemporary world.
After approving all reports, the NMT meeting closed with prayer, and intends to reconvene on October 10, 2019.
9 Featured Hymn: “O Jesus, I Have Promised” Original Text by John Ernest Bode 1. O Jesus, I have promised 3. O let me hear Thee speaking 5. O Jesus, Thou hast promised To serve Thee to the end; In accents clear and still, To all who follow Thee, Be Thou for ever near me, Above the storms of passion, That where Thou art in glory My Master and my Friend; The murmurs of self-will; There shall Thy servant be; I shall not fear the battle O speak to re-assure me, And, Jesus, I have promised If Thou art by my side, To hasten or control; To serve Thee to the end; Nor wander from the pathway O speak, and make me listen, O give me grace to follow, If Thou wilt be my Guide. Thou Guardian of my soul. My Master and my Friend.
2. O let me feel Thee near me: 4. O let me see Thy features, 6. O let me see Thy foot-marks, The world is ever near; The look that once could make And in them plant my own; I see the sights that dazzle, So many a true disciple My hope to follow duly The tempting sounds I hear; Leave all things for Thy sake: Is in Thy strength alone; My foes are ever near me, The look that beam'd on Peter O guide me, call me, draw me, Around me and within; When he Thy Name denied; Uphold me to the end; But, Jesus, draw Thou nearer, The look that draws Thy loved ones And then in heav'n receive me, And shield my soul from sin. Close to Thy pierced side. My Saviour and my Friend.
Restored original text found in the 1904 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern, hymn #487.
Appears in The Singing Church as hymn #496 (using only verses 1, 2, and 5).
Comments by Rev. Jonathan Brown John Ernest Bode (1816-1874) was an Anglican priest and poet. His earthly journey started in London in February 1816, when he was born the son of William Bode, who worked in the Foreign Office Department of the General Post Office, but also the nephew of Charles Lloyd, theologian and bishop of Oxford. Eventually, John attended the prep school Eton, and then the Charterhouse School, before moving on to Oxford's Christ Church College, which in 1837 gave him a bachelors degree and in 1840 a masters degree. In 1841, he was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England, and as a priest in 1843. After finishing his service as a fellow to Christ Church in 1847, he married and also assumed a pastoral position at Westwell in Oxfordshire.
In March 1855, Rev. Bode had the opportunity to deliver the prestigious Bampton Lectures at Oxford, and thereafter in 1857 made another attempt (as he had before, in 1852) to gain an appointment as a poetry professor. However, the influential poet Matthew Arnold got elected to the position by a 363-287 vote. His attempt the next year to be elected headmaster of his alma mater, the Charterhouse School, was similarly a failure (he lost to Rev. Richard Elwyn) – further crushing Bode's dreams. In 1860, he was transferred to another appointment, as rector of Castle Camps in Cambridgeshire. In that same year, he published a hymn-book, Hymns from the Gospel of the Day for Each Sunday and Festivals of Our Lord.
Later, in 1866, his three children were all old enough to undergo the rite of confirmation – having been baptized as infants, they were to be 'confirmed' in their faith as a personal commitment. For the ceremony, their father, Rev. Bode, wrote a six-verse hymn – his “Hymn for the Newly Confirmed” – that his children could sing as their personal response to the promises they made as part of the confirmation rite. The hymn was a catchy one. Two years later, the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) printed it as a little pamphlet. The next year after that, the S.P.C.K. included it in the appendix to a hymnal they produced. The hymn eventually found its way into the popular hymn-book Hymns Ancient and Modern (not long after Rev. Bode's abrupt death on 6 October 1874 at the age of 58), but with some verses missing; it wasn't until 1904 that an edition used all six of Rev. Bode's original verses. Our own hymnal selects only three of the verses. (Continued on Page 11)
10 (Continued from Page 10, “Featured Hymn”) The first verse looks back on the promise that confirmands say out loud, but that all Christians implicitly make when they confess Jesus as Lord: “O Jesus, I have promised / to serve Thee to the end.” There is no 'ageing out' of being a Christian, no such thing as retiring from living for Jesus, no such thing as a vacation from the faith. Each and every believer has sworn a solemn pledge to serve Jesus with a lifetime – indeed, an eternal – commitment. But in order to live it out, what we need is Jesus' presence: “Be Thou for ever near me, / my Master and my Friend.” Jesus is our Master (Luke 8:24; cf. Jude 4 – “our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ”) as well as our Friend (cf. John 15:15 – “I have called you friends”), and he assures us that he is “with [us] always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
We're told that “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18), and if the One who loved us to death and back will really be near us, then so much of what we fear becomes irrelevant, “for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear” (Romans 8:15). So with the hymn, we pledge that we “will not fear the battle / if [Jesus is] by my side, / nor wander from the pathway / if [Jesus] will be my Guide.” Jesus is the One who fights for us, who goes ahead of us, who defends us. Jesus is the One who leads us and corrects our faltering steps, if only we listen. And in living life in the Spirit by faith, we can face the battle and walk the path if only only depend on the Jesus who is near.
The hymn's second verse appeals for something emotionally stronger: not just to have Jesus always be near us (for he always is), but that we would feel him near us (which isn't always the case). Sometimes, we don't feel him near – which can be good for us, in training us to rely more on his promise than on our perception. But there are reasons why feeling his presence would be very helpful. And one is that the unfelt presence of Jesus can be, to our weak eye and weak ear and weak heart, overshadowed by the felt presence of intruding distractions. We want Jesus to be felt to be near, because “the world is ever near.” And the world is distracting: “I see the sights that dazzle, / the tempting sounds I hear.” The contents of the world often amount to “the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16) – a dangerous thing to get distracted by and swept up in, since “the world is passing away along with its lusts” (1 John 2:17)!
What's more, as we go through the world, we face many adversaries, many opposing forces. They surround us. If you've ever felt yourself pulled and pushed and challenged by injustice, by unfair treatment, by dangers and floods and fires, you know what it means to say, “My foes are ever near me, / around me.” But we have opposition inside of ourselves, too. The opposition of our own worse instincts. The opposition of our own sin and foolishness. So we have to admit: “My foes are ever near me, / around me and within.” The battleground is as much inside as it is out there. There's only one defense we can possibly hope for: Jesus. Our sin and our danger and our disease may come close, but we pray for Jesus to come even closer! “But, Jesus, draw Thou nearer, / and shield my soul from sin.”
In the third verse, we ask for a nearby Jesus to speak to us. There are a lot of voices that call out to us. Advertising is full of them. Peer pressure is full of them. The airwaves are full of them. Our own pride and self-doubt, desire and complaint, are full of them. So we pray to “hear [Jesus] speaking, / in accents clear and still.” The simple voice of Jesus is what we need to hear – and what we can hear, if we prayerfully open his word and listen, attuned to the sound of his voice by the Spirit and by a life of obedient fellowship. The more we grow in the Spirit, the more clear Jesus' voice sounds, as other noise is filtered out. So we can then readily hear him “above the storms of passion, / the murmurs of self-will.”
And why might Jesus speak to us? What things might Jesus say if you heard him? He speaks “to reassure me” – to give comfort and encouragement in hard times. He speaks “to hasten” – to nudge and prod us toward doing the right thing, whether in Christ-reflecting conduct or Christ-honoring speech or Christ-proclaiming witness. And he speaks “to … control” – to warn and limit us when we're veering onto perilous roads that lead nowhere healthy. Then, Jesus speaks to us his “No” – as in, “No, there's something better, but not there.” Navigating our way through life, we so desperately need to hear Jesus' voice do each of these, at one time or another. So we ask him to “speak, and make me listen.” At our highest, sometimes that's what our prayers amount to: pleading with God to not give us the option of ignoring him; pleading with God not to let our own hearts and our own hands get in the way of the good he wants to lead us into. And we trust him with this carte blanche all-access pass to our lives, because we each can recognize Jesus as “the Guardian of my soul.” (Continued on Page 12)
11 (Continued from Page 11, “Featured Hymn”) The fourth verse continues our ascent toward intimacy with Christ. In the first verse, we merely asked Jesus to be near us. In the second verse, we asked Jesus to be felt near us. In the third verse, we asked Jesus to be heard by us. And now we ask Jesus to be seen by us. We yearn to glimpse what he looked like – or rather, the looks he gave. We marvel at what the look in his eyes must have been that would have let his first disciples know that they could trust his love and his wisdom. What was it they saw in his eyes? What was it in his smile? What was it in the way he sat or stood, the way he walked or stopped, the gestures he used, the expressions he wore on his face? What was “the look that once could make / so many a true disciple / leave all things for [Jesus'] sake”?
But then, there must have been a different look – a convicting look: “The look that beam'd on Peter / when he Thy name denied.” That's a little detail only from the Gospel of Luke, where after Peter has insisted he doesn't know Jesus, then “the Lord turned and looked at Peter; and Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, 'Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.' And he went out and wept bitterly” (Luke 22:61- 62). What must that look have looked like? And how well might seeing that look stop us in our tracks when we're insistent on sin? But then there's one last look the hymn mentions: “The look that draws Thy loved ones / close to Thy pierced side.” What looks of compassion did he give to Mary and John and the others as he hung on the cross – looks filled entirely with love? If only we could see that! And so we pray.
The fifth verse turns back to the first. But whereas the first verse opened with what we have promised, the fifth takes its start at what Jesus has promised: “O Jesus, Thou hast promised / to all who follow Thee, that where Thou art in glory, there shall Thy servant be.” When did Jesus promise that? In John 14:3: “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also.” And in John 17:24, as Jesus prays to his Father: “I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” Where Jesus dwells in glory – in heaven now and in the new creation to come – those who serve him faithfully will also be there. That is a promise from the lips of Jesus Christ.
The fifth verse then revisits the promise we have made in response – “And, Jesus, I have promised / to serve Thee to the end” – and then prays for Jesus to give us what we need to follow through on that promise: “O give me grace to follow, / my Master and my Friend.” Without grace, we can do nothing. But there is hope that we can follow our Master and Friend: “Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift” (Ephesians 4:7).
The sixth and final verse explores that theme more deeply. “O let me see Thy foot-marks, / and in them plant my own.” That is the definition of Christian living: That we see the way Christ walked, and plant our footsteps in his footsteps, imitating his way of relating to God, the world, his own self, and others. “Therefore, be imitators of God, as dear children” (Ephesians 5:1). What did Jesus do? Go and do likewise. We might do so falteringly, at first – our feet might not land squarely where Jesus' did; we might get sidetracked on other paths for a season; we might struggle to keep up with, or slow down to, the stretch of his stride; we might not quite fill his shoes – but growth in Christian maturity just is planting our feet in his footprints more accurately and precisely.
Once again, though, Christian growth isn't something we can manufacture by our own efforts. We have to walk with Jesus in order to walk after Jesus. “My hope to follow duly / is in Thy strength alone.” Our spiritual muscles are not functional without the grace of Jesus to spark them to life. All our strength is a derivative of his strength. And so we cannot live apart from vital connection to Jesus through faith and prayer. It makes sense, then, that the hymn's final verse ends with a two-part prayer. First, we pray for Jesus to carry us help us achieve a successful journey through, and end to, this life: “O guide me, call me, draw me, / uphold me to the end.” We need Jesus to guide us, or else we will go astray. We need Jesus to call us, or else we'll never rise. We need Jesus to draw us to himself, or else we can never enter in the gate of life. We need Jesus to uphold us to the end, or else we'll collapse under our own weakness and fail to endure (and “the one who endures to the end will be saved” [Mark 13:13]). And then, second, we pray for Jesus to welcome us into his glory, as he promised: “And then in heav'n receive me, / my Saviour and my Friend.” He is not content to merely be your Master – he is doggedly determined to be your Savior, the One who will rescue you in your darkest hour and bring you into his heavenly hospitality! “And so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Thanks be to God, for a Christ who receives those who receive and follow him here!
12 Statistical Report (February 2019) Worship Service Attendance Sunday School Attendance 02/03/19 18 6 02/10/19 18 4 02/17/19 13 3 02/24/19 ____14______8____ Average: 16 (15.75) 5 (5.25)
Birthdays (April 2019) Anniversaries (April 2019) 4/10 – Cameron Killinger 4/17 – Darrel Bills 4/25 – Charles and Lisa Craft The Blessed Life [The following material is adapted from a sermon on Matthew 5:1-12 that Pastor Jonathan preached on July 31, 2016.] It's the question wise men and wise women have always asked. How do we navigate a world like ours? Is there such a thing as living right? What kind of life is the good life? What kind of life does God favor – what style of living did he make us for? And, if God were to take over the world, what kind of life would be ready to cope with that? What kind of life should we call “the blessed life” – the life things go well with in the end, the life God favors and approves and embraces? What life is the blessed life? That's the question of the wise.
In the twenty-first century, like in the first century, many suggested answers swirl around us. Some people will tell you that there is no blessed life – that we're at the top floor of the universe already, and there's Nobody around to do the blessing. On this account, there's no such thing as a 'good life' in any cosmic sense: it's just all about surviving and then trying not to suffer too much 'til we die. On this account, it's all about distracting ourselves from the fundamental pointlessness of existence. There's no bigger story – no story at all – but just a cold, brute fact of a nasty, brutish world. Sad to say, that's what some people will tell you; that's what some people believe.
But suppose that's not true. Suppose there is such a thing as a good life, a life well and properly lived. What might a life like that look like? Is it the American Dream – beautiful spouse, white-collar job, two cars, 2.5 kids, the white picket fence and a well-manicured lawn in suburbia? Is that the good life? Or, try this version on for size: “The good life means being a good person – going to church or some other pro-social group, doing the right things down to the letter, looking the right way, and earning a good reputation.” How does that sound? Does that sound like a good life, a blessed life? It's a pretty popular answer. But is this our answer?
Well, it's what we might call The Pharisee Answer. Because, in a way, it's an answer much like the Pharisees – or the ancient moralists – might have given: The good life involves leading by moral example, so that society can be made good through ethical uplift, getting the kind of 'make-over' it needs.
But notice who doesn't fit: All the people who can't seem to get their life together, can't stay on the strait-and-narrow – they're left out. The people who don't look right, don't fit the mold, who just don't have good optics, who don't get good press – they're left out. The average joe – left out. The blue-collar guy who works with his hands but doesn't have much – a Pharisee might call his life less good, less blessed. And the same goes for all those who don't live in privilege – who are born to the wrong race or the wrong sex or the wrong family or the wrong social class or in the wrong country or wrong school district. Tough luck to them – the Pharisees' good life is for those who look and sound just right.
Okay, here's another stab at defining the good life: “The good life means making friends in high places. It means being well-connected, upwardly mobile. It means being a success and hobnobbing with the rich and enjoying power and influence. It means having multiple homes, taking vacations, dining with Hollywood stars or DC insiders, wielding the influence of political sway or cultural voice or just financial means to remake the world a little bit more in your own image.” That's a popular definition. Who doesn't dream of being rich and successful, of bidding the world's cares goodbye? But is that the good life, the blessed life? (Continued on Page 14)
13 (Continued from Page 13, “The Blessed Life”) We might call this one The Sadducee Answer. In a way, it's an answer somewhat like the Sadducees, another sect in first-century Judaism, might have been giving in their time, too. But again, notice who doesn't fit, can't fit: All the lonely people (where do we all come from?). People without connections, without friends, let alone friends in high places. All the poor, maybe even all the middle-class. Certainly everybody on society's margins. For them, tough luck – the Sadducees' good life isn't for you.
Alright, let's try a third approach: “The good life means being right. It means, even if they chase you into the desert, even if nobody listens to you, at least you have the satisfaction of knowing they were wrong and you were right. The good life means you've got the courage of your convictions, you stood for something, so hunker down and enjoy.” It sounds, maybe, like a sillier and less popular answer. But it's still an option today, prevalent among those who just want to hear a voice from heaven say to them, “Congratulations, your opinions were all the right ones, so come forth now and enter into your glory!” So is this the good life? Is this the blessed life?
We might call this one The Essene Answer. In the first century, the Essenes were a Jewish movement that so hated the corrupt temple establishment that they withdrew to a desert compound, set up a cloistered society of their own, blocked out the outside world, and waited in their little utopia for the day when history, or the end times, would be sure to prove them right. It isn't just an ancient impulse, though. Not far from us, a town called Ephrata had similar roots – hence the “Ephrata Cloister” that's still available to visit.
But notice who doesn't fit in this vision of the good life: Ordinary men and women without the 'refined smarts' or the knowledge base to formulate the genteel opinion and outlook. Anybody who isn't so finely 'enlightened.' Anybody who values opining right less than seeing right, or doing right. Anybody who values unity and love and mercy on par with truth. For such, tough luck – the Essenes' good life isn't for you.
But there's a fourth approach we might take: “The good life means taking up the heroic struggle. The good life is all about fighting for justice – maybe fighting literally for justice. It means toppling the oppressors, it means building the right social order. It means gaining victory in life, or else raging against the machine or 'The Man.'” Is that the good life? Is that the blessed life?
We might call this one The Zealot Answer. Later in the first century, the Zealot movement arose, trying to overthrow the bastions of Roman power over Judaea. But even today, this is a popular answer, coming in many, many flavors. This was the good life as defined by Lenin and Stalin, Che and Castro. It's also the good life as defined by terrorists the world over – all struggling for their cause, all employing fear and violence to overthrow the dominance of one worldly power and come out on top themselves.
But this answer is familiar close to home, too. Because this is the good life as defined by our political parties today – yes, all of them, each in their own way. For one major party, the good life is the fight against corporate America, against traditional values and their alleged bigotries, against a vast host of -isms and -phobias and all old oppressive structures. For the other major party, the good life is the fight against 'politically correct' cultural top-dogs, against line-jumpers and subversives and critics; and the good life means being 'great' and sealing off the homeland and restoring law and order. But at heart, these are all variants of the same approach to life: the good life means winning the thisworldly struggle, whoever the 'enemy' is. And who gets left out? The peaceful. The meek. The principled. For them, tough luck – the Zealots' good life isn't for you.
Our world today is still dreadfully confused about what the good life is, what the blessed life is. But the same was true two thousand years ago. And into that world strode a man like no other – a Man who was truly a man but so much more than a man. And he shook the world with his message and his wonders. In all he said and all he did, that Man went from village to village, announcing that people needed to change. People needed to get ready, he insisted, or they'd miss out, because God was about to grab hold of the world in a new way, a way we hadn't seen before; and God grabbing the world like that, he called “the kingdom of God” (Matthew 4:17). And as the kingdom comes, nothing would ever be the same. So what kind of life would be ready for that? (Continued on Page 15)
14 (Continued from Page 14, “The Blessed Life”) The people of Jesus' day were as confused as we are. They longed for the days when everything was clear, like when Moses sat on Mount Sinai and gave them a hotline to God, passing down God's instructions: the Torah, the Law. “If only we could listen to Moses afresh,” they might have said, “we'd get it right!” And so Jesus came. And he offered himself as a New Moses, a Greater Moses. And, like Moses, Jesus sat down on a mountain, with his twelve disciples and the crowds all gathered around (Matthew 5:1). From them, he aimed to shape a New Israel by giving them a New Law, a new plan for how to be God's people. The old law had closed with both blessings and curses, but Jesus opened his message with pure blessing. And he told the crowds what people were living the good life that God favors – who things are going well for, from an eternal point-of-view. And so Jesus paints a picture, for them and for us, of what God's kingdom-ready people look like (Matthew 5:2). And it's nothing like what you'd expect.
Maybe you're reading this message, and you've been feeling like a spiritual failure. You've got no gusto deep down in your heart. You try, and you try, and you try to change, but you fall into the same rut over and over. And then you look at all those smiling people in the pews every Sunday morning, and you feel like a fraud sitting there among them – so maybe it's even hard for you to get up and come. And you think to yourself, “I just don't seem to have a religious bone in my body. It comes so naturally to others, but never to me. I'll never make it on my own.” So all you can do is drop to your knees and call to God, “Please help, please help!” And let me tell you something, you who've got nothing to your name but empty hands reaching out for grace: God's kingdom embraces the likes of you! Rejoice: Your transgression's forgiven, your sin's covered, your Father counts no fault against you (Matthew 5:3)!
Or maybe you're reading this, and you've been struggling to make ends meet. You try, and you try, and you try, but the debt collectors are knocking at your door. You've taken out a second mortgage, sold what you can do without. You miss the days you were okay. But things took a wrong turn. Your health went south. You got in a bad place. And you're weighed down by a crushing burden. You lie awake at night, wondering if you can keep the house, keep the car... wondering if you can ever be redeemed from the bondage of debt. There were promises to help, but they've been slow in coming. So you turn to God, you lean on him, you cry out day and night. But you've been wondering if it really does much good, because your neighbors can take vacations while you can't afford to fix the roof when it rains, you bundle up because warmth's a luxury, you ration the food to make it stretch. So sometimes you wonder if there's a place in the world for you. Sometimes you wonder if God's even listening. But he's all you've got, so you cling tenaciously to hope. You trust him to make it right some way, somehow. Well, let me tell you something: You are the one living the blessed life! The Spirit sent the Son to bring you good news, to assure you that your hope is not in vain (Isaiah 61:1). Your Father's holding onto you. His kingdom embraces you. Your Father is a defender of the poor, the struggling, the outcast. In his kingdom, you're never second-class (Matthew 5:3).
But maybe you're reading this, and you look at yourself or your neighbors or your nation, and you ask, “Where have we all gone wrong?” And you get on your knees day and night, and you ask God to forgive you. You lament. You mourn your sin. When you take a wrong step and you see it, it cuts you deep. It hurts you to sin. It hurts you to see your neighbors giving in to sin. And yet here you all are. And so you pray your heart out to God, you call on his name, you beg for forgiveness for you and for them. And let me tell you something: You are on the right track. Yes, you – not those who always get it right, but you, stumbling and rising, stumbling and rising (Matthew 5:4).
Or maybe you feel a deep sadness inside today. Maybe you feel far from home. Maybe you wonder if you'll ever fit in. You feel mismatched, born out of time, in the wrong place. You live as though in exile, and all you want is to be home again, home again, if home you've ever been. Or maybe you're grieving in the face of tragedy. You hear the latest news – another bomb, another gun, another knife; another child beaten, another puppy neglected, another heart broken, another unspeakable wrong. Or the grief might even hit close to home: a parent gone, a spouse or child too soon buried. And the sense of loss makes it feel like your heart's torn in pieces. And you're tempted to be so envious of those who seem oblivious to the hurts and pains of life. But let me tell you: God's favor and God's care are on you – the Spirit sent the Son “to comfort all who mourn” (Isaiah 61:2). You will not grieve forever! You will have your griefs each tended and ended, and your comfort supplied, by none other than your Father. Laments are for a season, to those who believe: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). (Continued on Page 16)
15 (Continued from Page 15, “The Blessed Life”) But maybe you're reading this, and you just feel helpless. The world's a rat race, and you can't compete. You always seem to come out the loser. They take your house, they take your car, they take your land, they take your business, they take your dignity. You get pushed around. You fall behind. Their lawyers harass you, stonewall you, intimidate you, belittle you, trick you. If history's written by the winners, you've got nothing to add. And you've given up on trying to compete. You've resolved not to fight back, not to lash out. There's no point. You've resigned yourself to insignificance in this world. And so you wonder what God could ever want with somebody like you, somebody who never comes out ahead. But let me tell you now: Yours is the good life, yours is the life that's the talk of heaven, you are a celebrity in God's sight! God favors you – he's on your side! His kingdom embraces you, and the day's coming – just hold on tight – when all that's taken from you will be given back with interest. And on that day, you'll call the whole earth yours. And when your Father's angels tell and retell the story of the world from start to end, people just like you will get top billing (Matthew 5:5).
But maybe you're reading this, and you've been feeling worse than helpless. You've been wronged. Somebody's hurt you, actively hurt you. The rules didn't apply to them, but you got hammered. They got protected, but you were left out in the cold. All you want is to be treated well, and they couldn't even give you that. Instead, you get nailed to the wall. The world isn't fair, and it seems like the unfairness never tilts in your favor, not even once. And so you cry out to God. You ask, “How long, O Lord?” But your ears don't pick up an answer. And so you watch as they take and take, as they push you around and betray you, and all they get for it is a slap on the wrist, while you're left nursing your trauma and licking your wounds. And you feel the injustice burn in your bones. But you refuse to take up arms, refuse to take matters into your own hands. You just keep hammering on God's door, asking for justice, asking for him to fix this broken place and this broken self as only the Carpenter can. And let me tell you something: Your Father will set everything right – I guarantee it. Your prayer, your outcry, has never been ignored, nor will it ever be. You ask for justice, and it's coming. God's kingdom embraces the likes of you. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).
But maybe that troubles you. Maybe you're not so sure which side of justice you're on. Maybe you yearn to do what is right, but you can't seem to muster up the strength. Maybe you don't even know what the right thing is. Maybe the world is too confusing for you, and you're like a ship lost in the fog, unsure which way is land and which is open sea. And you feel useless, stuck in this place. But you're not content there. You don't want this moral paralysis; and when you plumb the depths of your conscience and come up empty, you know this isn't how you were meant to be. So you call out to God day and night, and you ask him to fix you. And let me tell you something: He hears you! He hears you, so although you wonder if your wandering, wavering, faltering, meandering steps can ever go in sequence on the strait-and-narrow road, God's kingdom embraces the likes of you. Yours are the promises of God – and he promises he'll supply all the righteousness you've been missing. Your Father will set you right (Matthew 5:6).
But maybe, when you plumb the depths of your soul, you feel an emptiness inside. Maybe, in olden days, you tried to fill that hole. Fill it with money. Fill it with power. Fill it with fame and acclaim. Fill it with sex and drugs and rock 'n roll. Fill it with friends and family. Fill it with work and play, with toys and good times, or even fill it with morality and religiosity. But none tasted right. None hit the spot. And you've learned that, if you've got a void inside that nothing in this world can satisfy, it must mean you were made for more than this world. So then you look around at all the apparently happy and satisfied people, their hungers fed, their thirsts quenched; but their story is not your story. Your desires run deep, your longings blaze stronger, and you know it. And once you know it, there's no turning back. And you wonder if you'll hurt and ache and yearn forever.
But let me tell you something: Yours is the good life, this life of longing and yearning and questing and waiting and holy dissatisfaction that you lead! Your desires run too deep to be satisfied by lesser things. That hole in your heart is the shape of God's love. And so my promise to you is this: Your Father will not merely permit you to sample it. No, you'll be filled to overflowing! And on that day, the day of the kingdom of God, you will be satisfied forever, not by any mere trifle, but by what's best: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6). (Continued on Page 17)
16 (Continued from Page 16, “The Blessed Life”) But maybe what troubles you right now is something else. You're the type who sees a beggar and starts scratching your pockets to the bottom. Freely you give. You're the type who sees a problem and volunteers to do something, do anything, do what it takes. You spend of your time, your money, your energy, your health, your life in taking care of those in need. People tell you you're a bit of a fool, albeit maybe a well-intentioned one. They say you're getting taken advantage of. When you have a chance to get ahead, you fritter it all away. You give what's yours to be what's theirs. Sometimes you wonder if the critics are right, though. You look around at the suffering and poverty of the world, and you're not making a dent. And you wrestle with it. But you choose to live by mercy anyway. Still you care for the sick, you give to the needy, you help your neighbors with what you can. And let me tell you something: What a life, what a good life! God's kingdom celebrates the likes of you! Your Father will 'fritter away' his treasure on you gladly! As you've forgiven, he'll forgive you; as you've given, he'll give to you. What a good and worthwhile life – never doubt that God favors you! “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7).
Ah, but maybe people doubt your good intentions. Maybe you're not one for showy displays. What you do, you do on the downlow. No one watches as you do your good deeds. Nobody gives you credit. They don't know the truth of what you do behind the scenes. And maybe you can't keep up with all the minutiae of the rules: do this like this, do that just so, keep your hands pristine and your shirt unstained. That's just not you. But on the inside, you've handed your heart to God; he's scrubbed it clean; and your devotion is honest, sincere. It's not for show, not for credit; it's for character, for God. And let me tell you something: God favors you! God's kingdom embraces and celebrates the likes of you! What your neighbors don't see, your Father sees; and the One who sees you will be the One seen by you. Yes, there's a promise for you: Keep your heart in God's hand, keep desiring nothing on earth besides him, and he'll be “the strength of your heart and your portion forever” (Psalm 73:26). Oh, how good it is to be near God – and you will live in his presence, and nothing will ever come between you! Surely yours is the good life – just look where it leads! “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).
Or maybe you're reading this, and you've been battered and bruised because you can't bear to fight, you can't bear to see people fight, you can't bear to see nations fight. And so when neighbors or relatives or factions or nations raise their wounding words or weapons of war, you stand between and implore them to be reconciled. And whether they listen or not, at least you tried. Maybe all you're saying is, “Give peace a chance.” And for it, the Zealots of the world call you a traitor and a loser, saying you stand in the way of progress, that you're risking yourself for nothing. So you've heard it said. But I say to you, God's kingdom embraces and celebrates the likes of you! So much so, that God calls you his sons and daughters, and names himself first and foremost your Father. And he whispers from the heavens to all the world, “Can't you see these are mine? Just look at that family resemblance!” You peacemakers are the children of your God – and in his kingdom, you'll live in peace at last (Matthew 5:9).
Or maybe you've done things right. You've lived by the values of the kingdom. So you expected it to go smoothly, to go well. But it didn't. The world makes fun of you. The world tells you to get with the times, to catch up to history's march, to join in the program. And when you dare to dissent, they attack you, they persecute you. They take you to court, they dock your pay and confiscate your assets, they put you in prison, they say the world would be better off without the likes of you. So you've heard it said. But I say to you, you should celebrate when they honor you in heaven by dishonoring you upon the earth! Haven't all the prophets been persecuted? And look, here you are, ready for the kingdom! How great is your reward waiting for you when the kingdom of heaven rules on the earth. God's kingdom embraces you who embrace its King at such a cost (Matthew 5:10-12).
Maybe you've recognized yourself in these words. O you poor in spirit, you mourners, you meek of the earth, you hungry and thirsty and longing, you merciful, you pure in heart, you peacemakers, you persecuted and slandered – yours, yours is the good life, yours is the blessed life, yours is the life made ready for the kingdom that's coming. If these beatitudes are yours, you belong! You kingdom-ready people have hearts like God's heart. You breathe prayer, you trust your Father, you live by that faith alone. You don't live by strength, you don't live by what's 'practical' – no, you cling ferociously to faith and hope and love, even when you seem to have no grip. You wait patiently through the pain for that long-awaited day, the great day of God's kingdom in its fullness. And that day is coming. And that day will make your blessing plain. So take heart! Take heart, and know that the King overcomes the world. Go in peace, you blessed of the Father, and live the good life – the blessed life – for the kingdom of God is at hand. Amen!
17 Preaching Calendar (April – May 2019) April 7 (Lent 5): Sermon Title: “Hope for the Tempted” Scripture Reading: Matthew 4:1-11 “O Jesus, I Have Promised” (496) “In the Hour of Trial” (411) “Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me” (133) April 14 (Palm Sunday): Sermon Title: “Light for the Darkness” Scripture Reading: Matthew 4:12-17; 21:1-14 “The Whole World Was Lost” (261) “Amazing Grace” (278) “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” (77) April 21 (Easter Sunday): Sermon Title: “Nets from Another World” (Communion Service) Scripture Reading: Matthew 4:18-25; 28:1-7, 16-20 “The Day of Resurrection” (160) “Jesus Calls Us, O'er the Tumult” (491) “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” (158) April 28 (Easter 2): Sermon Title: “Truth in Politics” Scripture Reading: Revelation 1:1-8 “Glory Be to God the Father” (197) “Now to the Lord, That Makes Us Know” (insert) “True and Faithful Witness” (insert) (N.B. – Pastor Jonathan will be on vacation during May 3-16, for his wedding rehearsal [May 3], wedding ceremony [May 4], and honeymoon in Prague [May 5-16]. Many thanks to Jesse Bills for being willing to fill the pulpit throughout that time.) May 5 (Easter 3): Sermon Title: “Family Roles: The Runner” (by Jesse Bills) Scripture Reading: Luke 15:11-24 “I Stand Amazed in the Presence” (273) “Softly and Tenderly, Jesus is Calling” (263) “Just As I Am” (269) May 12 (Easter 4): Sermon Title: “Family Roles: The Complainer” (by Jesse Bills) (Mother's Day) Scripture Reading: Luke 15:25-32 “Great is Thy Faithfulness” (28) “A Pilgrim Was I and A-Wandering” (31) “Amazing Grace” (278) May 19 (Easter 5): Sermon Title: “The Living One” Scripture Reading: Revelation 1:12-18 “He is Lord” (54) “The Day of Resurrection” (160) “Rejoice, the Lord is King” (165) May 26 (Easter 6): Sermon Title: “Everybody Worships” Scripture Reading: Revelation 7:1-3; 13:1-2, 8, 11, 15-17; 14:1-3 “Let the Whole Creation Cry” (9) “Behold, Mighty Angels Are Flying” (insert) “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” (3)
18 Quotes for Thought “Never have we uttered a curse; but when abused, we have given thanks, for we hold our own Emperor [i.e., Jesus Christ] in honor. … I do not recognize the empire of this world. Rather, I serve that God whom no man has seen, nor can see, with these eyes. I have not stolen, and on any purchase I pay the tax, for I acknowledge my Lord who is the Emperor of kings and of all nations. … I am a Christian! … Thanks be to God!” – Speratus of Scillium, before being martyred on 17 July 180 in Carthage The Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs ([c. 180s]), in The Acts of the Christian Martyrs (Oxford University Press, 1972), 87-89
“Look, now we see everything in this world destroyed, as we heard in the Holy Scripture that it would perish. Cities have been sacked, fortresses razed to the ground, churches destroyed, and no farmer inhabits our land. … And so, at the death of all things, we ought to think that what we loved was as nothing.” – Pope Gregory I Letter to the clergy in Milan, Italy, dated April 593 = Letters 3.29, in The Letters of Gregory the Great (PIMS, 2004), 1:255
“The tokens of the Passion are like last year's fruits – the fruits, that is, of all the time past which was spent under the dominion of sin and death. … But see, the signs of the resurrection are the flowers of a new age, blooming in a new summer of grace; and their fruit will be the general resurrection which is to come at the last, and which will last forever. … [Christ's] flesh was sown in death; it flowered again in the resurrection. His fragrance makes the dry grass grow green again in the fields of our valley. What was cold becomes warm again. What was dead comes to life again.” – St. Bernard of Clairvaux On Loving God 3.8 ([c. 1130s]), in Bernard of Clairvaux: Selected Works (Paulist Press, 1987), 180
“A Christian whose works glorify God … is one that placeth his saving religion in the practical knowledge of the only true God and Jesus Christ the Savior whom he hath sent. He puts no limits to his endeavors after useful knowledge, but what God hath put by his word or providence; he would abound in holy wisdom, and thinks it worth his greatest diligence...; but it is the knowledge of God, and of a crucified and glorified Christ, in which he taketh wisdom to consist. This is the light in which he hath his daily conversation, the light which governeth his will and practice, which feedeth his meditations, his prayers, and his discourse; which repelleth his temptations, which maintaineth his hope, and is his daily work of recreation, his food, and feast.” – Richard Baxter “What Light Must Shine in Our Works” ([1600s]), in The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter (1830), 17:196
“As a young swallow, so will I cry, said the devout king Hezekias [in Isaiah 38:14]. The young of the swallow does nothing but cry to its mother for help and for food; so should we all do, if we would preserve our life of grace. We should be always crying to God for aid to avoid the death of sin, and to advance in his holy love.” – St. Alphonsus Liguori Prayer: The Great Means of Obtaining Salvation... (1759), in The Complete Works of St. Alphonsus de Liguori (1886) 3:61
“The gospel is never for individuals but always for a people. … The life of faith revealed and nurtured in the biblical narratives is highly personal but never merely individual: always there is a family, a tribe, a nation – church. … A believing community is the context for the life of faith. … No gift, no virtue can develop and remain healthy apart from the community of faith. 'Outside the church there is no salvation' is not ecclesiastical arrogance but spiritual common sense, confirmed in everyday experience. Whenever persons attempt to live in defiance of it, they are attenuated and impoverished. Submitting to it, they are generously rewarded.” – Eugene H. Peterson Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination (HarperCollins, 1988), 42-43
“Christ ends up on the cross because that is where humanity is, trapped in webs of violence, oppression, and enmity. Entering into creaturely solidarity with us, incarnate Wisdom takes on our alienation from God and each other. The cross is our assurance that no one is beyond the reach of God's healing and transforming forgiveness.” – Amy Plantinga Pauw Church in Ordinary Time: A Wisdom Ecclesiology (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2017), 134-135
19 PRAYER GUIDE We praise God for all the wondrous blessings he has given us, most notably the ministry of his Son (from death through resurrection to the Father's right hand) and the gift of the Holy Spirit; and we pray that God would glorify his name above all else and would bring his kingdom more fully to earth. We pray for our denomination, our congregation, and the church universal, that God would bless us at all levels with faithfulness, wisdom, vision, and fortitude to earnestly labor in his vineyard and lovingly minister in his mission, and to follow fully his will rather than our own agendas. We pray particularly for our pastor, Jonathan J. Brown; for our church board; for EC leaders like our bishop Bruce D. Hill, our executive director Kevin Henry, and our district field director Keith Miller; for the Global Ministries Community under Ted Rathman; for the Kingdom Extension Community under Les Cool; for the Church Health Community under Gary Kuehner; for the Missional Alignment Community under Bishop Bruce Hill; and for the Ministerial Development Community under Jeff Byerly. We pray for our missionary partners, such as the Ambermans (World Gospel Mission) and the Farrs (Wycliffe Bible Translators), that God would keep them safe and faithful, would focus their attentions on the work he has set forth for them to do, and would grant success in accordance with his holy and perfect will. We pray for other faithful churches and pastors in our community, that God would keep all congregations united in the faith and devoted to the ardent service of one and the same kingdom and of its King, Jesus. We pray especially for our local EC churches in the Conestoga District and beyond. We pray for those suffering in the wake of natural disasters here and around the world, that God would provide comfort and resources so that they might rebuild. We pray also for those victimized by violence, that the God of all comfort would make his presence manifest to the injured, traumatized, and grieving. We pray in particular for those afflicted this past month by drought and famine in east African states; the Ebola outbreak in Congo; the measles outbreak in the Philippines; the current influenza season; Cyclone Idai in southeastern Africa; tornadoes in the southern United States; flooding in the American Midwest, Indonesia, and southern Iran; the airplane crash in Ethiopia; bus crashes in Iran, South Africa, and Ghana; the truck crash in Mexico; the boat crash in Japan; the helicopter crash in Kenya; the river-ferry sinking in Iraq; fires at a refugee camp in Nigeria and a tower in Bangladesh; explosions in Nigeria and China; building collapses in Nigeria; chemical poisonings in Malaysia; ongoing warfare in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia; the Kurdish-Turkish conflict; the Iraqi-Kurdish conflict; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the India- Pakistan conflict; the Ukrainian crisis; ethnic clashes in the Congo, South Sudan, Myanmar, and Ethiopia; civil war in Colombia; insurgency in the Sinai Peninsula, South Thailand, Nigeria, Pakistan, India, Mali, the North Caucasus, and elsewhere; the Marawi crisis and the violent drug war in the Philippines; gang warfare in Mexico; instability in Venezuela; protest-related violence in Algeria and France; mass shootings in Mexico, the Netherlands, Chad, Mali, and at two mosques in New Zealand; the attack on a Brazilian school; vehicle-ramming attacks in China and Guatemala; bombings in Somalia and at holiday celebrations in Afghanistan; the hijacking and attempted arson of a school bus in Italy; legalized abortion in many countries; the American opioid epidemic; human trafficking; and the ongoing refugee crisis worldwide. We pray for the peaceful and healthy resolution of global and national crises, especially the continued violence of terroristic movements worldwide. We pray for the persecutors and maligners of the church around the world. We pray for the conversion of terrorists into disciples of the Prince of Peace; we pray for the wisdom of God to be made manifest to skeptics and critics; and we pray for the boldness of the Spirit to fill the hearts of all believers to witness to Jesus in life and in death. We pray for our nation and its government at all levels and in all branches, that God would move our leaders to repent of unjust or unmerciful practices and laws; that God would crown them with wisdom, security, peace, and civility toward all; and that God would give them godly hearts to live and govern rightly. We pray for the protection of all those who serve us and protect us, including police officers, firefighters, medical responders, and members of the military: May God protect them and keep them safe, just, wise, and accountable as they serve to guard against chaos, administer justice, defend the lives and liberties of the vulnerable, and resist forces of lawlessness here and abroad. We pray for the salvation of our whole community and its maturation in Christian discipleship, knowing that there is hope in Jesus for all people and for entire communities to reflect the righteous love of God.
20 PRAYER GUIDE ( Continued ) We pray for all those suffering from cancer – including Frank Howe (Carl Sandoe's friend); Jodi Kinsey; Clair Bowman (Wilmer Stoltzfus' brother-in-law); Pat Griel (Rev. Jim Griel's wife); Trevor Heinrich (the Bills' friend, now undergoing alternative treatment in Mexico); Elaine (Jan Herman's friend); Gary Carter; Melissa (Ranae Zimmerman's friend); Brandy Rhodes (Pastor Jonathan's cousin); and Sullivan McGlory (a boy with T-cell leukemia) – that God would heal them, shield them from pain, restore their bodies, comfort them and their families with abundant peace, and bless their doctors with wisdom and skill. We pray for the families and friends of many who have entered their rest in recent memory: ◦ For the family and friends of Kyle McGrane, who entered rest on September 26, 2016. ◦ For the family of Bill Herman, who entered rest on October 13, 2016. ◦ For the family of Gloria Bauman (Jodi Kinsey's mother), who entered rest on June 19, 2017. ◦ For the family of Denise McKillips (Deen's wife), who entered rest on January 5, 2018. ◦ For the family of Mary Jane McKillips, who entered rest on January 13, 2018. ◦ For the family of Dot Hillard, who entered rest on January 25, 2018. ◦ For the family of Ed Jacobs, who entered rest on August 24, 2018. ◦ For the family of Ida Henry (Jane Reider's mother), who entered rest on November 17, 2018. ◦ For the family of Marian Brady, who entered rest on November 28, 2018. ◦ For the family of Lillian Parmer, who entered rest on December 15, 2018. ◦ For the family of Charlie Bills (Darrel's brother), who entered rest on January 4, 2019. ◦ For the family of Lois McKillips, who entered rest on February 2, 2019. ◦ For the family of Norma Montgomery, who entered rest on February 13, 2019. ◦ For the family of Jeanne Licht (Rebekah Moss's great-aunt), who entered rest on March 10, 2019. ▪ May the Lord give immeasurable peace, strength, and comfort to all who face loss and grief. We praise God that Grace Sandoe's sister Gladys is improving well! We pray for Jean Weber's hip pain and other difficulties. We pray for Jan Herman in the wake of some considerable health challenges. We pray for Ethel Yelk, that God would sustain her well and bring her comfort. We pray for Denise Harnish, whose medical and financial situation is precarious, that God would provide. We praise God that the Bixlers are in their new home, and pray for their health and provision. We pray for the familial challenges faced by Bobbie Dimick's nephew and his young son. We pray also for the shepherding and peace of the Bills' nephew Bobby. We pray for Jim DeForest (Pastor Jonathan's father) in the wake of two strokes last year. We pray for our dear friend Rev. Beth Engel, who has health issues in her family and in her own person. We praise God for blessing in the life of the Strother family, especially as Sue expects a new child in June; but also we pray for them as they face an unexpected financial setback that will likely require the surrender of their car. We praise God for the work he's doing in Jesse Bills' life as Jesse attends seminary. We pray for Julie Lawson's friend Tracy Griffis as she processes a season of bereavement. We pray for Bobbie Dimick's brother Glenn Kennedy as he recovers from his surgery last month, and we pray that God would heal Glenn's kidneys. We praise God for the safe travels he has granted to many of us, and we pray for those who will travel more. We pray for other neighbors and friends in need, that God would heal, provide, and comfort. We pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our church, our community, our county, our nation, the Evangelical Congregational Church, and the church universal. We pray for the whole church to be filled with a spiritual zeal for worship, evangelism, and discipleship. May the fires of revival fall! We praise God for the onset of the season of spring! We praise God for all the prayers we've seen him answer and for his everlasting faithfulness!
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