Living in faith, hope and Love

Just. Wow. Seneca Creek.

Last month I wrote a short blog post about our project to help reduce hunger in our county with a month-long food drive.

I ended my blog with these words:

Wouldn’t it be awesome to fill the pantries to the point where they had to tell us to stop!

Apparently you all decided it would, indeed, be awesome. Because we not only filled the pantry in Germantown HELP, but also Gaithersburg HELP, which had to ask us if we could store the remaining food in our building until they had space for it. In other words, they had to tell us to stop!

Just. Wow! We eclipsed last year’s total of 200 bags by another 100, for a total of 300 bags.

I am humbled and honored to serve at such a generous church. And while I know some of you are not able to be as generous as you might like, together we accomplished something that matters in the heart of our heavenly Father.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…” Matthew 25:34-36

We will continue to work together as a new community to accomplish more things that matter to God in the coming year. Because God’s generosity to us is meant to overflow into this world that he cares so much about. Thank you for modeling the kind of generosity that Paul the apostle mentions to one early church:

You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expression of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 2 Corinthians 9:11-13

-Pastor Mark

The country has burst into rhetorical flames after last week’s Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states.  Some are wringing their hands.  Some are clapping their hands.  And at Seneca Creek, there are opinions from one end of the spectrum to the other.

It’s helpful to keep in mind that in our country, marriage is not simply a religious/faith ceremony. It is also a civil union, with legal, financial, and other implications. The church has historically partnered with the state in this arrangement. The nature of that partnership has now shifted. But we must realize that the church’s beliefs and interests in marriage are different from that of the state. Both the church and the state use the word “marriage.”  But it means different things to each of them.

It’s also helpful to keep in mind…

• Just because the Supreme Court decides something doesn’t mean it’s consistent with God’s design. (Case in point: Plessy v. Ferguson)
• Just because someone disagrees with my position doesn’t mean they’re an evil person, or a bigoted person. (click to tweet this)
• Just because someone wants to live without discrimination and persecution doesn’t mean their choices and beliefs have to match my own.
• Just because I look to God’s revelation (in the Bible and in Jesus) for my life purpose and plan doesn’t mean everyone else will.
• Just because I want the Bible to support my position doesn’t mean that it actually does.
• Just because I know someone’s position on this issue doesn’t mean I know their story.
• Just because someone has same-sex attraction doesn’t mean they are any less valuable in God’s eyes than anyone else.
• Just because we’re made in the image of God doesn’t mean that we’re accurately reflecting that image in our sexual lives.

The truth is, Jesus’ kingdom begins and ends with love. Jesus’ followers are commanded to love. It takes courage to love those who disagree with me, and who think poorly of me. Jesus is our model here.

• May it be said of our church that we welcome everyone to begin and continue their journey of faith.
• May it be said of our church that you can come as you are…that’s how God meets each of us.
• May it be said of our church that we live out the command to love God and love our neighbors.
• May it be said of our church that the HOPE of Christ is offered to everyone.
• May it be said of our church that we search the Scriptures to understand God’s plans and purposes for our lives.

If you want to hear my most recent sermon on this topic, and why Genesis 1 & 2 are the model for God’s design for marriage, click here.

If you want to read an excellent article on how the church should respond, check out Carey Nieuwhof’s piece here.  (He writes from Canada, which has a decade of experience with this issue already.)  In case you don’t have time to read it, he offers the following five observations:

1. The church has always been counter-cultural.
2. It’s actually strange to ask non-Christians to hold Christian values.
3. We’ve been dealing with sex outside of traditional marriage for a LONG time.
4. The early church never looked to the government for guidance.
5. Our judgment of LGBT people is destroying any potential relationship.

Finally, when you’re tempted to blast your ideas on social media, it might be worth pausing and praying about the issue instead.  And pray for those with whom you disagree.  And pray for God to guard your own heart in this matter.  And then remember Jesus’ words:

By this everyone will know you’re my disciples, if you love one another.  John 13:35

Pastor Mark

Jesus said some outrageous things.  But one of the most outrageous may have been this:

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”  (John 7:37-38)

Rivers of water…flowing from within us.  Our world is very much like Jesus’ world. It’s full of people who are thirsty for love.

Henri Nouwen once spent a week visiting an AIDS clinic in San Francisco. He offered to listen to the patients’ stories. And in them he heard the thirst for love that had never been quenched.  After that, he prayed, “God, help me to see others not as my enemies or as ungodly but rather as thirsty people. And give me the courage and compassion to offer your Living Water, which alone quenches deep thirst.” (quoted in Philip Yancey, Vanishing Grace)

It makes me ask hard questions about myself.  Is there a river of living water flowing from me?  Quenching thirst? Busting up the draught?  Is there a small stream?  A faint trickle?  What about you?  Has your belief in Jesus transformed you into a fountain?  Does your life provide the refreshing gulp of grace so desperately sought by those around you?  Do we see people as thirsty?  Does the church look like an oasis to our community?  Or like a desiccant?

-Pastor Mark

Remember last winter? The cold. The snow. And the more cold. And also there was January. Which is typically a time for…resolutions.

It was a new year, even if it was cold and snowy. And we had visions of becoming a new person. Maybe you wanted to change your career, or your fitness, or your clutter, or your finances.  Maybe you wanted to move to a warmer city! Maybe you wanted to get your spiritual journey back on track. 2015 was gonna be the year, baby!

Now it’s June. We’re almost half-way through the year. Time for a mid-year evaluation. So how’s it going?

“Groan.”

I hear you.

But the good news is, there are still six months left.  So right now, while the weather is much better, why not take the next step.

• Start reading that book you know is calling you.
• Send an email to the friend you need to reconnect with.
• Step away from the Cheetos and step out for a walk or run.
• Ask someone to walk with you on your journey of fitness.
• Dust off your resume and get it out there.
• Have that honest conversation about the things that are really bugging you.
• Put your credit cards someplace where you won’t be able to use them.
• Put your electronic distraction down and pick up a Bible. Or a journal.
• Take a prayer walk and let God into your day.
• Sign up for that opportunity you’ve been pondering.

Whatever it is, take a few minutes today to do it.  Because the year is almost half over.  And your life isn’t getting any longer.  In fact, you have 160 less days than when you made those resolutions in January.

Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” —Psalm 90:12

-Pastor Mark

P.S. What resolution will you restart today? Add your comments in the section below.

There I was, a young Marine on deployment to Nevada. Several of my buddies decided to purchase a used car for the few weeks we’d be stationed there.

(Looked like this, but not nearly as shiney.)

It was better than walking the several miles into town.  Cheaper than all the cab fare.  I pitched in, securing driving rights to the old used Chevy.

I only used the car once.  I drove into the nearest big town, an hour away. And when I got there, the driveshaft fell off the car.  Nice!  I had to get it towed and repaired, which was tricky on my meager financial situation. I had to call my dad and have him pay for some of it with a credit card.

So imagine my surprise when I returned to base, and my “buddies” refused to pay up.  They said that since I was driving it at the time, it was my problem.  Classic.  I was, to use the phrase, “left holding the bag.”  Lesson learned: don’t get left holding the bag!

Until now.  There’s one situation where you DO want to be left holding the bag.  And that’s when you have a bag of groceries that you’re holding as you walk into our weekend gatherings in June.  Because we’re conducting a massive food drive for the local food pantries.  June is one of their lowest months for donations.  We intend to fix that.

So be sure to pick up a bag next time you’re at 13 Firstfield.  Better yet, do what the Tindle family does: pick up several bags and distribute them to neighbors who are willing to fill a bag.  Then collect all the groceries and bring them in.  Together we’ll make a difference for families suffering from food insecurity.  We’ll be left holding the bag…and that’s a good thing.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…” — Jesus

Wouldn’t it be awesome to fill the pantries to the point where they had to tell us to stop?

-Pastor Mark

It’s graduation season. Lots of pomp and circumstance. Maybe your last cap and gown was decades ago. But did you know you’re still enrolled?

The point of formal education is to teach us the skills we need to function in the next season life.

And as long as you’re enrolled in life, you’re enrolled in class.  Sometimes the lessons come in the dark moments.  Sometimes they come in the quiet moments.  Sometimes they come in the daily routines of life.  Sometimes they come in the form of a person who grates on your last nerve.  But make no mistake.  God is interested in your ongoing growth.  He’s very interested in helping you learn how to live a truly human, Christlike life.  And it’s a lifelong process for all of us.

So before you attend the next graduation ceremony for a friend or family member, why not pause and consider your own progress.

• What class are you currently enrolled in?
• Are you learning the lesson your heavenly father is teaching you?
• Are you able to apply that in your real life?
• Or are you flunking the most important course? Will you need to repeat this grade?

Hebrews 5:12

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!

-Pastor Mark

The old saying among pastors is that the music department in the church is often referred to as the war department.  Because, well, that’s where some of the epic church fights take place.  Here’s why it matters.

I’m not going to pick sides on the “hymns vs. choruses” debate.  I’m not going to debate acoustic versus electronic. I’m not even going to bring up the various styles like gospel, reggae, R&B, pop, and jazz.  All that is irrelevant for why music matters.

Music matters because it can transform us.  It can change our thinking, our beliefs, our values, and ultimate our actions.  It can change a person, a group, a church, and a community.  Here’s an example.

Last weekend we sang a song called, Hosanna.  It was partly in Spanish. (I have to believe God chuckled at the way some of us pronounce the words in a language we don’t understand!)  But there was a line that we also sang in English.  It says:

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart for what breaks yours
Everything I am for Your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

It doesn’t matter what your preferred style of music is.  What matters is whether you can sing those words, and actually begin to make them your honest prayer.

The phrase that I can’t get out of my head is, “Break my heart for what breaks yours.”  Do I know what breaks God’s heart?  Do you?  It’s actually a sign of maturity to be able to understand another’s heart.  It requires that we think beyond our own concerns, and consider the concerns of another.  (That’s why adults often get upset with their teenage children, because they want them to think about someone other than themselves.)

If you had to make a list of the top five things that break God’s heart, what would be on your list?  And then once you had that list compiled, would any of those things break your heart?  And if so, what would you do about it?  That’s what it means to give everything I am for His kingdom’s cause.  (Hint: Your kingdom come, your will be done…)

And that’s why music matters.  It opens up a crack in the busy shell of our life and drives home the character and heart of God long after the music dies down.

-Pastor Mark

P.S. This is a great reason to be seated in the auditorium when the music starts each week. You never know how God is going to use the gift of music to change your life and your world.

Here’s the challenge that many of us face. We’re way too busy.  And we’re spiritually malnourished.  Here’s a solution.

It’s the project we’ve been working on since last September.  It’s our Celebration Challenge.  WAIT! Before you click out of this blog, let me explain.

Getting spiritually nourished isn’t about quantity.  It’s about absorption.

Getting spiritually nourished isn’t about quantity.  It’s about absorption.  As an example, you can consume massive amounts of calcium in supplements, but your body will not benefit much if it can’t absorb it.  (It needs things like vitamin D in order to do that.)

Similarly, you could read ten chapters of the Bible every day, but if you’re not absorbing it, you’re not benefiting.  When we take one or two verses of the Bible and memorize them, we’re in a much better position to absorb it over time.  Here’s a great example.

We’re currently working on Ephesian 2:10

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Have you memorized that?  It’s 22 words.  You CAN do it.  In fact, if you read it aloud slowly for about ten times, you’ll probably have it memorized.  THEN you can start to notice things like:

1. It starts with “we.” I’m reminded that God’s purposes are not just about ME, but about WE (the church).
2. We’re “God’s” handiwork. This is his plan, his initiative, his creative power.  As the song reminds us, “my life is not my own, to you I belong…”
3. We’re God’s “handiwork,” or craftsmanship. Each of us uniquely formed and crafted by our loving, creative God. God spent time carefully designing you the way you are, including your personality, your gifts, etc.
4. We’re “created in Christ Jesus.” We have new life because of our connection with Christ.  We are a “new creation” as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.  We’re not created in a vacuum, but in Christ.  Our real life is understood in light of our connection to Christ.
5. We’re created “to do good works.” Your life has a purpose…even a blueprint.  When you’re struggling with frustration and dead ends, remember that God created you for good works…things which reflect his greatness into this world.
6. God prepared these works in advance. Put another way, he “ordained” them.  This is a powerful stamp of divine purposefulness in your life, despite what others may say or think about you.

So there are six powerful truths to connect into your life.  And you can “study” the Bible like that with only this one verse?  You don’t need to spend 45 minutes a day reading.  (I mean, it would be great if you had the time, right?)  In your commuting, in your time on hold, in your quite moments, in your frustrating ranting, in your elevator rides, in your waiting for the kids to get off the bus, in your hurried breakfast on the go…you can study the Bible…and you can begin to nourish your soul at a deep, deep level.

For more verses in the Celebration Challenge, click here.

And then join us this weekend (Mothers Day) as we continue to explore The Day That Changed The World.

-Pastor Mark

Last weekend was a chance for our church to address an issue that is currently making headlines.  And it may have made you uncomfortable.  Sorry, not sorry.

The current unrest and protests in Baltimore are grabbing all the headlines.  But the issue we tried to wrestle with last weekend has been around for a long time.  (We were planning to talk about it long before the Freddie Gray story developed.)  It’s the issue of what the apostle Paul calls, “the dividing wall of hostility.”

Ephesians 2:14

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility…

He was referring to the Jew/Gentile dividing wall.  But that’s just one version.  There are dividing walls of culture, of race, of gender, of education, of wealth, of body type, of color, of language, and so on.

Our guest speakers last weekend (Mary Johnson, Dianne Jones, and Rosco Lockhart) shared their own stories of dividing walls.  But many of you could share yours, too.  Our world is fragmented by the dividing walls of hostility.  Those walls are built with bricks of “historically justifiable suspicions.”  Those walls make us feel safe, even comfortable.  It’s much easier to be with people who are “like us.”

The resurrection is a battle cry to tear down the walls.  So when we gather like we did last weekend, we’re going to grab those dividing walls and shake them so hard they start to crumble.  That’s why the conversation often makes us uncomfortable.  It will make all of us uncomfortable.  Except for our heavenly Father, who is cheering wildly for his people!  That’s why I’m not really sorry.

The church, the Body of Christ, is a new community, formed out of those who are being transformed.  We’re called to the work of tearing down dividing walls and creating one new humanity.

Ephesians 2:15-16

His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 

It’s not a call to ignore our differences, but to celebrate them together as expressions of the creative wonders of our God.  As Dianne Jones poignantly asked us, “Who’s sitting at our dinner table?”  Do the people you invite into your life/home always look just like you?

I welcome your contributions to the conversation below. And if you’d be interested in sharing your story at a future event, please let me know.

-Pastor Mark

What do you think when you hear the word “obey”?

Maybe it conjures up images of a domineering parent.

Maybe, like me, it brings memories of military service.

It’s not usually a positive word. It implies an exercise of authority over another person.

It grates against our beloved freedoms.

And yet there it is.  Shot throughout the Bible. Over and over and over. Just go to your favorite Bible software, find the search engine, and see what happens when you search for “obey.”

Here’s the thing. God is the very definition of authority. So why do we wrestle with this idea?

I think it’s because we fear that we’re going to lose our freedom. Ironically, we’re only going to FIND our freedom when we get past our struggles here. Allow me to explain.
God designed you for a flourishing life, one that included reflecting his image. So following his instructions leads us TOWARD real life, not away from it.

This is exactly why Jesus gave his followers their final instructions like this:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Matthew 28:19-20

Teach them to…obey. Not to oppress them, but to release them. Which is why Paul makes this comment:

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.  Romans 6:12

And just to simplify all the commands, Jesus puts it like this:

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
John 15:12

Love one another. So simple. So hard. This weekend we’re going to dive into this simple, yet revolutionary command. “The Day That Changed My Relationships.”

It will be unlike any other weekend at Seneca Creek. Hope to see you there. And maybe we can remove some of the stigma from that little word.

Obey.

-Pastor Mark